Why I Travel to Mexico by Peter Greenberg

Travel Detective Blog: Why I Travel to Mexico

FEATURED POSTS, MEXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA, SAFETY & SECURITY, TRAVEL DETECTIVE BLOG, TRAVEL NEWS — ON MARCH 22, 2012 8:16 AM 

This past week Peter was down in Ixtapa, Mexico to prepare for his upcoming radio broadcast. Even passing through Mexico City’s 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday didn’t to dampen his enthusiasm for travel within the country. Read his latest blog to find out why he is still traveling to Mexico and you should too.

Let me state something from the outset. I am not an unabashed apologist for Mexico, or its spokesman or an endorser. I am writing this as a veteran traveler to Mexico who has been going down there since 1973 without a single incident.

I am growing tired, and somewhat impatient with expressions of concern or worry — as well intentioned as they may be — about my traveling to Mexico.

Every time I am about to fly there — to Cancun, to Cabo, to Ixtapa, to Mexico City and many other locations — my friends, and sometimes even strangers advise me to “be careful,”, “be safe,” or worse…”watch out.”

Watch out for what? great people? great weather? great service? affordable, memorable experiences?

Most Americans share, as a group, two notable, and embarrassing traits: we are geographically ignorant and culturally insensitive. And, at every possible opportunity to travel, we embrace the worst four letter word that starts with “f”: fear.

It’s sad, it’s unfortunate, and at the very least, it’s embarrassing. Instead, we need to get out there and find a map. Then we need to study it to put things in proper perspective Yes, the drug cartel wars in Mexico have taken a terrible human toll. Depending on which figures you believe, upwards of 40,000 people have been killed in the last five years, as gangs fight other gangs. Often public displays of those deaths, those visually powerful images have created a serious public relations problem for Mexico and have allowed thousands of Americans to succumb to their fears.

Wet Fun Water Park

I've featured the water park before but it is so cool that I'm going to post it again. We've been several times and it never gets old. If you've never been, you are missing a full day of fun for very little money. It's located about 15 minutes North of the San Jose del Cabo airport.

Todos Santos Dessert Challenge Off Road Race

We went to the races last weekend over at Todos Santos. The race is the Wide Open Dessert Challenge. Fun race; 2 laps of about 70 kilometers each. Donna's son Pat and his copiloto Keith raced Pat's Class One car the "Warlock." Here are a few photos. Click here to see some short videos including Steve Berry's unscheduled pit stop to fix a flat.

The San Jose Estuary Burns Again!

Somehow the estuary caught fire a few days ago. I have 2 sets of friends who live on the edge of the arroyo. The fire was stopped almost on their property lines! One of them, Mike H. sent me these photos. Fortunately, the wind changed a bit and the local bomberos did a fine job in arresting the spread of the fire.

Southwest Air Announces New Flights

Air fare price wars would be a welcome change...

Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways Receive Route Approval from the US DOT to Operate New International Flights; Fares as Low as $109 one-way.  Click here for the story:

Less Mexicans Heading North

This is pretty interesting. Mexicans are less interested in going to the US for financial gain than before. Should Americans be happy?  Think this through.

Click here to read the story.


Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North

Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Antonio Orozco, center, with his sons Andrés, left, and Samuel, in Agua Negra, Mexico. Many Orozcos have crossed the border for work. View the Slide Show »

Music This Week on the East Cape

You have plenty of music events to choose from on the East Cape for the first week of November. Monday night the local band 'Los Viejos' will be playing the Trinidad RV Park. Music starts at 7. Mike will have good eats all ready to go. Enjoy a relaxing evening of mix of rock, blues and country.

Following the gig at Trinidad, the Roadrunner Cafe will host her first Wednesday open music night for 2011. Happy hour runs from 5 to 7. There will be appetizers, drinks/cerveza and desserts available. Casual atmosphere, no cover charge just a fun time with friends.   624-151-5807  for more info

And last but certainly not least, on Saturday November 5, the East Cape Art Association will have it's 2nd annual music festival. Just below the photo is a link where you will find the details and ticket info.

LOS BARRILES - MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011

Follow this link for full details:  Los Barriles Music Fest

Our Weather Station

For those who use it, our weather station is working fine.  However, there is a software glitch with the folks on the other end.  I've written both Weatherlink who are the gatherers of weather data from individual stations and Wunderground who are the folks that assimilate all that data and make forecasts and keep historical data.  I'm hoping they solve the problem soon.

Bob

Bored??? How about some Racing, Fishing, Swimming and Books!!

Hi friends. Do me a favor.  If you ever hear me complain about not having enough to do, would you please slap me?  Here it is, almost the dog days of summer.  It should be slow and boring right? NOT SO!

This weekend you could have restocked your book supply at the ALMA book sale.  Or you could have volunteered to help with the Association for the arts 'sports and crafts' fair as did our grand-daughter Melody from Oregon. OR you could have entered the annual 'Dorado Shoot Out' presented by the Van Wormer family. OR you could have watched and/or participated in the 'Los Cabos Dessert Challenge' off road race that was held in the El Tule arroyo. I managed 2 out of the 4.  Whaddya mean, "not bad?"  If you could hit a baseball in the major leagues 2 out of 4 times, you could name your salary!!

I missed the weigh in at the Shoot Out and will attempt to gather the facts for a post later. Of course we're dealing with fishermen so the facts will be scattered amongst rumors and exaggerations...... I did hear that the winning fish was 52 pounds.  I don't think they've ever had a winner under 50 pounds.
Kudos and congratulations Capt. Kit and Co.

The Association for the Arts folks are repeating their classes next Friday. If you're interested, you probably could still get involved. If you click on the link, you can send an email.  I will post photos and details after this Friday's activities.

I did however manage to see some of the 'Dessert Challange." My presence was heavily influenced by my wife. Her son Pat has a class one car and raced in the finale on Sunday. There were only 3 trophy trucks but the start is impressive.

Pictured here are:
Pat behind the wheel,
Wife Mayte giving last minute instructions like "drive careful dear" and
Co-pilot/son-in-law Jorge getting in the car.





An old friend, Jay Manning from San Jose won the class one race. Pat blew a tire and came in 4th I think.
This video is of the class one start:

East Cape Kiting and Windsurfing

The area around Los Barriles is world famous for its kiting and windsurfing. The main reason naturally is the WIND! How clever is that? Actually the best part is that the wind is generally parallel to to beach. Not offshore; not inshore. That means you can take off from the beach, go groove in the wind for awhile and sail back in without a bunch of brutal tacking maneuvers. During the winter, the wind is from the North mostly; summer it comes mainly from the south.

The most well known area is called "North Beach." It's located North of Los Barriles. Go figure. A newer hot spot is between Los Barriles and La Paz called "la Ventana." Great winds and less well known.



This video is from Exotikite. They have a school and store in Los Barriles. I can't recommend one school over another from personal knowledge but my grand daughter and her boyfriend both work for Exotikite. What are ya gonna do?

If you're a kiter or windsufer, check out the Lord of the Wind contest being held here in January. This is going to be huge, get your hotel reservations soon.