By Victor Loza and Sharon Heafey

Contributing writers to Latinworld.com

Tourism is not new to Baja California or the Rosarito area. The first tourists to visit Rosarito arrived around 1874 to hunt and fish, but it was another 52 years, in 1926, that the Rosarito Beach Hotel was founded. The opening of this historic Hotel is generally credited with the beginning of the tourist period and was very much the forerunner in the development of the area.

During the 1940’s Rosarito became a haven for the Hollywood set welcoming Rita Hayworth and her husband Prince Aly Khan as regular patrons as well as other Hollywood visitors such as Orson Wells, Mickey Rooney, Ava Gardner, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Kim Novak, Clark Gable, Lana Turner and the legendary beauty Marilyn Monroe. In fact, Marilyn Monroe loved the ambience of Rosarito so much; she had furniture made for her first and only home in Brentwood, California, which included the bed where she died.

Frank Sinatra and the “Rat Pack” were also frequent visitors to Rosarito, spending many long hours at the Rosarito Beach Hotel’s bar. It was not unusual to have an impromptu concert in the wee hours of the morning by Frank, Dino, and Sammy, which brought in staff members who worked in the hotel. It has been said that some waiters got as much as a $1,000 tip just to cater to Frank and his buddies.

John Wayne, who was always attracted to Latin women, would visit Rosarito to surround himself with the culture and to woo an occasional beauty or two. Ava Gardner would visit the Tijuana bull fights and then come to Rosarito Beach where she knew she would be unnoticed.

Clark Gable, one of Hollywood’s “man’s man” loved to visit Rosarito for deep sea fishing; while Gregory Peck loved to stroll on the beach and Lana Turner cherished having local cobblers custom make shoes for her. Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn also frequented Rosarito which allowed them to spend some quality time alone and away from the prying eyes of the press.

James Cameroon, fell in love with the city and brought Rosarito and the Hollywood Connection to the spotlight once again with the construction of Fox Studios, Baja. Built specifically for the Academy Award winning film, Titanic, the studio boasts the biggest indoor water tank in the world. A mock up of the ship was constructed on the grounds, and the sinking of the mighty Titanic was filmed in the water tank.

Cameroon spent years of research and huge amounts of money to make sure that every detail in the movie was as close to the original Titanic as humanly possible. You can now tour the set and see the china used during the filming with the Titanic logo, playing cards with the same logo, visit the room where Rose took the ax and freed Jack, see the boiler room, or take a picture on the same replica deck where Jack proclaimed, “I’m the King of the World.”

Johnny Depp in Rosarito during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean

Following Titanic, Fox used the studio to film other movies including Master and Commander with Russell Crowe; 007’s Quantum of Solace and Tomorrow Never Dies, and Pirates of the Caribbean, just to name a few. During the filming of these movies it was not unusual to see Russell Crowe walking down Benito Juarez, or Johnny Depp and Laurence Fishbourne having dinner at a local restaurant and eating with locals as if they were old friends. Once again Rosarito became “the Hollywood Connection.”

Some of the recent visitors that have been seen leisurely walking the streets of Rosarito include stars like Jessica Simpson, Sandra Bullock, Jesse James, and Cuba Gooding Jr. In fact, Cuba Gooding Sr. loves the city so much that he now lives in the Calafia Condos Resort and Villas.  Follow his performance at a local hotel by clicking here

It is no doubt that Rosarito has continued throughout the years to be the best kept secret in Hollywood. Even the Hollywood superstar’s cannot deny the beauty of walking under the stars in this wonderful piece of paradise. And that’s why we call it “The Hollywood Connection.”

Victor Loza and Sharon Heafey are co-founders of Your Baja Connection. YBC provides real estate and relocation services for buyers in Mexico.

Yes, you can have a good experience purchasing property in Mexico. You want to make sure that you have a knowledgeable, experienced, and ethical agent. When you are ready to make an offer there are a myriad of additional considerations and concerns, but if you have selected the right agent, you will have the right person to guide and protect you.

At Your Baja Connection we understand all these issues and we have purchased and gone through the process ourselves. We want to be Your Baja Connection and are ready to assist you in a worry-free purchase of your new retirement or vacation home or condo in Mexico. YBC can be reached at 858.748.5870, via email at YBC@YourBajaConnection.com, or at http://www.Your BajaConnection.com.

internal photo #2 provided by Stuck in Customs at http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/3026078169/

By Carol Stanley

Contributing writer to Latinworld.com

You are finally retired, and want to find a new and exciting life. The house is sold, the family is spread out, and frankly you feel like it is time for you to kick up your heels.

There are many attractive places to relocate south of the border. This is the time to investigate, check out real estate prices, and find your perfect lifestyle. Almost anywhere you look there will be a wide selection of homes to choose from. Most cities in Mexico boast of economical living in comparison to the United States real estate prices. Generally speaking food costs, utilities, transportation, entertainment, and health care are fairly reasonable.

Be aware that moving to a foreign land has some challenges. The language is probably one of the biggest challenges. In Mexico many people speak English, but there will be times when you struggle to communicate. Also, there are cultural differences with regards to time. Things move a little slower in Mexico so don’t be surprised if 9am is really 10am. Things are different south of the border and you will have an adjustment period to go through, however, this is part of the learning experience.

Some of the things you will have to look into are as follows:
1. Laws of the country and how they apply to U. S. citizens
2. Banking in a foreign country and where to have your direct deposits go
3. Pet laws
4. Taking your automobile to a foreign country and costs
5. What you can bring, and what is best left behind
6. Papers that need to filled out before entering your place of choice
7. Medical care including medicare benefits
8. Learning the new language
9. Finding affordable housing that suits your needs
10. Activities
11. Traveling (back and forth to the U.S.) flight availability and costs

There are more things to look into, but this is a beginning. All relocating experiences offer challenges and can be exhausting; and moving to a foreign country will just offer a few more things that need to be addressed.
Here are some suggestions for retirement destinations in Mexico:

San Miguel de Allende
Puerto Vallarta
Loreto
Lake Chapala
Cancun

Check out the many websites, make some calls, find expat forums and ask questions. The best advice is to spend some time living in one of these exciting places. Actually it is a good idea to visit several places, and the longer you stay you will get a true feeling for the place. You may be willing to give up certain comforts, but there are some things that are important to you, and those things should be addressed.

You could very well have that adventure of a lifetime.

Featured Blog Contributor:
Carol Stanley is a well known speaker and author. She writes frequently on baby boomer and retirement topics. Her latest book, For Kids 59.99 & Over can be found at all online bookstores. www.babyboomerpower.com, www.boomercarol.com

Article written by Victor Loza and Sharon Heafey

Contributing writers to Latinworld.com

Is the Press biased when it comes to reporting about dangers in Mexico? In our opinion, yes, it is. There is no doubt that Mexico is having problems right now, but does that really affect the average student, tourist or investor?

Recently there were shootings during Mardi Gras in New Orleans that were not widely reported in the US media. Yet CNN on the same day ran a report of three drug dealers killed in Mexico. After that, more warnings were released advising tourists and students to stay away from Mexico. Should there have been warnings to the same groups to stay out of New Orleans?

The recent news has once again injured northern Baja’s tourist trade by repeating old news that, in most cases, happened a year ago. At the same time, reporters are saying little to nothing about the shootings during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Why didn’t the shootings in New Orleans make a bigger splash in the US media? According to Bob Johnson, general manager of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center-New Orleans, it would be an unfair tactic, because crime is a problem in most metropolitan cities. “I’m not sure why New Orleans is picked on,” Johnson said. “Certainly New Orleans doesn’t have a corner on the crime market. Other cities are as bad or approaching as bad with street crime.”

Still, cities that compete with New Orleans convention business and leisure travel may try to use the Mardi Gras incident and the city’s other crime problems to try to persuade visitors not to visit. See the full story here. Many cities in Mexico, such as Rosarito, Ensenada and Tijuana are already suffering greatly from the exaggerated media reports.

A recent report in the Los Angeles Times stated that Los Angeles had 130 murders by gunshot over the period from January 1 to March 9, 2009 (read the article). In stark contrast to this, Rosarito beach had ZERO persons killed over that same period and Tijuana had THREE – all related to drug crimes.

While living in the United States we experienced the fear of going to McDonalds or the mall, or worrying that some deranged individual would take a gun to school and start shooting innocent children. We lived through “Freeway Rage” where innocent people were shot and some were killed. We sat in front of the television in horror while the news reported killings in high schools and government offices. In all of these cases innocent people were hurt or killed.

In Mexico, almost all of the shootings are taking place between drug dealers or between police and the drug cartel. The U.S. also has its share of drug related shootings but they are commonly referred to as “Drive bys.”

Obviously some of the news about Mexico is accurate, and we are not going to deny that innocent people are killed in Mexico, but it is not to the extent the U.S. media makes it out to be. It is upsetting and hurtful to watch what is presented by the press, especially knowing that family and friends, in addition to the millions of other individuals watching the news, may actually believe what they are hearing.

We both live full time in the Rosarito/Ensenada area and are not afraid to walk the streets, visit our favorite restaurants, go shopping, go to the movies, or go to any government agency. We feel safe. We love both the United States and Mexico. It’s like having two very different children that you love the same but for different reasons. We hope that no one ever encounters the horrors discussed above and we invite you to visit our Mexico and enjoy the sun, the food and the wonderful people.

Victor Loza and Sharon Heafey are the co-founders of Your Baja Connection. YBC proves real estate and relocation services for buyers in Mexico. YBC can be reached at 858.748.5870, via email at YBC@YourBajaConnection.com or at www.yourbajaconnection.com

We had a few questions about retiring in Baja for David Biondilillo, owner of Baja123,  a real estate brokerage in Rosarito, Mexico. Listen to the audio interview or read the transcription below.

LW: When people decide to move to Baja California, they either buy a place or rent a place, what are retirees doing with most of their time?

It starts out in the ocean, people are in fishing boats or yachts, the ocean is the draw, that’s why people are coming. Then, if you come in closer to the shore there’s waves, surfers are surfing. We’ve got good surf. Then you get to the sand and people like me that can’t surf, I enjoy walking on the beach, enjoying the sun, the calm of being able to sit by the ocean and hear the waves. We go in further and there’s the Mexican cuisine, the restaurants, there’s entertainment in town through the local restaurants and saloons that have local entertainment. There is also Guadalupe Valley, which is comprarable to Napa Valley in California. You drive into this valley, which is not far, about 20 minutes from Ensenada and it looks like what you are seeing is miles and miles of grapevines. They have some world award winning wineries there that are just wonderful to go and to have lunch and do wine tasting if you like wine. We have a huge off-road population that come to our area to participate in some of these off-road motorcycle, truck and car events like the Baja 1000, the most famous one. This event brings about 300,000 people into Baja. There’s art galleries, there’s shopping and restaurants. There is an expatriate community that has things that are especially devoted to English speaking people; bingo, card games and clubs. There are people that are very involved in charity. There is a lot of charity work that needs to and is being done here and so some people involve themselves in that aspect of the culture.

LW: How big is the expat community in Rosarito?

The estimate is 15,000 out of 150,000 census and the Mexican State Department figures it’s about 1 million people in Mexico that are American citizens.

LW: What do you think the trend will be like in the next 5-10 years considering the amount of baby boomers in the United States?

It is an ideal place for baby boomers because of the continued migration of people coming here from the United States that allows us to have a multi-cultural environment. People are finding themselves more at home coming into Mexico. The proximity to the United States makes it so enjoyable for people to come down here to vacation and to live.