My Brisas

Beach life makes for cozy afternoons and chilly nights. One needs to have the proper wood burning chimney to keep warm.  Below are the three chimney’s we have narrowed down for our patio.

Chimney’s

Price ranges are 25-50 dlls.  These are great prices and they include sturdy metal stands. One always could haggle… Funny thing, we don’t haggle much anymore because we are fully aware of the hardship the lack of tourism dollars is causing to the local merchants up and down the coast.  Being blessed with the opportunity to live out our dreams makes us appreciate what we have and don’t mind paying asking price. As you begin to plan your 4th of July, weekend consider loading the family up for a road trip down the baja coast.  Come on down to Baja and pick up one of these chimneys for yourself.

Looking back on 2009: What I consider the Year of the Empty Tourist Town. The biased USA media finally placed the last knife into the Baja Tourist industry in 2009. Those who remain are those who understand the region and need for an escape is greater than the media’s output. Real lives are affected by the tourist down turn and the need is greater from those of us who can give back to the community at large. Yet, we remain. We head into town, walk the streets, take in the smells, the vistas, the people, the events and admit we do enjoy the shorter line at the border. We made some friends, we lost a neighbor, we gathered and we were missed. The people who send us newspaper articles about the violence in the region were genuinely concerned but should take us up on our weekend invitations in 2010. I promise you will be just as safe or not safer in Baja that your own city. Hopefully, I taught but mostly I learned. I learned to admire the weird, strange, and to listen to the music. We felt the local vibe, complete strangers acknowledge we were strangers and made us feel at home.

Cheers to all of you who have joined us in 2009.

2010 is well on its way.

The most important thing a major city region can do for it’s citizens is create a well connected transit system. Within Mexico, the most evident effort of connected transit systems: are the systems of the Mexico City Metro,   and the Tren Ligero. The two systems do not operate as one single entity, they do participate under one common goal of serving the greater metropolitan area of  Mexico City.

Typical Mexico City Metro Station walk way

Un Viaje

Mexico City Metro ticket allows one entry into the system for 2 pesos about 20 cents.

Mass Transit at the Border Region

Mass transit momentum has been around quite a while on the United States side of the border, with the Blue Line Trolley allowing someone to take mass transit to the border at San Ysidro Station.  While on the Mexican side of the border, citizens mostly rely on taxi’s, taxis vans, and bus service. Although the Tijuana options are affordable, they are the automobile version with limitations due in part because they move with the rest of traffic on already crowded streets and highways.

But that may all be about to change…

Our fellow Tijuana blogger: The Real Tijuana Blog, has exciting news about the future a mass transit on the Mexican side of the border. It seems the system will bring Tijuana in line with the transit efforts found on the United States side of the border.

One interesting quote I’ve read while researching the Mexico City Metro website is:

It reads: “Los programas sociales promovidos en nuestra página, cumplen con el artículo 38 de la Ley de Desarrollo Social del Distrito Federal que a la letra dice: “Este programa es de carácter público, no es patrocinado por partido político alguno y sus recursos provienen de los impuestos que pagan todos los contribuyentes. Está prohibido el uso de este programa con fines políticos, electorales, de lucro y otros distintos a los establecidos. Quien haga uso indebido de los recursos de este programa en el Distrito Federal, será sancionado de acuerdo con la ley aplicable y ante la autoridad competente”

My English translation:

“The social programs found on our website, adhere to Article 38 of the Law of Development of Social Programs for the Federal District (Mexico City) which states: This program carries a public character, it is not sponsored by any politico party, its subsidies comes from the taxes of all. It is prohibited to use this program for political or electoral gain. Anyone found in unlawful use of this program or its resources within the Federal District (Mexico City), shall be sanction and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”.

My only observation
I can’t wait for this rail line to open. The simple fact that the region is at the cusp of breaking into and creating a true mass transit system on both sides of the border speaks volumes to efforts on both sides of the border. May the system be as it is intended to be with the possibility of serving the greatest number of patrons.

Hopefully, the two sides can achieve similar outcomes as what is found in Mexico City. Create a mass transit system that takes into account, and is true to the uniqueness of the Border region. “De todos – para todos”.

Tags: Border Region, Mass transit, San Diego, Tijuana

What happens when your chosen life purpose is, “To free yourself from place – to live a multi-cultural,  multi-national, and a multi-lingual life”. One unintended consequence of having such a life purpose is:  we find yourselves always on the road.

The past several months have been constant. A constant drive between one of these three cities:  Los Angeles,  Las Vegas, or Tijuana, Mexico.  Whether it’s to fulfill paperwork, fix a broken sink, pay a bill, or seek other investment opportunities.  We have no time other than to hit the road.

Our sincerest apology

To friends, who looked forwarded to our last minute movies, drinks, whatever events and to our familia , who enjoyed Sunday morning restaurant hopping tours. We really mean to make it up to you guys. Our sincerest apology.

As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for…

Saludos,

Tags: Rants

*As of Sept. 2009, this once a upon a time restaurant located in Ensensada bay has been completely demolished.

Tags: Baja, Ensenada, Valley de Guadalupe

Do you need a reason to head South of the border this weekend? If you need something to do I would suggest a short drive south of the border to attend some of the wine harvesting events in Baja California’s wine country.

Bottle on the wall

My recommendation would be to the hit the Street Fair in Ensenada on Friday or Sat. afternoon.
14:00 Hrs.
SANTO TOMAS STREET FAIR
Place: Bodegas Santo Tomás Calle Miramar de la 6ta. hasta la 8va
Organized by: Bodegas Santo Tomás, Ensenada, B. C.
Santo Tomas Street Fair with numerous artistic expressions, games, music, food and house wines. in company of several wineries from Baja California.

Get more info at Ensensada Wine Festivals / Fiestas de la Vendimia

Tags: baja california, wine tasting

Another Baja Voice

You gotta love Mr. Jesse Ventura for telling it like it is. From Professional wrestler, to Governor of Minnesota, and now back in the States promoting his latest book out on paperback “Don’t start the revolution without me” Jesse tells it like it is on Larry King Live.

Of particular interest to us and the reason why I think he looks so refreshed are his comments about his time living in Baja.

“surfing is a dedication, and it is a life dedication, and if someone were that dedicated to religion, would [you] call them a religious bum?” – Jesse Ventura

Always, on point and willing to stand up for his beliefs. Jesse Ventura’s comments regarding living in Baja are quite the opposite of main stream news media (cartel gun battles, swine flu, and corruption, etc.)

Jesse’s comments reflect our underlying conviction that we did the right thing – we are living our lives down in Baja. We experience the region first hand and know it and cherish it for what it is. A great place: the people, the culture, the lifestyle.

I wish this message could reach others, but the addiction to fear that runs throughout the USA media outlets unfortunately needs to run its course. In the mean time, we will continue to explore, understand, and live our lives.

The Truth:

Once you have lived down in Mexico, coming to the USA takes on a totally different meaning as in this story.

In the words or our ex-patriot neighbor who has lived down in Baja for over 10 year after retiring from the New Jersey Police Department “My people’s are crazy”.

Tags: Baja, Jesse Ventura

Fellow border blogger, Ms. Anna Cearley posts on her blog  Across the Border that the Telegram survives in Mexico because it serves the communication needs of remote villagers throughout Mexico; that the most common non-essential telegram is for remittance notifications.  While in the States the need for the telegram is now obsolete.  The existence of the telegram infrastructure highlights the ongoing need for communication options to remote areas deep within  Mexico. Living along the border region (we are only 15 minutes from the San Diego Border) we have had our share of shocking cell phone bills because we rely on a US issued cell phone and pay the expensive international roaming rates. Along with dealing with international Country codes, making calls from Baja is not only expensive but tedious.

The Challenge:

How to communicate while in Baja?

The Goal:

1. From Baja: Cheap calls to the USA and within Mexico.
2. From the USA: We have friends, family, and colleagues back in the States. We want affordable cell phone options.  We need to be able to receive phone calls throughout Mexico not just Baja.
3. The phone calls should be as affordable as possible and mobile is preferred.

Solution:

Sprint / Nextel International Direct Connect^SM – The leading push to talk (PTT) phone network is the primary choice for Baja. Why? Because they offer sufficient regular cell phone coverage in the States and an  outstanding product known as International Direct Connect^SM.  The key features of affordability within Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru.

Other

Google Voice aka Grand Central – Another option that we have implemented is the usages of Google’s internet phone service. This service gives us a local USA area code number which we can access our messages over the internet. The service allows you to forward your web button calls straight to voice mail or to any phone number or you can listen in and pick up the call directly. Lastly, Google Voice offers excellent rates for making out going calls.

Conclusion:

Since moving to Baja, we carry only one cell phone/plan  (Sprint/Nextel States plan with International Direct Connect) and we provide our friends and family back in the States with our local Grand Central number which is usually forwarded to our phone or voice message and is checked regularly.  Since this is not an exhaustive list of options, I would like to hear from you? What do you use to communicate while in Baja?

Tags: Add new tag, Baja, Border Region, Google Voice, International calls, keep in touch, Life Hacks, Mobility, phone rates, Sprint/Nextel

After our server melt down last month.  We are able to recoup most of our data because of online storage options including Picasa Web Album and Flickr for our digital pictures and other online software. While I am to blame for our recent meltdown, due to extreme procrastination. I will write about our new setup and our goal on having everything Baja related online.

The goal this time around is simple: to do it all online:  email, blog,  software, and storage infrastructure so that we can post and access our data anywhere for free or as cheaply as possible.

Here is our current online life setup:

Email:

Everyone has at least one, most have several. Microsoft, Google, or Yahoo you decide. I use GMail but I have a Yahoo account for online shopping.

Web Hosting:

Several years ago when I was first in the market for hosting space I relied on this  Web Hosting Rating Website for comparison shopping.  At the time, there were several free hosting websites options but we settled on Host Monster because of the bandwidth offering,  and storage space, and $5.95 per month we found this to be a very affordable and includes our domain fee.

Verdict: Pay a little to have more control especially if you want to use your own domain name.

Blog software:

Blogger or Word Press as these two are the industry standard. Our first ever attempt at blogging was on Blogger . I really enjoyed the ease of use, but have since migrated over to Word Press.

Online Software:

For our software needs I use  Google Docs, and more recently  Zoho. These two options provide great Office software replacement online.

Online Storage:

For our storage issues we use an external hard drive and Microsoft’s Skydrive.

This list is not exhaustive but it does provide us with the flexibility we need in Baja. Is this the wave of the future? I think so, when you factor in all software cost, it makes sense to have everything online and as long as you are not sharing or storing valuable information, you too can move your (blogging) life online.

As the future of software continues to evolve one handy resource website for finding alternative software solutions is Alternative TO

The Alternative to website compiles Free Open Source software alternatives to costly software.

****One real and potential threat to this experiment is our privacy and several known cases of who owns the data you store online. Though I will only discuss what online services I use. I am in no way stating that this is a complete list of options. I remove myself from all responsibility from any harm caused to your data.  I am not associated with any of the software companie’s mentioned.   **** Buyer beware!

Hello April – good bye March…

Last month we began noticing that we were missing files on our server. This occurrence was later confirmed with a database connection issue and lastly with a full melt down. This major mis-hap occurred at the hardware level, with very little warning.

I’ve replaced our old box and have since moved most of our back end software to the new box and should be able to coup some of our data.

If we can ‘t save our old data, then we will consider it an early “spring cleaning” and move on… But not with a clear “Lesson Learned”.

We really want to get into the habit of posting regularly especially during this cycle of renewed interest in the Baja region.

Saludos!