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Thousands Dance for Three Minutes to Celebrate Tijuana

Max Katz — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:11:00 GMT

Thousands dance for three minutes to celebrate Tijuana

Mass demonstration caps two weeks of events showcasing region’s potential

By Sandra Dibble

Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 11:03 p.m.

K.C. Alfred

Thousands of people dance outside Tijuana’s Cultural Center on Thursday in a performance called “Pa’ Bailar Tijuana.” The gathering was one of a half-dozen around the city that was part of the final day of the two-week Tijuana Innovadora.

Photo by K.C. Alfred

People stretched to capture the scene as the thousands of people danced in Tijuana Thursday.

TIJUANA — From all corners of the city and from all walks of life, thousands of residents converged in the Rio Zone on Thursday evening for a singular purpose: to declare their love for Tijuana.

The city’s first mass dance event, “Pa’ Bailar Tijuana,” was a joyous finale to Tijuana Innovadora, the two-week series of conferences and cultural events aimed at projecting the region’s potential.

“Yo amo Tijuana,” (“I love Tijuana”). These words resounded repeatedly from the largely young crowd gathered outside Tijuana’s Cultural Center, known as the Cecut. Dance students from upscale Hipódromo joined uniformed schoolchildren from working-class neighborhoods in eastern Tijuana in shouting the refrain and spelling it out in sign language.

“This seemed like a really cool thing to do,” said Guillermo Herrera, an 18-year-old high school student who participated with seven of his classmates from Cbetis 146 in Playas de Tijuana. “It gives me a feeling of fellowship with other residents of Tijuana.”

The music that blasted from the loudspeakers was the song “Pa’ Bailar,” composed by the Argentine group Bajo Fondo, and sung by Julieta Venegas, the Grammy-winning performer who grew up in Tijuana and San Diego County’s South Bay. The steps were choreographed by Lux Boreal, a Tijuana dance company with a growing international reputation.

“It’s all about participating. Nothing can happen if you don’t participate,” said Alida Guajardo de Cervantes, a cultural promoter who proposed the event as a way of strengthening community ties and building a sense of belonging.

Starting at 6 p.m., the dance was staged simultaneously at a half-dozen venues around the city, including Avenida Revolución. A crowd of about 100 also gathered on the U.S. side of the border at the Las Americas shopping center in San Ysidro.

Participants at the U.S. event ranged from grandparents to toddlers who rehearsed for an hour before the performance. Irma Candelas, 55, of Tijuana used the dance as an excuse to go shopping in the U.S. while showing Tijuana pride.

“I see this as a good thing,” Candelas said. “Now people can’t say all they do is kill people” in Tijuana.

Tijuana Innovadora was conceived by the city’s private sector as a way of relaunching the city’s recession-battered economy by encouraging new investments and drawing attention to aspects other than drug-related violence.

The event has drawn large crowds to the Cecut to tour glitzy exhibits showcasing products from maquiladora factories and to listen to speakers such as former U.S. Vice President Al Gore , Twitter cofounder Biz Stone and Mexican multibillionaire Carlos Slim.

“Pa’ Bailar Tijuana” was officially over in three minutes and 37 seconds, but the event took months of preparation and involved many residents. About 25,000 high school students from across the city formed the core group of participants. They were coordinated by Victor Flores, the engineering manager at Plantronics, one of the city’s largest manufacturing plants.

“It’s so that the young people see that something can be done for the city,” Flores said.

Staff writer Morgan Lee contributed to this report.

Thousands dance for three minutes to celebrate Tijuana

Mass demonstration caps two weeks of events showcasing region’s potential

By Sandra Dibble

Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 11:03 p.m.

K.C. Alfred

Photo by K.C. Alfred

People stretched to capture the scene as the thousands of people danced in Tijuana Thursday.

TIJUANA — From all corners of the city and from all walks of life, thousands of residents converged in the Rio Zone on Thursday evening for a singular purpose: to declare their love for Tijuana.

“I see this as a good thing,” Candelas said. “Now people can’t say all they do is kill people” in Tijuana.

The event has drawn large crowds to the Cecut to tour glitzy exhibits showcasing products from maquiladora factories and to listen to speakers such as former U.S. Vice President Al Gore , Twitter cofounder Biz Stone and Mexican multibillionaire Carlos Slim.

“It’s so that the young people see that something can be done for the city,” Flores said.

Staff writer Morgan Lee contributed to this report.

Single Story For Sale in Calafia Resort and Villas

Max Katz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:37:00 GMT

Best Value for Ocean Front Baja

• 1,296 sq. ft., 2 bdrm single story - MLS® $250,000 USD - From 250,000

Calafia Resort and Villas , Rosarito - Jump in and experience the captivating rhythm of Baja California! Here amid the stunning landscape and seascape, you'll discover the landmark resort community of Calafia.

Today, the Calafia tradition, spanning more than a decade, continues with a third condominium tower. Come fall in love with the expansive views and seaside allure of this poetic setting. Your home away from home is just 20 minutes south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Units starting for as little as 195,000 US Dollars..

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Calafia Tower I 102 Price Reduction Dont wait until the market goes up again !!

Max Katz — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:46:00 GMT

Calafia, Rosarito - Announcing a price reduction on 102-Calafia Tower I, a 1,382 sq. ft., 2 bath, 2 bdrm single story. Now $210,000 USD - Great Deal!.

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A different view of Mexico and ones safety in visiting

Max Katz — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:03:00 GMT

A different view of Mexico and ones safety in visiting.

One Journalist's View
By Linda Ellerbee

Sometimes I've been called a maverick because I don't always agree with my colleagues, but then, only dead fish swim with the stream all the time. The stream here is Mexico.

You would have to be living on another planet to avoid hearing how dangerous Mexico has become, and, yes, it's true drug wars have escalated violence in Mexico, causing collateral damage, a phrase I hate. Collateral damage is a cheap way of saying that innocent people, some of them tourists, have been robbed, hurt or killed.

But that's not the whole story. Neither is this. This is my story.

I'm a journalist who lives in New York City, but has spent considerable time in Mexico, specifically Puerto Vallarta, for the last four years. I'm in Vallarta now. And despite what I'm getting from the U.S. media, the 24-hour news networks in particular, I feel as safe here as I do at home in New York, possibly safer.

I walk the streets of my Vallarta neighborhood alone day or night. And I don't live in a gated community, or any other All-Gringo neighborhood. I live in Mexico. Among Mexicans. I go where I want (which does not happen to include bars where prostitution and drugs are the basic products), and take no more precautions than I would at home in New York; which is to say I don't wave money around, I don't act the Ugly American, I do keep my eyes open, I'm aware of my surroundings, and I try not to behave like a fool.

I've not always been successful at that last one. One evening a friend left the house I was renting in Vallarta at that time, and, unbeknownst to me, did not slam the automatically- locking door on her way out. Sure enough, less than an hour later a stranger did come into my house. A burglar? Robber? Kidnapper? Killer? Drug lord?

No, it was a local police officer, the "beat cop" for our neighborhood, who, on seeing my unlatched door, entered to make sure everything (including me) was okay. He insisted on walking with me around the house, opening closets, looking behind doors and, yes, even under beds, to be certain no one else had wandered in, and that nothing was missing. He was polite, smart and kind, but before he left, he lectured me on having not checked to see that my friend had locked the door behind her. In other words, he told me to use my common sense.

Do bad things happen here? Of course they do. Bad things happen everywhere, but the murder rate here is much lower than, say, New Orleans, and if there are bars on many of the ground floor windows of houses here, well, the same is true where I live, in Greenwich Village, which is considered a swell neighborhood — house prices start at about $4 million (including the bars on the ground floor windows.)

There are good reasons thousands of people from the United States are moving to Mexico every month, and it's not just the lower cost of living, a hefty tax break and less snow to shovel. Mexico is a beautiful country, a special place.

The climate varies, but is plentifully mild, the culture is ancient and revered, the young are loved unconditionally, the old are respected, and I have yet to hear anyone mention Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna's attempt to adopt a second African child, even though, with such a late start, she cannot possibly begin to keep up with Angelina Jolie.

And then there are the people. Generalization is risky, but— in general — Mexicans are warm, friendly, generous and welcoming. If you smile at them, they smile back. If you greet a passing stranger on the street, they greet you back. If you try to speak even a little Spanish, they tend to treat you as though you were fluent. Or at least not an idiot.

I have had taxi drivers track me down after leaving my wallet or cell phone in their cab. I have had someone run out of a store to catch me because I have overpaid by twenty cents. I have been introduced to and come to love a people who celebrate a day dedicated to the dead as a recognition of the cycles of birth and death and birth — and the 15th birthday of a girl, an important rite in becoming a woman — with the same joy.

Too much of the noise you're hearing about how dangerous it is to come to Mexico is just that — noise. But the media love noise, and too many journalists currently making it don't live here. Some have never even been here. They just like to be photographed at night, standing near a spotlighted border crossing, pointing across the line to some imaginary country from hell. It looks good on TV.

Another thing. The U.S. media tend to lump all of Mexico into one big bad bowl. Talking about drug violence in Mexico without naming a state or city where this is taking place is rather like looking at the horror of Katrina and saying, "Damn. Did you know the U.S. is under water?" or reporting on the shootings at Columbine or the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City by saying that kids all over the U.S. are shooting their classmates and all the grownups are blowing up buildings. The recent rise in violence in Mexico has mostly occurred in a few states, and especially along the border. It is real, but it does not describe an entire country.

It would be nice if we could put what's going on in Mexico in perspective, geographically and emotionally. It would be nice if we could remember that, as has been noted more than once, these drug wars wouldn't be going on if people in the United States didn't want the drugs, or if other people in the United States weren't selling Mexican drug lords the guns.

Most of all, it would be nice if more people in the United States actually came to this part of America (Mexico is also America, you will recall) to see for themselves what a fine place Mexico really is, and how good a vacation (or a life) here can be.

So come on down and get to know your southern neighbors. I think you'll like it here. Especially the people.

__________

For all of your Mexico Real Estate needs use the best for the job. Baja Real Estate Group

Calafia Real Estate for Sale Large Ocean View Condo in Bahia Descanso

Max Katz — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:08:00 GMT

• 1,609 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm single story - $314,900 USD - Hurry this one wont last

Calafia, Rosarito - Ocean Front Condo, Calafia, Baja, California, Mexico

White water ocean views, sandy beach access, in this 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1609 square feet home, with 24 hour security and many amenities.

This home has many upgrades and is fully furnished with modern furnishings with cute rustic accents.

There are bay view windows throughout the length of the ocean view side of the home for ocean, sand, and white water views. This includes big windows in the kitchen, dining area, living area, and the master bedroom. Both the master bedroom and the living area have access to the ocean view patio, which is large enough for a barbeque, and to have family and friends together.

The kitchen has excellent ocean views, and is large enough for several to cook together. The kitchen has a stylish Italian glass tile back splash, and custom dark stained maple cabinets to compliment. Also, the stainless steel appliances include a dishwasher, refrigerator and a flat top stove. The granite counter top island is the center piece of the kitchen and has plenty of space for bar seating.

The dining is set next to tall bay view windows and is large enough for a table of eight. Also, the living area is a part of this great room, with access to the terrace, white water ocean views, and plenty of space for comfortable seating and entertaining.

The master bedroom has tall windows for large views, and a glass patio door leading to the patio.

The master bathroom has double sinks unique to this home, maple cabinets, and a nice tiled trim for accents in the shower.

Calafia, tower 2, has an excellent lobby with wireless internet access for business meetings, that also doubles as a meeting place for neighbors during special events and holidays. This lobby also has the gym, Jacuzzis, steam room, and sauna, and a nice display of oil on canvas of nearby wine region of Valle de Guadalupe.

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Luxury Home For Rent in Las Gaviotas

Max Katz — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:34:00 GMT

LAS GAVIOTAS OCEANFRONT COMMUNITY

• 3,000 sq. ft., 4 bath, 5 bdrm Two Level MLS® $2,450 USD Monthly - Ask about our Daily Rates

Las Gaviotas, Rosarito - Las Gaviotas is a premiere ocean front community. Full of amenities
Ocean Front Pool, Surfing, Kayaking, Sandy Beach, Kite Boarding
Ocean Front Jacuzzi.. Incredible Baja Real Estate

For rent daily, weekly and monthly. Las Gaviotas in Rosarito is one of a
kind...

Surf Las Gaviotas today like it was before. The line up has never been more friendly.

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Rent/Lease Ocean Front Villa 504 Calafia Resort

Max Katz — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:21:00 GMT

Calafia, Rosarito - Announcing a rent/lease reduction on Villa 504 Calafia Resort, a 1,200 sq. ft., 2 bath, 2 bdrm single story. Now $1,450 USD Monthly - Ocean Front Villa !!.

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Price Reduced on Calafia Tower II 202 in Calafia

Max Katz — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:16:00 GMT

Calafia, Rosarito - Announcing a price reduction on Calafia Tower II 202, a 1,530 sq. ft., 2 bath, 2 bdrm single story. Now $297,500 USD - All furniture Included!.

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