Ron , Riverside said:
Love to walk thru main street Ensenada, sit in one of the outdoor cafes, very colorfull. keep up the good work
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post date: 2008-08-08

Frank Temecula said:
Where are ther best carne Asada tacos in Rosarito? going next weekend
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post date: 2008-08-08

Danny said:
Do they still have bullfights in Downtown Tijuana. Danny La Puente
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post date: 2008-08-08

Mike Munoz said:
Had a great time at Stero Beach hotel, its close to Ensendada but you feel like you are in the heart of Baja
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post date: 2008-08-08

Linda Ellerbee said:

Sometimes I’ve been called a maverick because I don’t always agree with my colleagues, but then, only dead fish swim with the stream all the time. The stream here is Mexico .

You would have to be living on another planet to avoid hearing how dangerous Mexico has become, and, yes, it’s true drug wars have escalated violence in Mexico , causing collateral damage, a phrase I hate. Collateral damage is a cheap way of saying that innocent people, some of them tourists, have been robbed, hurt or killed.

But that’s not the whole story. Neither is this. This is my story.

I’m a journalist who lives in New York City , but has spent considerable time in Mexico , specifically Puerto Vallarta , for the last four years. I’m in Vallarta now. And despite what I’m getting from the U.S. media, the 24-hour news networks in particular, I feel as safe here as I do at home in New York , possibly safer. I walk the streets of my Vallarta neighborhood alone day or night. And I don’t live in a gated community, or any other All-Gringo neighborhood. I live in Mexico . Among Mexicans. I go where I want (which does not happen to include bars where prostitution and drugs are the basic products), and take no more precautions than I would at home in New York; which is to say I don’t wave money around, I don’t act the Ugly American, I do keep my eyes open, I’m aware of my surroundings, and I try not to behave like a fool.

I’ve not always been successful at that last one. One evening a friend left the house I was renting in Vallarta at that time, and, unbeknownst to me, did not slam the automatically-locking door on her way out. Sure enough, less than an hour later a stranger did come into my house. A burglar? Robber? Kidnapper? Killer? Drug lord?

No, it was a local police officer, the “beat cop” for our neighborhood, who, on seeing my unlatched door, entered to make sure everything (including me) was okay. He insisted on walking with me around the house, opening closets, looking behind doors and, yes, even under beds, to be certain no one else had wandered in, and that nothing was missing. He was polite, smart and kind, but before he left, he lectured me on having not checked to see that my friend had locked the door behind her. In other words, he told me to use my common sense.

Do bad things happen here? Of course they do. Bad things happen everywhere, but the murder rate here is much lower than, say, New Orleans, and if there are bars on many of the ground floor windows of houses here, well, the same is true where I live, in Greenwich Village, which is considered a swell neighborhood — house prices start at about $4 million (including the bars on the ground floor windows).

There are good reasons thousands of people from the United States are moving to Mexico every month, and it’s not just the lower cost of living, a hefty tax break and less snow to shovel. Mexico is a beautiful country, a special place. The climate varies, but is plentifully mild, the culture is ancient and revered, the young are loved unconditionally, the old are respected, and I have yet to hear anyone mention Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna’s attempt to adopt a second African child, even though, with such a late start, she cannot possibly begin to keep up with Anglelina Jolie.

And then there are the people. Generalization is risky, but— in general — Mexicans are warm, friendly, generous and welcoming. If you smile at them, they smile back. If you greet a passing stranger on the street, they greet you back. If you try to speak even a little Spanish, they tend to treat you as though you were fluent. Or at least not an idiot. I have had taxi drivers track me down after leaving my wallet or cell phone in their cab. I have had someone run out of a store to catch me because I have overpaid by twenty cents. I have been introduced to and come to love a people who celebrate a day dedicated to the dead as a recognition of the cycles of birth and death and birth — and the 15th birthday of a girl, an important rite in becoming a woman — with the same joy.

Too much of the noise you’re hearing about how dangerous it is to come to Mexico is just that — noise. But the media love noise, and too many journalists currently making it don’t live here. Some have never even been here. They just like to be photographed at night, standing near a spotlighted border crossing, pointing across the line to some imaginary country from hell. It looks good on TV.

Another thing. The U.S. media tend to lump all of Mexico into one big bad bowl. Talking about drug violence in Mexico without naming a state or city where this is taking place is rather like looking at the horror of Katrina and saying, “Damn. Did you know the U.S. is under water?” or reporting on the shootings at Columbine or the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City by saying that kids all over the U.S. are shooting their classmates and all the grownups are blowing up buildings. The recent rise in violence in Mexico has mostly occurred in a few states, and especially along the border. It is real, but it does not describe an entire country.

It would be nice if we could put what’s going on in Mexico in perspective, geographically and emotionally. It would be nice if we could remember that, as has been noted more than once, these drug wars wouldn’t be going on if people in the United States didn’t want the drugs, or if other people in the United States weren’t selling Mexican drug lords the guns. Most of all, it would be nice if more people in the United States actually came to this part of America ( Mexico is also America , you will recall) to see for themselves what a fine place Mexico really is, and how good a vacation (or a life) here can be.

So come on down and get to know your southern neighbors. I think you’ll like it here. Especially the people.

Diane said:

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I came up with one word that describes what Baja is suffering from. Apparently there is no known vaccine, at this time to cure CNN, FOX, ABC or NBC from the Media-Pandemic! It's rampant! Take COVER!

Yesterday, I was in Tijuana (taking a real estate closing to Lic. Luna...of ALL things) and saw sightings of school kids walking home from school! I saw a mother with her baby in a stroller. People at their favorite taco stands. I saw ONE state police pick up truck and that was it! I purposely went down Aguas Calente and Revolution in my SUV with myself and another female passenger just to really SEE what is being reported by the MEDIA-PANDEMIC! We turned right on 2nd Street to the Rapida and over to Costco and back HOME to Rosarito! Nothing was out of the ordinary!

I love Baja and I have lived here 21 years. I feel safer here than in California. My granddaughter graduated from Cety's University in Ensenada with a 9.5 grade average (10.0 is the best) and I am so thankful she has become bilingual as well as bicultural!

Don't let the MEDIA-PANDEMIC" ruin your "Mexico experience". IF I feared for my safety or my family's safety, do you think I'd still be HERE? I would not.

Come on down, the water's fine!

Ron Raposa said:

This past Saturday, downtown San Diego played host to an unusual international culinary convention, as Mexican elected officials joined restaurateurs and business owners to present the finest flavors and tastes from Baja. More out-of-the-box thinking will be required if our southern neighbor is to emerge in a new era of border relations.

Entitled “Baja by the Sea,” the free event at the Embarcadero Marina Park North brought out thousands of San Diegans interested in wine tastings, dishes and business ventures hailing from the coastal region. For many, it was an opportunity to be reintroduced to the culturally rich nation at our doorstep, and savor the traditional tastes of Mexican cuisine that are too often found homogenized and diluted for the Western palate in the United States. Though Mexican cities have been avid promoters of their local events and festivals, this new approach of bringing the best of Baja to San Diego was a successful outreach effort to prospective tourists and customers that haven't crossed the border in some time. Praise is deserving of Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán and Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos, who were on hand with the mayors of Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada and Tecate to showcase and support their region, and to the Port of San Diego and Baja tourism boards who sponsored the occasion.

Baja by the Sea was a bright spot for a region that has been unfairly swamped by negative news headlines, evoking fear and hysteria from the international community. The recent dramatic drug-related violence has been largely a response to the successful efforts of Mexican law enforcement officials to crack down on the illegal drug trade and capture key cartel leaders over the last decade, spurring volatility and brutal power grabs among the criminal hierarchy. Frenzied media reports over the "swine flu" and its supposed Mexican origins were proven to be overblown this year, as the 117 confirmed global deaths to date failed to produce the speculated worldwide pandemic, and pale in comparison to the fact that the regular seasonal flu kills up to half a million people each year. But the subsiding of the health hysteria did not come before Chinese government officials indiscriminately detained and quarantined Mexican nationals this spring, and one San Diego congressman calling for the White House to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border to protect Americans from the “serious threat” of swine flu. Few have come forward to reproach these damaging public overreactions that have had a powerful psychological effect on whether tourists visit Mexico, which in the Baja region has seen a decline of American visitors for years.

According to statistics from the Tijuana Convention & Visitor's Bureau, the total number of estimated Americans crossing the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa Ports of Entry (including U.S. citizens living in Baja and working in San Diego) in 2008 was 42 percent below 2004 figures. More recently, the total American border crossings in the first three months of 2009 are fewer than at the same time last year. This bleak trend may be compounded by new U.S. border crossing requirements beginning this week for passports and new identification cards to be used by visitors to Mexico and Canada in order to re-enter the country. Whether these new security demands will negatively impact tourism remains to be seen, but they should give urgency to Mexican officials to adopt innovative strategies to marketing tourism and foreign investment opportunities to their U.S. neighbors.

With Baja by the Sea the first attempt at a new annual event, Baja promoters should weigh the merits of establishing a permanent showroom in San Diego for residents to experience and learn about regional fare and visitor destinations. Consider the success of the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, established in 2005 to present the "bounty of the county," highlighting the many boutique wineries and agricultural products that are grown regionally and too often, unknowingly. Nestled across the San Diego Convention Center, the Culinary Center doubled in size in 2007, and continues to host fun and educational gastronomic events for tourists and locals alike in a wine tasting room environment. A downtown Baja Wine & Culinary Center could showcase the dozens of vineyards that thrive in a rich, Mediterranean-like climate along a charming countryside that evokes memories of Napa County before its mass commercialization. Most Baja wineries are small, family-owned operations that produce 5,000 or less cases per year, and could benefit from the exposure, especially to those who have been hesitant of visiting the Baja region. Michelle Martain, whose family owns the outstanding Cavas Valmar Winery in Ensenada, favored the idea of a full-time tasting room in San Diego. "We try to promote our products through events, but if there was an opportunity for something like the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, it would be wonderful; there is so much to proudly offer," said Martain.

Though the San Diego-Baja economy is trudging through tough economic times, our outlook is stronger from changing perceptions and adopting innovative approaches to bi-national tourism. Martain is optimistic about the future of the Baja region, as "there is a lot to discover in Baja, sometimes the news dramatizes what is.