I Want To Be In Baja

Just when you thought that things couldn’t get any worse for business owners in San Felipe along comes Swine Flu!  San Felipe, lying on the Sea of Cortez about 124 miles south of the border town of Mexicali, relies heavily on tourists coming to the town and spending their dollars.  San Felipe’s businesses are still suffering the economic effects of of the drop-off in visitors due to the reports of drug violence between the cartels and the Mexican army, particularly over the aborted Spring Break period.

I have been monitoring the chatter on the El Dorado Ranch Yahoo community, many who know the local doctors or medical staff, and there are no reports of Swine Flu cases in San Felipe - at least not so far.  However, it is almost besides the point for San Felipe now that the U.S. government have put out a travel warning urging people not to travel to Mexico for the next three months unless absolutely necessary.  For those who have property at, or are planning to visit El Dorado Ranch I am sure that this won’t prevent you from going. However, the travel warning is likely to all but kill off any remaining tourism to San Felipe until the Swine Flu epidemic is over.  It is a real shame for those businesses hoping to see some signs of recovery from both the U.S. economic downturn and the bad press about the drug violence. Let us hope this particular Swine Flu outbreak can be quickly contained.

Tiki Bar Seed

Excitement is a-building for the Blues Festival in San Felipe, Baja Ca, Mexico, around the 28th of March!
Just mentioning it to friends up here in AZ has generated some major hype!
Unfortunately we’d love to get the seed for the Flip Flops Tiki Bar to sprout a little so we can provide some refreshments to Blues fanciers over that weekend, but we’re afraid there just isn’t time for all the pieces to be put in place.  Even a temp set-up on the Beach at El Dorado Ranch using two 10ft barrels bracketing a 5 X 5 “hut” would be a good start, if we could get them brought together, (along with required paper-work), in time!

Regardless, the Blues Festival is gonna happen on the 28th and for now there are some quality venues of refreshment available in town, like the V-Lounge.  Meanwhile the “Flip Flops spirits” and we “Tiki pushers” are gonna be trying our best to become the prime fun-venue on the beach, as soon as we can make it happen!

Meanwhile, whoever can make it, look around for Flip Flops on the beach and the Tiki Seed.  They’ll be sprouting soon!!  When they show up, everyone will be told!

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon Getting it Right.

It is nice to see that the doom and gloom of the U.S. economy does not seem to be transferring to our southern neighbours in Mexico. The old saying that goes “when the U.S. economy sneezes, Mexico catches a cold” (the saying is equally applied to Britain as well), does not seem to be working out in the same way, at least not according to Mike Lane in his recent article “Mexico Set To Become Major Player” (although it certainly has in Britain!).  Mexico’s resilience is certainly encouraging for those of us who have a vested interest in El Dorado Ranch, near San Felipe in Baja!

Mr. Lane attributes Mexico’s resilience to both its latest President, Felipe Calderon and to its huge program of public works.  ”Ongoing investment in basic infrastructure far exceeds that of the U.S.”, he says, bringing the “employment opportunities and infrastructure required for a developing nation”. Calderon has also implemented much needed modernization within the government run national oil and gas company, Pemex. Although low prices and demand have hurt Mexico’s income in the short run, the changes have put Pemex on a good footing for the inevitable upswing in the global economy.

As economic opportunities increase within Mexico, Mr. Lane forsees a decline in the need for its citizens to migrate north in search of employment. Also, the drug trafficking problem the U.S. press are always so keen to talk about is resolutely being tackled by Calderon’s government and affects only a very small proportion of the Mexican population overall. There may not be many good news stories here in the U.S. but it is nice to hear that Mexico is doing well despite us. I know where I’d rather be at the moment!

Nancy has talked about doing business in Mexico in previous posts. Many people looking to retire or relocate to El Dorado Ranch have thoughts about starting a small business there. Now, if your business idea revolves solely around the American and Canadian (and eventually at least one Brit!) ex-pats then that is one thing. But if your business involves a wider Mexican clientele or labor force you may want to do some research into the local culture there. It is a lot different to what you might have been used to.

To give you an idea of what kind of culture clashes you might encounter in Mexico you would do well to start off by reading an article from someone who has gone through the process themselves. Check out the article yourself by clicking here.

There are many cultural differences between North America and Mexico, especially in the way we approach things. In the article author’s words, “Inside, I will always be the cocky, street tough Oakland homeboy. What has changed is that I monitor that behavior with the graciousness this ancient and beautiful culture has taught me”. Even if you are not going to be doing business there it is worth reading, just to give you an understanding of how the locals are likely to react to you.

As a Brit, it is interesting that Mexican’s have a not too dissimilar view of what is polite behavior and what is not. Many of the American ways that Brits like to label as ‘brash’ would also be so considered by Mexicans. Sounds like I might have more in common with our Mexican cousins than I thought! Jolly good show, chaps!

If you are interested in moving permanently to Mexico, whether to retire there or just relocate, whether that be to El Dorado Ranch in Baja or to any other part of Mexico, you may want to find out whether or not is worth actually becoming a Mexican citizen. Is it a good idea? What are the differences in living in Mexico as citizen of the country or on an immigrant visa? For those that would like to find an answer to these questions you can do no better than to download the latest newsletter from buildinginbaja.com - http://www.buildinginbaja.com/BuildingInBaja-Issue03.pdf

On page 18 you will find an article called “Is that legal? - Mexican Naturalization” by Lic. Jaques-Edouard Beaulne, attorney at Law, which will give you all the ‘ins and outs’ of becoming a Mexican citizen and what the requirements are. The two main criteria you will need to meet are, firstly, you must have accumulated a minimum of 5 years legal residence there and, secondly, you need to be able to speak enough Spanish to hold a conversation and to have learned the basic history of the country to a grade 4 or 5 level.

There are many reasons why one would want to become a naturalized citizen of the country, especially if you plan to conduct business there or want to ensure real property ownership rights in areas not covered by a Fideicomiso (as El Dorado Ranch is). Anyway, if you ever wanted to find out whether to become a full citizen when you move to Mexico, this article is a great place to start.

 
When comes to finding out how a development like El Dorado Ranch affects the local area then probably the best people to talk to are the locals. I would strongly advise people interested in the project to read an article written by the presenter of a local English-language radio program called ‘Mexico Today’ - unfortunately he doesn’t give us his name but states that he has lived in Baja for over 20 years and has watched many developers, both American and Mexican, come and go. Click here to read the full article.

He is obviously impressed with El Dorado Ranch developer, Pat Butler, and the contribution he has made to the local town of San Felipe. “El Dorado Ranch employs over 600 folks, making it the town’s largest employer. The ranch provides millions of dollars in contracts to local product -service providers”, he says.

Further, “San Felipe’s business people are treated with professional respect and, in addition to lucrative contracts with El Dorado, students win from his monetary and internet contributions and Baja’s political leadership win from his commitment and genius in promoting the state”.

There are many development projects in Baja but I defy anyone to find one as good as El Dorado Ranch - you don’t have to take my word for it - see what the locals are saying!

The construction of a critical border roadway, The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry, has just won approval, and will surely change the economic landscape for Southern California, and the Baja region.

Over 60 million people each year cross at the existing ports, which comprise the world’s most heavily trafficked border crossing. Baja California officials estimate that wait times cost untold billions of dollars a year, due to hours lost.

Currently under environmental review, the project is years away from breaking ground, but is worth a look now for the person considering a property investment in Baja, Mexico. The new border crossing shows us that U.S. dependence on Mexico will increase, and is at the forefront of investors long-term plans.

It will be interesting to see what effect the new Obama presidency will have on its neighbour, Mexico. Mexicans, like much of the rest of the world, were watching the elections on Tuesday to see what would happen, and the announcement of Obama’s victory was greeted with loud cheers in bars all across Mexico. Mexico’s former foreign minister, Jorge Castaneda, was quoted in Mexico’s Reforma newspaper as saying that “Obama’s win opens to Mexico an extraordinary opportunity to re-position itself in the world because it will be infinitely easier to be a neighbor, ally and friend of the United States with Obama.”  I can imagine that many countries leaders are thinking the same thing!

In terms of detail as to the effect of a new approach in the Whitehouse on Mexico it is probably too early to say, although in Canada they are more divided as to the benefits or otherwise of an Obama presidency. Some of the worry stems from the protectionist rhetoric put out by Obama during his campaign whereby American industries, ravaged by a global economic downturn, might receive protection from outside competition, through a renegotiation of the NAFTA agreements, for example, something that may affect Canadian exports to the U.S. which they heavily rely on. Some experts think this unlikely. If it does happen then that is something that is more likely to have an impact on Mexico rather than Canada as the changes are likely to involve assurances with regard to labour and environmental practices which Canada already subscribes to.

Whatever the follow-through in regard to protectionist policies of an Obama first term, one thing that both American neighbours agree on is that the renewed hope and optimism that Obama will bring to the U.S. economy and foreign relations can only be of benefit to both countries. Because of the importance of the U.S. economy to the rest of the world, any boost in the confidence of American consumers after such an all time low can only benefit the economies of its neighbours - Canada and Mexico - not to mention the world economy in general. But we must never forget that it is what WE do that will bring about that renewed confidence and recovery - President Obama can but show us the way.