New Reading and Writing Program for Underserved Children

Baja Times


The Rosarito Friends of the Library will sponsor a unique new reading and writing program for underserved children in Colonia Morelos, an area located east of downtown in the far hills. The program, which will be held at the small Morelos public library, will begin on Saturday May 19 and will run for five successive Saturdays, terminating on June 16 with a gala final Fiesta.

Fifth and sixth grade participants will read brief biographies and family histories of selected Mexican heroes, and their comprehension, recall and writing skills will be practiced by providing written answers to prepared questions about those heroes. Each participant will also follow a prepared format to construct and write his or her own family history. The family history will require that the young writers interview parents, grandparents and other family members to gather as much information as possible for inclusion in that history. Spanish speaking volunteers will guide and assist the participants and score the written quiz answers and family history with credit given for penmanship and composition skills, spelling and grammar, neatness, completeness and timeliness.

Participants will compete for prizes such as new bicycles, scooters and roller skates which will be given to top achievers, and there will also be prizes for participants who exhibit the greatest improvement during the program. Snacks of fruit and juice will be offered each week along with numerous door prizes, and the final Fiesta will feature live entertainment, a dance contest, hot dogs, drinks, fruit, cotton candy and more door prizes for all kids who successfully complete the program. Additionally, each family history will be individually bound and displayed at the Morelos library before it is returned to the young author.

The reading programs for kids always generate great enthusiasm and eager participation, and the program is expected to fill up quickly. Because of the small size of the Morelos library the program will be limited to 45 participants.

Donations are requested to help fund the program, and Spanish speaking volunteers are also needed. Contributions to the Friends of the Library can be made by contacting Allan Browne at 661.612.3487 or by email at allan1browne@yahoo.com or at International Mail Center in Oceana Plaza. The phone number at the International Mail Center is 661.612.0155, and board member Elizabeth Carbajal can receive your donation there. Help us to help the young minds of Rosarito - support these youth reading programs.


www.bajainvestment.com

Rosarito Beach Hotel Plans Specials To Promote Ongoing Tourism Increase

MEDIA CONTACT:                          
Ron Raposa                                                                      
ronraposa@hotmail.com

Following last year's 17 percent increase in U.S. visitors, the landmark Rosarito Beach Hotel has a number of price promotions, packages and special events planned to continue the ongoing upswing this year.

With Easter week a popular time for vacation and holiday getaways, the hotel offers a weekday package from $79 that includes an oceanfront room and two dinners for adults, plus free stay and dinner for two children under 12. The Easter weekend rate starts from $109.

This year, Cinco de Mayo weekend coincides with the spring edition of the very popular Rosarito-Ensenada 50-Mile Fun Bike Ride and oceanfront packages are offered starting at $79. The offer is both for people wanting to spend Cinco de Mayo in the holiday's home country and those involved in the ride, which has attracted hundreds of thousands over more than 30 years.

On July 7 the Flying Samaritans will hold its third annual July 4th Beach Barbeque at the hotel. The gala seaside event attracts hundreds from the city's 14,000-member expatriate community as well as visitors from the U.S. All profits benefit the group's free clinics.

"We've got many other promotions this year, including our Spring Romance spa and wine package from $99, plus those who spend a $100 at the hotel get a complimentary Fast Pass to speed their return border crossing," said hotel sales and marketing director Daniel Torres.

More details on these promotions plus many others offered at the legendary hotel are available at www.rosaritobeachhotel.com

The Rosarito Beach Hotel and Resort is a Baja landmark that has hosted millions of visitors since opening in 1925. With more than 500 rooms and suites, its amenities include restaurants, bars and an elegant spa. A luxurious 18-story tower with 271 suites opened four years ago.

The Rosarito Beach Hotel also offers time shares and full ownership of luxury suites through its condo-hotel program.

www.bajainvestment.com

U.S. expats want tourists to return to Baja California

ENSENADA In their campaign to bring back U.S. visitors, Baja California authorities are increasingly looking to a new source of support: testimonials from members of the state’s U.S. expatriate community.

Tillie Foster, 79, is a U.S. expatriate who lives in Ensenada and is queen of her local Red Hat chapter. In the background are dancers from a local high school who served as entertainment for the first Baja International Community Mega Mixer. / Photo by Sandra Dibble * U-T

Through family connections, business contacts, social media, radio programs, promotional videos — any means that are at hand — residents such as Tillie Foster have been gladly stepping up to support their adopted home.

“Baja’s been good to me. I’ve made so many friends here,” said Foster, 79, a member of the Baja Image Committee who moved to Ensenada from Orange County 36 years ago. “I hate to see what’s been happening over the past five or six years.”

Foster was one of the promoters of the first Baja International Community Mega Mixer, held last Thursday at the historic Hotel Riviera del Pacífico, a civic and cultural center in downtown Ensenada. The gathering drew an estimated 300 expats from different parts of Baja California, many of them eager to share their viewpoint about life south of the border.

“It’s more relaxed. We’re done with snow, we’re done with cold,” said Gary Pliley, a 64-year-old retiree from Utah.

“You make friends here that you could call at two in the morning if you needed help,” said Carol Main, 69, who moved to Baja California from San Diego.

Also at the Thursday event was Vivian Scott, a marketing professor from Nevada. She was instrumental in persuading Las Vegas-based radio host Les Kincaid to broadcast his one-hour program, “Wines du Jour,” from an Ensenada hotel later that day.

“We have an investment in Baja,” said Scott, who with her husband owns a condo in San Felipe. “The farther you get from Mexico, the more entrenched the negativity.”

Ensenada, like tourist destinations statewide, has been struggling to bring back U.S. tourism. Hotels, restaurants and other businesses across Baja California have been working to recover from the sharp decline of American visitors since 2006, the result of a combination of factors, including the U.S. economic downturn, clogged border crossings, a new U.S. passport requirement and fears of crime in Mexico.

“The strongest testimony, the best, is from people who live here in our state,” Ensenada Mayor Enrique Pelayo, said as he addressed the Riviera gathering.

North of Ensenada, Rosarito Beach saw roughly a 70 percent drop in U.S. visitors from 2005 to 2010, said Hugo Torres, owner of the hotel and the city’s former mayor. For the first time in years, the downward trend was reversed, he said, as his hotel registered a 17 percent increase in Americans in 2011 over 2010.

Torres, who is president of the Baja Image Committee, has joined state tourism authorities in seeking out the support of members of the expatriate community, made up of an estimated 25,000 full- and part-time residents.

Their endorsements “are one more way of projecting an image that things are right, conditions are right for people to come down,” said Juan Tintos, Baja California’s Tourism Secretary.

Last year, Tintos’ office commissioned a 10-minute promotional video titled, “What is Baja?” The video draws heavily on interviews with U.S. visitors, residents and promoters such as Gary Foster, who runs the twice-yearly Rosarito-to-Ensenada bike ride.

“Turn off the TV and talk to someone who’s been there,” said Foster, whose event has suffered from the drop in U.S. visitors. “The tourists that travel to Baja are the best ambassadors Baja has because they know the real story.”

sandra.dibble@utsandiego.com • (619) 293-1716 • Twitter @sandradibble

www.bajainvestment.com

Mexico's Booming Economy – What Investors Need to Know

By Richard Houghton & Sean O'Neal

Mexico's economy is on fire and now is the time to invest, if today's news headlines are any indication. Check out the impressive array of information below, which we have gleaned from a wide variety of stories written recently by some of the world's most respected financial institutions and reporting agencies. According to Goldman Sachs, Mexico's rapidly advancing infrastructure, increasing middle class and rapidly declining poverty rates will foster a higher GDP per capita than all but three European countries by the year 2050. This estimate might be conservative, when you consider that according to Forbes magazine Mexico's economy and GDP was already 11th in the world as of 2010, which Bloomberg, CNBC and Reuters all noted was a growth of 5.5 percent that year – the most in the last decade. Furthermore, NASDAQ has called Mexico “one of the world's largest developing economies,” pointing out that per capita the Mexican economy is already larger than those of China, India and Brazil. In addition, UK Trade & Investment has announced that it expects Mexico's economy to surpass the UK's by the year 2040, also pointing out that the UK is one of the largest investors in Mexico. A report by the Financial Times compared Mexico's current economic state to that of Spain 20 years ago, while IT exports from the country are expected to surpass $3.5 billion US in 2011 according to a report by Forbes Magazine. In addition, the European Union is working to improve its ties with Mexico by making it a “strategic partner,” while Honda has announced intentions to invest around $800 million according to a report by USA Today. Also of note, Bloomberg covered announcements from Nissan, General Motors, Mazda and Volkswagen to invest more than $400 million each in auto manufacturing facilities throughout Mexico. With all of this growth and international interest, it's no surprise that Bloomberg recently reported that Mexico has raised its forecast for foreign direct investment in 2011 to $20 billion US – a figure that is a full 11% higher than previous predictions. www.bajainvestment.com

How to Find Gas at $1.46 Less Per Gallon (Really)

By Dennis Romero Fri., Mar. 16 2012 at 7:00 AM Comments (6) Categories: Economy

Tricia Wang ​What if we told you we knew of a place where you could save about $1.46 a gallon on gas -- today? What if we told you, while you were in the neighborhood getting your cheap gas you could also dine on meals that have the foodie nation buzzing, get a huge discount on your prescription drugs, and take a picture with a zonkey (that's a zebra crossed with a donkey, but not really)? You'd say we sound like a cheesy salesman using the "what if we told you" ruse? Yes, but other than that you'd be all about this. Well, not so fast. You see, this non-mythical land of gas and gastronomy is 135 miles away, at least. So you'd have to dedicate a day to it. And the savings would do you no good unless you really wanted to go there anyway. But you do:

starlen Tijuana scenery. ​ A round trip drive to Tijuana with a car that gets 20 miles per gallon, with an average L.A. gas price of $4.35, will cost you nearly $59 in fuel. But if you fill her up in TJ (yes, despite what the New Yorker says, even locals have been calling it TJ -- for decades) you can see a savings of $20 on that 13 or so gallons it would take for your outing. The San Diego Union-Tribune says the savings between SoCal gas prices and Tijuana gas prices, given the peso exchange rate, is about $1.46 a gallon. And, yes, people in Southern California are already taking advantage of the discount. Heck, $20 dollars in Tijuana can buy you like a couple buckets of beer, a huge bag of crap weed (don't try bringing it across the border, though), or a nice dinner for two. Of course, Mexican gas is not as complicated as California's clean-burning blends (and that's part of the reason why it's cheaper), and finding Mexican gas with high enough octane for this reporter's car would be a feat. And then there's this: They kill people in Mexico. A lot of them, it seems. But mostly they're people in the business. Yeah, that business. But that's none of your business, so you're probably safe. And some locals now claim that things are much better in Tijuana -- so much so that the rich folks are starting to move back there from their second and third homes in San Diego. Given all that, it's still a little bit of a gamble -- like betting on the greyhounds at Caliente. But $20 certainly gives you a few more chips to play with. [@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews] www.bajainvestment.com

Affordable Green Homes in Baja, by scenic highway, close to US border!

Located by Tijuana Coastal and Rosarito Beach. Just 15 minutes to the border.
On my last drive down to Baja Mexico for the new year celebration, I took my friends to the incredible new "little" development of "all-green" homes just south of the border! they where amazed.

Thus, I felt compelled to write this blog for you all to read, about the first genuine GREEN HOME development in northern Baja California, Mexico, located just 15 minutes south of the border, in the beautiful Baja California, designed by the Award-winning Architect group led by Guillermo Martinez De Castro.

This development is funded by a joint US-Mexico Development Fund.

Yes, many people and groups are investing and owning beautiful homes and condos in Rosarito Beach, Tijuana coastal and Ensenada real estate again!
Gardenhaus in Baja, is an innovative development of town homes surrounded by beautiful gardens and walkways arranged around a centrally located ocean view pool and deck. Gardenhaus is set in a raised platform 10 feet above the street for maximum exposure to the Pacific Ocean, privacy from the surroundings and access to an underground parking.

All the homes have spectacular ocean views from 2nd and 3rd floor balconies and terraces with some specially situated homes offering ocean views from living areas and 1st floor terraces. They also offer views to the fabulous Coronado Islands, which are right in front!

As you might be aware, our Baja sunsets are espectacular!

Gardenhaus will have state of the art electronic entry and video surveillance systems controlled from the security office located at the entry gate.

GREEN FEATURES

SITE PLAN:

•Low maintenance & low water consumption landscaping

•Recycled decking

•Rapidly renewable construction materials

•Recycled treated water for gardening

•Compact fluorescent and low voltage lighting

•Eco-friendly architectural design

•Park-like grounds

•High efficiency lighting

•On site recycling bins and garbage pick up

•Secluded patios areas

•The buildings are designed and detailed to be durable and low maintenance

HOMES

•Passive ventilation design for climate comfort

•Salvaged and recycled building materials

•Thermally insulated walls and roofs

•Low-E dual pane windows

•Compact fluorescent and low voltage lighting

•Water saving appliances

•Energy star appliances

•Low VOC (volatile organic compounds) & low toxic paints

•Low VOC carpets

•Low-pile of less allergen-attracting carpet

•Recycled Fiber cement siding

•Recycles plastic lumber

•Advance framing/extra insulation

•Superior wall insulation levels

•Sound insulation

•High efficiency water heaters

•Environmentally friendly decking

•Porous paving that minimize water runoff

•Widespread use of daylight and careful space planning

•Natural lighting

•Sustainable wood for cabinetry

These beautiful and affordable Baja homes are located in northern Baja, Mexico, on the scenic highway from Tijuana coastal areas and Rosarito Beach... and their prices start at only $99,000 USDls. for a 3 Bedroom & 3 Bath townhome. Larger units start at only $145,000 USDls. for a 4 Bedroom & 3 Bath townhome, with superior ocean views, next to the swimming pool and decks.

Please do let me know if you would like to see it, I'd be glad to show you these Baja affordable properties.

You may contact me at 619-632-7045 or visit me at www.Remax-Baja.com or for these exact Baja homes click at http://www.remax-baja.com/homes-page09.php
As you might expect, prices for Baja homes and condos are expected to go up around 10% this year!

A Baja homes, condos, lots MLS page is www.BajaInvestment.com

Foreign Buyers See Big Bargains in U.S. Real Estate

Bellow you will find an article that appeared today on Rrealtor.com newsletter.
I find it very interesting.

This is so true that it is going on. And we are not just seeing it in california, but in Baja California real estate too. We are seeing many foregin and mostly national (regional) buyers coming to invest in rosarito beach and Ensenada, Baja homes, condos, lots and even hotels and restaurants.

In Rosarito beach, about 15% of the population is from the United States. They help with city projects, many times as volunteers, they help sustain the Baja businesses with their patronage, they bring friends and family to stay at Rosarito and Ensenada hotels, and to buy Baja homes and condos all over.

As many mines are being "discovered" in central Baja California, we are also getting Chinnese investors here in Baja, mostly in Ensenada. Please read on!

Please visit us for the best of Baja real estate, at www.BajaInvestment.com

thank you, Gustavo Torres

Foreign Buyers See Big Bargains in U.S. Real Estate
Daily Real Estate News | Friday, January 13, 2012

Foreign investors are finding plenty of deals in the U.S. when it comes to real estate, and, as such, more international investors are flocking to key states to buy their piece of the American Dream.

Mexico is the top country of origin for foreign buyers purchasing U.S. homes, according to a recent study by Credit Sesame, which used National Association of REALTORS® data for its findings.

“In this period of tremendous uncertainly globally, real estate here is a safe haven,” Susan Wachter, professor of real estate and finance at University of Pennsylvania, told MSNBC.com.

The top destinations of foreign investors for U.S. real estate purchases are:

1. Florida: Thirty-one percent of all home purchases in that state are made by foreign buyers, with most coming from Cuba, Haiti, and Colombia.

2. California: 12 percent of all home purchases (most coming from Mexico, the Philippines, China, India, and Vietnam)

3. Texas: 9 percent of all home purchases (most coming from Mexico, India, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines)