I Want To Be In Baja

I have been asked about camping in the San Felipe area. Due to the construction of developments such as El Dorado Ranch and others, camp grounds and RV parks have been disappearing over the years. However, right in San Felipe, there is a campground
just south of the Malecon, next to Bandidos bar and restaurant. Called Campo San Felipe, it doesn’t have an office to pull up to, and I was not able to find a phone number or web site. There is a woman who is available around the grounds and all one has to do is pay her $30/night for a place right on the beach, or $25 just off the beach and they can stay as long as they like. There is a bathroom and shower on the premises and it appears to be clean.

Most of the spots have a shaded picnic table and there are trash cans around for waste. I didn’t get a count of the number of sites available but the day we checked it out (weekday) there were plenty of sites available and this was in April when the temperature is ideal.
The Malecon is only a block away and can be accessed by beach. Once people are settled in the campground, there is no need for a car to get around town. San Felipe has a wonderful Malecon that runs several blocks along the beach and there are many restaurants and shopping within easy walking distance.
For those looking to rent a house or condo, there are many available at El Dorado Ranch which is just 7 miles north of town. People who rent here have access to the pool, tennis courts, private beach and the golf course.

In spite of the media coverage, those of us who travel back and forth to the area realize that Mexico, and particularly the area around San Felipe area, continues to be a gentle and quiet area with no shortage of outdoor things to do.

For those of you heading down to San Felipe this weekend it should be a lively one! The 2009 Tecate SCORE Baja 500 off-road race takes place this weekend and is one of the premier family events of the year down in Baja. It certainly doesn’t seem like a whole year has gone since the last one!

The race itself starts and finishes in the northern Baja town of Ensenada and covers a total of 432 miles with San Felipe as its most southerly part of the circuit.  It is an international affair with entries from UK, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, Japan, Mexico and Canada joining representatives from 25 American States to compete in the race.  There are also several different categories of race including motorcycles, ATVs, cars and trucks, giving plenty of variety and color for every kind of motor-vehicle-racing fan!  It is always a lively, good-natured, family event and it is certainly going to give the business community of San Felipe a much needed boost after what has been a dreadful first half of the year. And you can check out the great facilities at El Dorado Ranch while you are there - sweet!  I only wish that I could be there but, unfortunately I already had other commitments. But if you are going to be there we’d love to hear of your experiences - and send us some photos!  Have a great and fun weekend!

Now that the (non) flu crisis seems to be over in Mexico - the U.S. government lifted its travel warning on 15th May - get ready to take advantage of some bargain Mexico vacation deals!  According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle virtually none of the popular Mexican tourist destinations like “Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit, Los Cabos, Mazatlán and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo” had a single confirmed case of the H1N1 flu virus. Nevertheless, the effect on Mexico’s tourism industry has been devastating. As such, President Felipe Calderon has a big $1.3 billion stimulus plan to help Mexico’s tourist industry to get back on its feet.  This is likely to mean that there could be no better time to visit Mexico than now - there are likely to be plenty of bargains to be had, both in terms of accommodation and flights.

If have been reading our blog and you like what you see and hear about El Dorado Ranch and San Felipe, there may be no better time than now to visit the area.  There are many private houses for rent at El Dorado Ranch as well as hotels in nearby San Felipe.  Nancy always has weekend trips to view the El Dorado Ranch project  and is happy to be contacted for details - but don’t think about it for too long, places tend to fill up quickly!

As I have said before in another post on straw-bale building, one of the attractions of retiring to El Dorado Ranch, near San Felipe in Baja, is the fact that the building of your own house, especially incorporating environmentally-friendly, energy-saving building techniques and features, is actively encouraged.

I was leafing through the first issue of the Building in Baja Newsletter and found a very interesting article on building with Bamboo.  It turns out that Bamboo forests actually soak up 17 times more carbon in their growth than does a tree forest!  Just imagine what could be done in terms of mitigating against the excess carbon problem if Bamboo became a universal material for building! My own plans had been aiming at a timber and straw-bale structure, but now I am inspired to look into the possibilities of incorporating Bamboo into the structure - perhaps in place of some or the timber framework. I need to do a bit more research on that, but it if I can encourage others to look at this awesome building material then I am happy to do so.  The Building in Baja article contains a list of websites where further information about Bamboo.  I encourage you to at least check out  www.deboerarchitects.com/BambooThoughts.html and www.bambooliving.com. Great stuff!

We have made mention before about our favorite local Baja building advice newsletter - Building in Baja.  Well it looks like they have completely revamped their website.  The PDF downloadable newsletters they has been publishing were very nicely done, and packed with really good information, but I think this new format will be a lot more flexible in terms of being able to find specific information.  One new feature I noticed is their weekly “BiB  (Building in Baja) Tips which you can sign up for and have emailed to you each week.  The new service is set to start in June and is described as being “chic, unique, or off beat”. Sounds fun!  They plan to provide updates “not only undiscovered treasures, like the best new restaurants, best street food, newest shoe stores, and who knows what else…but is also full of advice, ideas, and inspiration for designing and building your home, common mistakes to avoid, and everything you need to know about living the Baja good life”!  Sounds like it is going to be both interesting and useful.  I for one will be signing up!

Does this look dangerous???
For those of us who travel to Mexico on a regular basis, the overdone coverage of the drug wars and swine flu serves no purpose other than to sell newspapers and keep people glued to TV’s.  Although these stories are not fabricated, the message conveyed is that it is dangerous to be in Mexico.  There are virtually thousands of people who cross the border on a daily basis, without incident.  Who’s reporting this?  Although there are hundreds of cases (with very few deaths) of swine flu in Mexico City, it’s also true that this is the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere with over 22 million living in the area.  It would seem that containing a flu that well should be given a commodation!!
I travel to El Dorado Ranch about twice a month.  I have yet to hear a gun shot, or even a hacking cough.
Two weeks ago, one of the agents in our office was shot to death.   His name is Doug Georgianni and he died, not in Mexico, but in Cave Creek Arizona.  While working in a photo-enforcement van, some guy drove up to the van, fired 5 bullets into the van, killing Doug immediately.  Doug never even saw the guy, the murder was completely unprovoked.  Does anyone have a story like this happening in Mexico?

All you fans of off-road desert racing will no doubt be packing your bags and gearing up for the latest in the SCORE racing calendar, SCORE Baja 500 - June 5th - June 7th, 2009. It doesn’t seem all that long ago when we were down in San Felipe for the SCORE Baja 250 race back in March. Although both fan and entry numbers were slightly down this year, probably because of the bad press about the ‘drug wars’, a great time was had by all who did make the effort. El Dorado Ranch is always a popular place to stay on such occasions!

San Felipe is one of the main observation points along the 232 mile race and large crowds come to the town to soak up the desert racing ambience. It is always a well organized, family event and is always good natured and a lot of fun. Hopefully, race fans will not be put off coming to San Felipe - at least the whole Swine Flu thing seems to be fizzling out. San Felipe businesses could certainly do with some tourist dollars right now. It hasn’t been the best of years for them so far.

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.