Top Vacation News

The Sault Star of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario published a piece recently you’ll want to read.  Thesalon correspondent Pauline Clark and her husband, Gerry, recently ventured to Mexico to see first-hand what their photographer daughter, Courtenie raves about. Pauline then wrote “The Real Mexican Experience.”

The Sault Star of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario published a piece recently you’ll want to read.  Thesalon correspondent Pauline Clark and her husband, Gerry, recently ventured to Mexico to see first-hand what their photographer daughter, Courtenie raves about. Pauline then wrote “The Real Mexican Experience.”

The Sault Star of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario published a piece recently you’ll want to read.  Thesalon correspondent Pauline Clark and her husband, Gerry, recently ventured to Mexico to see first-hand what their photographer daughter, Courtenie raves about. Pauline then wrote “The Real Mexican Experience.”

MTV Travel: música y paquetes turísticos increíbles

MTV Travel como su nombre lo dice, combina dos de las opciones de ocio que gusta más a la mayoría de los jóvenes en España: la música y los viajes. Luego de un acuerdo de partes entre al canal de música más famoso del planeta con eDreams la agencia de viajes, ha surgido este portal que es muy interesante para todos quienes buscan las mejores ofertas en vuelos, hoteles y demás.

La cadena internacional MTV posee varios canales y señales para todos los gustos musicales y ahora con esta idea pretende llegar al público joven con ofertas que no se pueden encontrar en otros sitios no sólo por los buenos precios sino por propuestas únicas en planes de viaje diferentes. A modo de ejemplo, a través del portal los usuarios podrán encontrar experiencias de viaje únicas como por ejemplo conducir en Monza un auténtico Ferrari o surcar los cielos en un avión caza bombarderos.

Se trata de este modo de rediseñar el turismo, con paquetes que por cierto no son para nada habituales y que según las autoridades del canal serán muy bien vistas por la gran tele audiencia que tienen y que busca en todo momento este tipo de aventuras junto con la excelente música que ofrecen.

In Mexico, Tourism Survives

National Public Radio recently did a piece on tourism in México – and we are happy to read (and listen to) such a balanced piece.

If you’ve been on the fence about visiting México, we recommend reading and listening to their piece and afterwards, we’re sure you’ll enjoy a fantastic vacation to México!

Yes, the drug war has created an image problem. But Mexico has launched an aggressive publicity blitz to try to attract more tourists, and it seems to be succeeding.

Even President Felipe Calderon is involved in the full court press to tout the wonders, delicacies and marvels of Mexico to potential visitors.

On the PBS program The Royal Tour of Mexico, Calderon serves as the on-camera guide for TV host Peter Greenberg. The president leads a zip-line tour across a rain forest, rappels into a cave, climbs Mayan ruins and snorkels along a coral reef.

Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism has also launched advertising campaigns at home and abroad pitching the nation’s charms. The country, which has been unable to contain the bloody drug war and where dead bodies regularly get dumped in the streets, wants more people to come for vacation.

Tourism officials point out that a record number of visitors are flying into Mexico’s resorts, investors are plowing money into new hotels and most tourist destinations are miles away from the cartel violence.

It might seem that attracting visitors in the midst of the drug war would be a difficult task. The fight against organized crime in Mexico has claimed some 40,000 lives since 2006. Every day there are more stories of severed human heads, shootouts, kidnappings or extortion happening somewhere across the country.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images 

The number of people visiting Mexico — and staying at least one night in places such as Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California state (shown here) — has rebounded this year and is almost at a record level, according to the government.

 

But the number of people visiting Mexico — and staying at least one night — has rebounded this year and is almost at a record level.

Many Tourist Destinations Unscathed

Mexico’s secretary of tourism, Gloria Guevara, says the vast majority of tourists come to just a half-dozen destinations in Mexico, which are far away from the drug violence.

“They come to Cancun — that is pretty safe, it’s fine. They come to Los Cabos, Vallarta, Huatulco, a few of them. If you include Mexico City and Guadalajara, you have 80 percent of [tourists]. So I would say they can come, visit Mexico and enjoy,” she says.

In January, a stray bullet during a shootout in Mazatlan hit a Canadian tourist in the leg, but in general, tourists haven’t gotten caught up in the violence. For the most part, the cartels are fighting among themselves and against the state.

The number of tourists flying into Mexico City and Cancun hit new records last year. The overall number of visitors to Mexico, however, is at the lowest level in 15 years. This is because the number of Americans driving across the border into the drug-ravaged north of the country has fallen dramatically.

Feeling The Pinch In Acapulco

The Pacific coast resort of Acapulco has also seen a sharp drop in tourism as criminals battle for control of the city. Between 2006 — when Calderon declared war on the cartels — and now, the number of tourists jetting into Acapulco has fallen by 50 percent.

On a recent afternoon at El Zorrito on the main tourist strip in Acapulco, most of the restaurant’s 20 tables are empty. The only people to come in during what should be the lunch rush are a Mexican couple and a guy begging with a baby.

Waiter Javier Francisco Perez says things are really tough in Acapulco right now.

“There aren’t any other sources of employment here in Acapulco,” he says. “There aren’t other businesses like in Mexico City — like clothes or textiles. You don’t have that here. We live off tourism. And if that doesn’t come together, we are going down.”

Francisco says the violence in Acapulco isn’t just affecting tourists. The public school teachers went out on strike over extortion threats by local gangs. Severed human heads have turned up at shopping malls, and gunmen have staged shootouts on the main tourist avenue. Francisco says even locals are afraid to go out at night.

Tourism Industry Still Betting On Mexico

Despite the security problems in Acapulco and along the border, Mexico as a nation still has a lot to offer. Across the country there are bustling markets selling local crafts, unique cheeses and spicy street food.

Mexico has stunning pre-Hispanic ruins, including Aztec and Mayan pyramids. The capital has trendy nightclubs, world-class restaurants and a giant 16th-century cathedral that’s slowly sinking into the unstable soil.

Gerardo Murray, the vice president for sales and marketing for InterContinental Hotels Group in Mexico, says the country is much more than a beach destination.

“It’s about romantic cities, colonial cities, history,” he says.

The vast majority of visitors come from the United States, but Murray says many Americans have grown leery of Mexico.

“We had to be blind not to see that our most important market, the U.S., has its doubts about traveling into Mexico,” he says.

Murray, however, says InterContinental is confident that these doubts can be overcome, so much so that the hotel group is opening 49 new hotels in Mexico over the next four years.

“It is clear that we are betting on Mexico, that we trust in Mexico, and of course that we love Mexico,” Murray says.

InterContinental, which includes the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, is the largest hotel chain in the country.

Other hotel companies, including Marriott, report that despite the security and public relations problems, they also have aggressive expansion plans for Mexico.

Cruceros temáticos 2012 para quienes disfrutan del buen vino

Los cruceros temáticos son un gran atractivo dentro de las propuestas de viaje para quienes desea algo diferente y para quienes gustan del buen vino que seguramente son muchos, existen varias alternativas para esta actual época de cosecha y el siguiente año 2012 a bordo de los buques de Celebrity Cruises. Dentro de Europa, existen varios países donde se produce el mejor vino de la región entre ellos, Francia, Portugal y la propia España y son estos algunos de los destinos de estos viajes.

El barco elegido en esta oportunidad para estos increíbles cruceros del próximo año es el Celebrity Constellation sin duda uno de los más espectaculares de la flota. Dentro de los destinos elegidos para que el buque coloque sus amarras y luego de partir de Southampton en el Reino Unido, encontramos en primer lugar el puerto francés de Le Havre. Se trata de un lugar de ensueño a muy poca distancia de París, la ciudad luz donde los viajeros van a pasar la noche en medio de fiestas de degustación bajo las luces de la famosa Torre Eiffel.

En este caso la bebida será el mejor champagne francés lo que se repetirá luego en las proximidades de Burdeos en el puerto de Le Verdon. Más adelante, otros destinos serán el puerto de Bilbao degustando los mejores vinos y productos de La Rioja para luego partir hacia Portugal donde espera el mejor Oporto del mundo en la ciudad del mismo nombre. Las fechas de estos cruceros del vino comienzan en Septiembre y hasta Diciembre del próximo año.

Fantastic Mexican Huichol Art Car

If you like native Mexican handcrafts, you probably know of the beautiful pieces made with beads or yarn pressed into beeswax and pine resin made by the Huichol people of western central Mexico.  The intricacy and beauty of these pieces is stunning, truly.  But a car?  A beaded car?  How amazing and fantastic!

You owe it to yourself to look at the photos and read about the Huichol Volkswagen Bug here at El Vochol: Making Mexican Folk Art Pop.

Moving to Mexico

After more than twenty-five years of dancing around the idea of being an expat, a year ago I became one.

In the previous post, we mentioned several things that we love about Mexico after living here for one year.

It occurred to me that I should tell you why. Why did we move? Why do we love it?

Flash back to 2008. My 16-year marriage had just ended and the photography world was changing faster than I was. I sat alone in a new apartment, in a new town for three months and tried to figure out where my life was headed.

I’ve had quite a life: traveled to more than 45 countries, lived in Paris, hiked the Himalayas, criss-crossed India by train, skied expert runs in Colorado, and indulged myself with good food and wine at every opportunity. I have made a comfortable living as a photographer since 1981. I have traveled into the Sahara, been swarmed by bugs in the Cameroon rain forest and boated down the Niger River for National Geographic; shot assignments for books and magazines; and have always been grateful for my photography career.

But, here I was, single and middle-aged (hell, late 50s is middle-aged if you are going to live past 100!). The thought of dating in my 50s was about as much fun as being nibbled to death by ducks. The economy at that time didn’t add to my overall mood.

Jennifer and I had met in a small mountain town in Colorado a few years before we started dating. She was leaving as I was arriving, making changes to her life at the time. Jennifer had worked for several years as a massage therapist and owned a day spa. She wanted to pursue her dreams of travel and photography and was leaving Creede for Brooks Institute in California.

Three years later, I spotted her, loaded down with camera gear, working a 4th of July parade. I asked her out on a date, she said yes, and we have been together since the summer of 2009. Business partners, life partners, best friends.

After a couple of months of dating, we talked about living in a Spanish-speaking country. The U.S. was feeling less like home and we both wanted something new, someplace we would be passionate about, a place to start a new life and a new business. A three-month road trip (rental cars, buses and trains) through Peru, Bolivia and Argentina gave us wonderful experiences and a decent library of photos to submit to National Geographic, but no great prospects for a new home.

A series of discussions and inquiries led to a drive through Mexico, with the intention of living on the island of Cozumel for six weeks, working, shopping and test driving the town, island and country. My travels over the years have taken me to Oaxaca, Michoacan, Chiapas, much of the Yucatan, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Cabo, D.F. (Mexico City) and numerous trips to Cozumel for diving. I already had a serious love affair going with the country. It was Jennifer’s first visit. Luckily, she fell in love, too.

What We Love and Why

We love the architecture and setting of San Miguel de Allende. Our first meal was posole and chile rellenos at the rooftop terrace at La Posadita. The quality of the food and the setting across from the Parroquia has made this our obligatory stop when we are there.

Posole at La Posadita, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato

We have been to Chiapas twice together. Hands down, it is our favorite place away from the ocean. The small, charming, cosmopolitan city of San Cristobal is a visual and edible feast. It has Argentine, Italian and Mexican restaurants; wine bars with good wine, bocaditos and fair prices (don’t get me started on a rant about inflated wine prices at restaurants) and great coffee bars. Surrounded by mountains and permeated by a rich, indigenous culture, there is something about the place that keeps pulling us back. We hope to be there soon. If there was Caribbean water within a couple of hours, we would probably live there and not here.

Real de Guadalupe, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas

But, we are here – in or on (I’m never sure which is right) the island of Cozumel. Why?

It’s the water: warm, calm and clear with stunning coral reefs on the leeward side; wild and treacherous on the unspoiled, windward side. We like looking at it, being in it, being on top of it and being underneath it. There is not enough money in the world to get me to live in a humid climate (reared in Missouri, college in Florida) if there is not an ocean and ocean breezes to moderate that climate.

North lagoon, Cozumel

Artificial reef, Dzul ha, Cozumel

There are interesting people here, too. Not just the usual tropical, hard-living beach bums, but people who are artists, creative cooks/chefs, and entrepreneurs. The relaxed pace of life seems a world away from the hustle of Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

The free salsa music in the plaza on weekends, the astounding quality of the costuming and dancing at the Carnaval parties and parades, and the feeling that the island is large enough to be diverse, but small enough to feel intimate are a few more reasons why we live here.

We followed our dream. We took some chances.

In the summer of 2009, neither of us imagined that two years later we would be living on an island in the Caribbean. Many times, I have imagined I would live in an apartment in Paris or a villa in Italy, or on an island in the Caribbean, but I never believed I would.

We started a Mexican corporation and have been busy promoting our photography business. We are shooting destination weddings, family portraits, advertising jobs for resorts and restaurants, and we still contribute images to National Geographic. We have never been happier.

Family portrait session, Cozumel

So, here come the cliches: follow your dream, take risks, open your heart to love, don’t fear failure, work and play hard, and live every day as if it is your last. I used to place a saying at the bottom of my emails, but I stopped because I think everyone had seen it.

“Work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt and dance like nobody is watching.”

That is how we try to live everyday and it works for us.

How to Be a Successful Expat

I have lived in México for four years now, and have written two blog posts that might be helpful to others considering making México their home.

Not everyone is suited to life away from their home country, and the decisionmaking process involves a lot of honest thinking about  your needs and wants.

The first, How to Be a Successful Expat, was very popular and I received a lot of positive feedback (and ideas for a follow-up post!)

The second was written after an American expat here in México insulted our decision to live at the beach, as he considered his choice of location in the mountains “right.”  That one I called We’re all Looking at the Same Moon, but could just have easily been called More on Being a Successful Expat.

I hope you find them both helpful.

How about 250 great startups in México per year?

TWW (The Next Web) recently profiled Jorge Madrigal, a Mexican man with a mission to foster the local startup ecosystem with a series of initiatives. He even has target numbers in mind as he wants his home country to create “250 interesting startups a year, instead of around 30.”  This is an inspiring article and has lots of links you’ll want to follow.

Jorge is on a mission to foster the local startup ecosystem with a series of initiatives. He even has target numbers in mind as he wants his home country to create “250 interesting startups a year, instead of around 30.” Here’s how he plans to achieve his goal.

The starting point: “a lack of investment opportunities”

Jorge Madrigal‘s initial motivation came from his personal experience. Having studied and worked in the U.S. for eight years, he decided a couple years ago to move back to his home country, Mexico, and to look for a job in the private equity sector.

As he recalls, he was “lucky enough” to find like-minded people who were starting an angel group, Angel Ventures Mexico, which was far from common in the country. He started working with them for a few months but to his own surprise, he found the local market to be very disappointing, for reasons he didn’t expect.

Although some may disagree, Jorge thinks capital isn’t what’s missing the most in the Mexican startup scene. Instead, what he couldn’t find were interesting investment opportunities. Sure, there were smart and well-educated Mexicans, who had often studied abroad thanks to government grants, but to put it bluntly, “their business ideas were lame,” Jorge recalls. Not all of them of course; there are some great startups in Mexico, but Jorge felt it was far from enough.

How to create a startup ecosystem?

Changing his focus, Jorge decided to start his own company, Aventura Capital Partners, to foster the startup ecosystem in Mexico. There’s still a long way to go, he reckons; during a recent event at a Mexican university, he was appalled to discover that many students had no idea what a startup was. It’s therefore not very surprising that education will be one of the pillars of his initiative, which he told me will revolve around three axes:

• Increase startup education and awareness, especially among people with a technical background;
• Generate a community of people interested in startups and technology, who can exchange ideas;
• Generate more high-quality startups, which solve a real problem.

Bringing the Founder Institute to Mexico

Jorge’s belief is that “it all starts with education.” This is the reason for his involvement with theFounder Institute, together with his friend and fellow Mexican entrepreneur José Akle. According to Jorge, the well-known Founder Institute will launch operations in Mexico in May, where it will replicate the four-month accelerator program it already brought to twenty cities worldwide.

What Jorge likes the most about this model? Mentorship. Not only because mentors will be aspirational role models, but also because they’ll be able to share the difficulties they had along the way. Jorge is convinced that the lack of knowledge about startups means that too many people have an idealized and glamour vision of the startup life. The fact that the program will start with 50 companies and end up with a much lower number of them is also likely to get entrepreneurs familiar with the fact that creating a company isn’t easy, he adds.

The 12 Mexican and foreign entrepreneurs the program will select as mentors will have lived first-hand the ups and downs of launching a company. Jorge deplores that many angel investors in Mexico aren’t former entrepreneurs themselves, and hopes that the incubation program will bring new angels to the scene, as mentors could be tempted to invest in the early startups they will advise.