The Baja 250 road race was held in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, the weekend of March 13-14, 2010. Thousands of Americans descended on San Felipe, a 5-hour drive from San Diego, to participate in or to watch the race, which meandered for 250 km on existing dirt and paved roads through the Sierra San Felipe west of San Felipe. (I'm not a road racing buff, but you can read more about it if you like at http://bajasafari.blogspot.com/).
And guess what?!? THEY ALL HAD A GREAT TIME!!! There were no kidnappings or murders!! There was only one serious injury, but not due to Mexican drug cartels!
This is despite recent warnings from the U.S. State Department about travelling to Mexico due to the recent shootings of three US consulate workers in Juarez, across the border from El Paso. I don't mean to belittle that very sad, very unfortunate incident whatsoever, and until the U.S. legalizes marijuana, violence at the border will continue, but that's for another of my blogs.
But I have to laugh when my U.S. friends who've spent little time in Mexico ask me incredulously why I'm even THINKING of once again visiting my part-time Mexico home, as I've been doing about eight times a year since 2002. I spend up to three weeks at my beach house about 40 miles south of San Felipe. Perched on a bluff, where the desert meets the lovely Sea of Cortez, it's a great spot for viewing both sunrises and moonrises.
I have both Mexican and American friends who live nearby, permanently or part-time, and who have been travelling to and from the U.S. and San Felipe, and other parts of Mexico, for up to 50 years. I have NEVER heard a single story of an unfortunate occurrence from any of them! Not even "incidents with the Federales," the theme of stories, of which I'm skeptical, that are often repeated in the U.S. by weekend Mexico travellers. The "Federales" I've met have always been friendly and helpful, and they often ask me for help learning English. One time they were happy to show me the warm and safe home they were providing a for a stray dog and her puppies!
The incident in Juarez was unusual, as nearly all of border violence has been associated with someone in the wrong place at the wrong time, such as at a bar in downtown Tijuana, a known hotbed of drug cartels, at 2 a.m. Would you hang out in a bar near certain rough parts of Los Angeles or San Diego at 2 am? Of course not! Several murders and/or other crimes occur in Los Angeles and San Diego each and every night that you will NEVER hear about, no matter how many newspapers you read or television shows you watch. Yet just one violent event occurs south of the border, and the media becomes frantic!! Ah, my friends, but guess who owns the U.S. Media? U.S. Corporations, that's who. And guess who would much rather you spend your hard-earned dollars in the U.S. instead of in Mexico, where your dollars would buy much more?
Yes, there are stories, lots of stories, about violence in and near border towns, and even though most are embellished each time they are told, I strongly urge travellers to Mexico to drive during the day through border towns and to continue non-stop and on the main roads.
But the stories you won't likely hear repeated ARE THOSE ABOUT THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE NEAR, OR VISIT, SAN FELIPE AND HAVE AN ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS TIME! I wouldn't be looking forward to living here full-time when I retire if I ever felt unsafe here. I never worry about threats to my life while walking alone on the beach here, night or day, or while driving or walking in San Felipe. But nearly each day on Los Angeles freeways, I have thanked my defensive driving for avoiding a serious accident with an idiot bent on getting home or to work 2 minutes early.
Americans love to repeat stories of unfortunate events; why pay money to see the latest horror movie if you can get freaked out at the company water cooler or reading a text message on your Blackberry? Come on, which are you most likely to hear or read: "Hey, did you hear Jimmy and his wife had a great time in San Felipe last weekend and spent only $300 the whole time?" or "Hey, did you hear that Jimmy had $300 stolen from his wallet [by another American, most likely] in Mexico last weekend?"
San Felipe is only a 7-hr drive from Los Angeles, a 5-hr drive from San Diego, and a 2-hr drive from Mexicali. Despite Mexicali's location on the border, drug trafficing there is minimal with none of the violence of Tijuana, Juarez and other Mexican towns that border the U.S. And San Felipe is far easier and cheaper to get to than Puerto Vallarta, Cancun or Cabo San Lucas, which are Amercan tourist traps. If you want a REAL taste of Mexico, it's much harder to find there than in the fishing village of San Felipe, which is so quaint it's still devoid of traffic signals.
Since the lifeblood of San Felipe is tourism, it hurts to see my Mexican friends suffering because the U.S. media and State Department label ALL OF MEXICO as dangerous, while it's only a tiny percentage (less than 1%) of the country, and only SOME of the border towns, where the problem exists. It's safe in San Felipe, and most other towns of interior Mexico. The air is clean, the skies and the sea are blue, and the people are friendly and always willing to help if you're in a bind or can't speak a word of Spanish.
If you're one of those ugly Americans who comes to Mexico to flagrantly ignore its laws, look down on its beautiful people, drive your noisy, polluting vehicles and make an overall drunken fool of yourself, please stay in the U.S. But if you're a peaceful soul curious about our lovely beaches, gorgeous sunrises, cactus gardens, fishing opportunities, wonderful restaurants (a great steak house, and an Italian, Japanese, and even a Basque restaurant now, in addition to excellent Mexican cuisine), bird life, and desert wildflowers (they're starting to bloom now, after our February rains), drive safely, but not fearfully, and come for a visit. You'll be glad you did.
