Destination: Mexico
Surfing Mags Reporting Tale of Robbery, Carjacking in Baja
by Jim Benning | 09.11.07 | 3:00 PM ET
For surfers, Baja California has long had a mystique as a Wild West playground where crime is rampant but, if you’re savvy or lucky or both, you can find a dusty point break with perfect curling waves that you can carve up all by yourself. Having grown up surfing in Southern California and made countless Baja surf trips over the years, I know the legend well. Stories that confirm surfers’ wildest wave fantasies or worst crime fears take on lives of their own, quickly spreading on the coconut telegraph and, now, the Web. At the moment, SurferMag.com and Surfline.com are reporting three surfers’ accounts of being robbed and carjacked on a trip to northern Baja.
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Yahoo! Buzz‘On the Road’ Sites, Including a Mexico City Sanborns, Then and Now
by Jim Benning | 09.04.07 | 2:30 PM ET
Fifty years after the publication of “On the Road,” the Los Angeles Times’s Christopher Reynolds observes how a number of places depicted in the book have changed—or not—from Sausalito to New York City. Among the places he includes is Mexico City’s famed blue-tiled Sanborns (pictured).
Vatican to Launch Charter Flights to Holy Sites
by Michael Yessis | 08.21.07 | 11:50 AM ET
Religious pilgrims will now be able to fly to Santiago di Compostela, Spain; the shrine of the Madonna of Guadalupe, Mexico; and other sacred sites via official Vatican charter flights, the BBC reports. The first flight takes off Monday from Rome bound for Lourdes, France, with religious guides and the vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, aboard. Routes from other cities may be introduced, according to RTE News. The planes, which will be provided by the Italian airline Mistral, will feature the phrase “I’m Searching for Your Face, Lord” on seat headrests.
Hurricane Dean Hits Mexican Coast Near Majahual
by Michael Yessis | 08.21.07 | 9:13 AM ET
The first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall since Hurricane Andrew crushed South Florida in 1992 missed the megaresorts of Cancun by about 150 miles, instead pounding the coast near the Mexico/Belize border. The AP reports that Hurricane Dean’s winds reached 165 miles per hour. The area isn’t heavily populated nor is it as touristed as Cancun, but it does contain small hotels, the Costa Maya cruise ship port and the Sian Kaan Biosphere Reserve. Definitive reports on how those areas fared will come later, but Hurricane Dean’s intensity—it registered the third lowest pressure at landfall on record, according to the Washington Post—signals the potential for massive damage.
Hurricane Dean Heading Toward Mexico’s Riviera Maya*
by Jim Benning | 08.20.07 | 4:40 PM ET
Experts say Hurricane Dean, now a Category 4 storm, could grow even stronger as it barrels toward Mexico’s Riviera Maya (pictured), where it’s expected to make landfall early Tuesday morning. According to the AP, tens of thousands of tourists are rushing to leave: “Cancun seemed likely to be spared a direct hit, but visitors abandoned its swank hotels to swarm outbound flights. Officials evacuated more rustic lodgings farther south.” How powerful is the storm? Meteorologists say Dean could become even stronger than Hurricane Wilma, which pounded the region in 2005 and prompted a Web site covering its tourism recovery, After Wilma. One travel blogger wrote today on the Hurricane Cancun blog that Cancun was “very quiet with few tourists around”—the proverbial calm before the storm.
* Update: Hurricane Dean has made landfall on the Mexican Coast Near Majahual.
Photo by *Rachel*A* via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Joe Bravo’s Tortilla Art on a Roll
by Jim Benning | 08.07.07 | 1:03 PM ET
Out: ‘Dr. 90210.’ In: Cirugía Plástica en Guadalajara.
by Ben Keene | 08.07.07 | 11:00 AM ET
Thailand and India have already staked their claim to the growing medical tourism market, and according to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, Mexico appears to be the next country cashing in. Sara Miller Llana reports that price, proximity and a large number of American retirees in the state of Jalisco have helped make it—and the capital city in particular—the destination of choice for those looking for a nip and a tuck.
Oaxaca’s Guelaguetza Festival a Tourism Bust
by Jim Benning | 07.24.07 | 12:32 PM ET
The tourism woes continue in Oaxaca, Mexico. The annual Guelaguetza folk festival usually draws more tourists than any other event in the southern city, but this year’s celebration, held Monday, was apparently a tourism bust. Hotels often fill, but this year occupancy was at only about 38 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times. “A year ago, protests forced the cancellation of Guelaguetza,” the Times reports. “This month, a new round of violent demonstrations over the rule of Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz led to hundreds of cancellations and delivered a ‘death blow’ to the tourist industry, local business groups said.” The low tourist numbers recall Oaxaca’s Day of the Dead festivities last fall. That celebration is usually a big hit with visitors, too, but as we noted, last year, the place was, uh, dead.
Photo by stevecadman via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
New Seven Wonders of the World Named
by Michael Yessis | 07.09.07 | 7:51 AM ET
Voluntourism: Assisting The Flying Doctors in Mexico
by Jim Benning | 07.02.07 | 2:50 PM ET
Rick Steves: ‘Happy Travels—Even to Tijuana’
by Jim Benning | 06.14.07 | 4:20 PM ET
Can you smell it, the sweet smell of success? Or at least the semi-sweet smell of partial success? Earlier this week, in our Speaker’s Corner section, I invited travel guru Rick Steves to a full-on, mano a mano Tijuana-Off after he suggested off-handedly that my favorite Mexican border city was a hellhole.
Rick Steves, It’s Time For a Tijuana-Off!
by Jim Benning | 06.12.07 | 6:09 PM ET
Photo by Jim Benning The travel guru recently suggested that the Mexican border city is a hellhole. Tijuana-defender Jim Benning invites him to go mano a mano, travel writer-style, south of the border.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: From the Great White North to the Land Down Under
by Michael Yessis | 06.08.07 | 12:49 PM ET
This week travelers trek the length of the globe, from Canada to California to Mexico to Costa Rica to Australia. There’s also the inevitable Paris Hilton vs. Hilton Paris match up. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
In Napa, Wilderness Above the Wineries
* That’s Napa, pictured above.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Paris Hilton accommodations vs. Hilton Paris
* Christopher Reynolds pits the two head-to-head.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Mexico to (Miss) U.S.A.: Boooooo
* Readers have mixed feelings about the now-infamous boos.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
JetBlue Tries to Bounce Back From Storm of Trouble
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Air Traffic Control System Command Center
Most Read Feature
World Hum (this week)
An Island in Costa Rica
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
National Geographic’s Atmosphere
* Current podcast: Mount Everest Expedition
Mexico to (Miss) U.S.A.: Boooooo
by Jim Benning | 06.04.07 | 12:21 PM ET
I’ve always found Mexicans to be friendly and hospitable on my trips south of the border. Sure, Mexicans often gripe about U.S. government policies—who doesn’t?—but like most people around the world, they can differentiate between individual travelers and their government. But Miss U.S.A. is not your typical traveler. Mexicans at the Miss Universe pageant in Mexico City last week apparently directed their anger and frustration over U.S. government policies at one exceedingly well-quaffed, strutting Rachel Smith, otherwise known as Miss U.S.A.
Trouble in Margaritaville: Is a Tequila Shortage Looming?
by Jim Benning | 05.30.07 | 2:45 PM ET
Not long ago, we read about problems stemming from a glut of agave on the market. Now, Reuters reports that Mexican farmers are burning fields of blue agave used to make tequila so they can plant more corn. The price of the crop has been steadily rising as a result of growing demand for the alternative, corn-based fuel ethanol. As a result, officials estimate that as much as 35 percent less agave will be planted this year. “Those growers are going after what pays best now,” said an official with Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council. We’re all for cleaner-burning fuels, but let’s not get crazy here. Think of the poor citizens of Margaritaville. We’re talking severe dehydration possibilities.
Related on World Hum:
* Jimmy Buffett at 60: Still Selling ‘Unsentimental’ Tropical Fantasies
* Jimmy Buffett: Celebrating Changes in Lattitudes
* Ernest Hemingway Sofas, Frida Kahlo Tequila, Renoir Mineral Water and Now Lady Chatterley Thongs?