I Want To Be In Baja

I’m sorry I haven’t written in a long time.  Due the media publishing so much negative information, I felt like things had just gotten bogged down and decided to hold off.  This has not stopped my traveling to EL Dorado and just to let people know, although business has felt the impact by the economy, people are still taking one day at a time and it is still a wonderful place to be.  I went down in June, July, and August, and although the days are warm, it does cool off in the evening and  one can be entertained just by going out at night to enjoy the stars in the  sky.

Building continues at El Dorado ranch and I will come back from time to time to update progress at El Dorado Ranch.  If anyone ever has any questions, you can always e-mail me at nancy@ICleanUglyCredit.com (my US job) and I will be happy to assist you.

I really enjoyed Dick’s story on his July 18th post on his San Felipe Talk blog. He was relating his experiences of visiting the marina at San Felipe just as the crab fishermen came in, and buying some very fresh, and very cheap crab! This was a story I could relate to from personal experience.

Years ago, my wife and I made friends with a lobster fisherman on the south coast of Devon in the UK. He took us out at first light and we helped haul in the lobster pots, re-bait them and set them back again. On that trip we caught a few lobsters and several crab. That evening we had fresh crab for dinner - being a seafood lover anyway, fresh crab has always been one of my favorites - even better than lobster in my opinion.

I knew the Sea of Cortez around San Felipe is famous for its shrimp but I did not know they fished for crab there as well. These particular crab are blue crab and Dick picked up 19 crabs for the grand sum of 150 pesos (less than $12! USD) - that, my friend, is a bargain! As Dick says, back in Virginia, he paid $30 for just 6 crabs. Not that I need another excuse to go to San Felipe and El Dorado Ranch but, next trip, guess where I will be heading!

San Felipe, Baja - One of the Baja resorts to have suffered a 75% drop in tourism revenue this year.

If anyone still has concerns over traveling to Mexico in general, or Baja in particular, I would direct you to read a new report published this week called  Baja California, Mexico: Impact of U.S. Media, an Analysis by Scott Hanning and Jeffrey Werner, Emerson Strategic Communication Group. Baja, which relies heavily on tourism dollars from U.S. visitors, has suffered a decline of 75% in their revenue this year - a subject we have visited many times. The analysis makes clear that fear of drug cartel violence, and later of  the H1N1 flu virus, has kept huge numbers of visitors away.  What is also made clear is that these fears were wholly unjustified and unnecessarily overblown by the U.S. media.

“One critical fact remains clear, however: there is no evidence or history of tourists being harmed by cartel-related violence. Further, the threat of so-called “spillover” violence into the border states that spawned a great deal of coverage in the pre-April period has failed to materialize.  Nor has Mexico become the failed state so vigorously predicted earlier in the year.  None of these facts are actively reported to the American public.”

If the reports of drug cartel violence are still a concern for you, please read this report. I would also venture to suggest that you might like to think about what other stories in the press might be exaggerated - and why.  The fear of North Korean missiles reaching Hawaii is the latest one that springs to mind. There are factions within this country that have a vested interest in keeping people  fearful - don’t buy into their lies. It is you who ends up being the loser if you do.

If you really want to get a feel of just what life would be like if you were to retire down to San Felipe - maybe you like the idea but are still a bit on the fence  - you may want to read about Kathy’s experience at http://sanfelipetalk.com. She has lived  at El Dorado Ranch for just over six years now and has just started to write about that experience in her own blog, which started in May. It covers a mix of local news and happenings and her own personal insights, and will certainly give you a good flavor of what life is like there. I very much look forward to seeing how her blog progresses - for my part, I would like to see a few more pictures on the site but, in the meantime , here is one of mine - a picture of one of the houses located near the golf course that I took on my first trip down there. Not bad eh?

I have noticed that one thing that is severely lacking when it comes to information about El Dorado Ranch is video. I have searched YouTube a few times hoping to find something that really shows off the the beauty of the location and the extent of its wonderful facilities, but there is really nothing out there that fits the bill. However, I was checking out the blueroadrunner.com website to see what was new and they have a whole new section dedicated to videos of San Felipe and the surrounding area -
http://blueroadrunner.com/sfvideos.htm - many of which have been gleened from YouTube, but it is very useful to have a single resource where you can find all these videos in one place - well done Blueroadrunner! In saying that though, there are still no videos of El Dorado Ranch itself. I am sure that a few home-grown videos of the place would be of enormous value to anyone contemplating going on one of the regular El Dorado Ranch tours (read about our experience here). So if anyone is planning on making the trip and wants to take some video, or who knows of such a video and can send us the link, we would love to show it on our blog!

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!

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.