Can you imagine how much money would be lost if all economic activity was halted in Mexico City?

Mexico City is home to some 20 million people, and right now, it’s the epicenter of a swine flu outbreak that has countries all over the world ready to cut off access to the country and its pork industry.

At least 1,614 people in Mexico have been infected by the virus, and an estimated 103 have died, though at last count only 20 of them have been confirmed swine-flu deaths. But the Mexican government is taking no chances, and schools are closed until May 6, and even the bars and night clubs in the popular resort town of Puerto Vallarta have been ordered to close.

Mexico City might even halt all economic activity of the outbreak is not contained.

The airline and pork industries have been hit pretty hard, too, so traders and investors alike might want to keep an eye on these two industries as this story develops.

Yesterday was action-packed, and today was all business. Let me fill you in on what I’ve been doing.

First off, if you’re coming to South Africa, you must see Cape Town. In fact, unless you’re coming for business and have to see Johannesburg, fly into Cape Town. There are even direct flights from Atlanta. Not that there aren’t things to do in Jo’burg. Its proximity to some game reserves, like Kruger and Pilanesburg make it a good stopping off point.

But Cape Town…

My attraction was instant. I’m a sucker for mountains, and if you put mountains by the ocean, you’ve got me hook, line, and sinker. Driving into Cape Town from the airport, Roger, my driver let me film part of the route.

As Table Mountain grew in the distance, I kept switching between the video camera and the digital camera, and then just looking in awe as we came around the bend to see the Waterfront with a live Jazz stage at full tilt.

It was the tail end of the city’s annual Jazz Festival… and I’d missed it. Not to worry, my tour of Cape Town more than made up for it, with the creme de la creme being the top of Table Mountain.

But let me back up. My hotel, the Protea Hotel President is situated in the residential area called Bantry Bay. It’s just after the city and just before Camps Bay, the city’s best beach. A good location. Quiet, and a bit removed from the hectic city, but easy to get to and from…

In fact, I picked up a double-decker topless tour bus just around the corner from The President. I’d bought a tour on the popular Red Route when I booked my room. I made my way to the top deck and took out my video camera. It was about 10:30 in the morning and the sky was nice and clear, offering spectacular views of Table Mountain and the Lion’s Head.

The bus wove its way through the touristy Waterfront and then into the heart of the city.

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Well, I can’t say that I’m having fun yet. It’s been more of a comedy of errors, without the comedy.

I started off well enough in Baltimore. The security lines were short, and I was prepared - shoes, belt, and jacket off, laptop out of the bag. I was at the gate very early and kicked back to enjoy a coffee. That’s when the enjoyment stopped.

My first leg of the trip was to Atlanta, but before we even hit the runway, the captain came on the speaker saying that the tower had to evacuate because of a fire alarm.

Now, it was a false alarm, but we were delayed a good 45 minutes.

That meant I had to run to my gate to catch my 3:50pm flight… and wouldn’t you know, the international terminal is on the other side of the airport. I think I need to exercise more, cause I was really out of breath. And I was worried that my bag wouldn’t make it.

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The first sentence of a Reuters article on Brazil’s Carinval is certainly… attention catching:

The 10 million extra government-provided condoms are poised, final touches being put on huge floats depicting Queen Cleopatra and Can-can dancers, and the Barack Obama masks are flying off the shelves.

Would have liked to have known the name of the company making those condoms, eh? That extra 10 million is on top of the 45 million already provided at Carnival.

But even “bigger” news to investors like yourselves is the fact that one float’s dancers were wearing costumes costing $13,000… A PIECE! And this in a massive global financial crisis that has caused even some of the mining towns in surrounding Brazilian states to cancel their parades.

By all estimates, though, folks are spending less money this year, and Brazil expects about a 10% drop in foreign tourists to Carnival.

You wouldn’t know it by the looks of Rio, though. I like to have fun, as you’ve read in these pages before (underground pubs in Slovakia, or crazy futbol matches in Argentina), but some of the videos from this year’s Carnival seem… whew… a bit excessive even for my tastes!

Currently Brazil is a little out of favor with investment analysts. Last week, I told Taipan Insider readers that Citigroup thinks Brazil’s market is in for a slide, and that investors shouldn’t buy in until the Bovespa hits 35,000.

I also told them that I didn’t necessarily agree with Citigroup.

Here’s the thing, though, that everybody does seems to agree on: Countries with strong commodity and cash reserves are going to be great markets on the far side of this financial crisis. The problem is, nobody can time when this crisis will end, or which companies will be around to reap the rewards.

For Brazil, there are a lot of choices, like Companhia Vale (RIO:NYSE), which was just downgraded today despite expanding its iron ore customer base in China…

That means RIO has secured more long-term supply contracts, and that’s a sign of longevity. Clearly something that investors should be looking at if they want to buy shares for the long run in this market.

If you are a member of any of Taipan Publishing Group’s publications, you can read my full article online.