Please refer to the event flyer for more information, or view the event on Facebook.

Sometimes referred to as “The City that Captured the Sun,” Mexicali has combined its original agricultural vocation with commercial and industrial sectors to become a modern metropolis.  There is no lack of things to do and see within the city’s boundaries.  Here are our top seven activities to do and places to see:

Sightseeing

The symbol of the city, the Civic Center, is the heart of government institutions of the state of Baja California. Among the many modern buildings that form it is a monument honoring the founders and first inhabitants of the city. Toward the border in the center of the city is La Chinesca, a unique Chinatown with welcoming streets, quaint shops, and restaurants serving Chinese food with a Mexican twist.

Image courtesy of Laura Wong

Important landmarks in this area are the neoclassical Cathedral and the border building, or Garita Internacional, whose pagoda exemplifies the mixed race society that has shaped the cachanillas name which identifies the locals from Mexicali.

The Colorado River Land Company building, built in 1924, is a testimony to the agricultural past left by the first settlers. Don’t forget to also visit the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California building, built in 1918, which previously housed the State Government Palace.

Chinese Food

The strong migratory wave of Chinese immigrants during the first half of the twentieth century also brought many cultural influences from the Far East, including its food, which became and remains a significant part of the cuisine of the region.

Art and Culture

Mexicali is one of the main promoters of culture in the state. The IMSS theater and the State Theater have tight cultural agendas. In terms of visual art, collections from the University Museum, City Gallery, and the State Fine Arts Gallery provide further opportunities for cultural education.  The first focuses on historical research and the dissemination of social status, while the latter two galleries host local as well as national and international art exhibitions.

The Casa de la Cultura, or house of culture, is located in a beautiful building constructed in 1915, whose facilities taught art workshops and saved the valuable Mexicali history file.

Looking for even more? The State Arts Center offers exhibitions and workshops in many various artistic disciplines. The Center also has the cinema film Club, Les Lumiéres, a library, and a cafeteria.

Hospitality

Well connected by roads and an international airport, the state capital is ready to receive visitors from everywhere. There are numerous business hotels and a wide range of restaurants, from casual to formal.

Family Fun

The Museum Sol Nino offers a wonderful adventure for kids with science, art, and fun. It has interactive and thematic areas as well as a cinema IMAX.

The green landscape areas of the playground at Vicente Guerrero park are a great venue for outdoor fun. Visit the Bosque y Zoologico de la ciudad (forest and City Zoo), which encompasses an artificial lake and extensive meadows, and houses 370 species of animals within its complex.

Sports and Events

Mexicali is home of the Aguilas Pacific Mexican League baseball team. Its stadium accommodates 19,000 spectators and hosts occasional special events like the 2009 Caribbean Baseball Series . Watching games of Soles de Mexicali, a professional basketball team that plays in the state auditorium, is another popular activity. The Calafia bullring, or Calafia Plaza, offers bullfights in the fall, and charreadas during the winter season.

If you enjoy golf, a good option is the 18-hole Club Campestre.

Outdoor Enjoyment

The rocky slopes of the nearby Cucapá and El Mayor sierras, as well as the Mexicali Valley and Rio Hardy, are natural, scenic spaces that offer plenty of options for hiking, exploring, and hunting pheasant, teal and huilota, among other species.

Information courtesy of the Baja California State Tourism Secretariat.

Mexico has been quietly attracting greater numbers of Americans and Canadians seeking affordable healthcare. Many hospitals in Mexico have state-of-the-art staff and equipment in all major specialties.

Without fanfare, President Felipe Calderon has been quietly working on attracting millions of U.S. retirees to Mexico by proposing the expansion of retirement benefits and medical tourism.

Healthcare costs in Mexico are approximately 70 per cent lower than healthcare costs in the U.S.   If Calderon’s proposal to Obama starts with an agreement allowing Medicare benefits to U.S. retirees living in Mexico, instead of Medicare only covering healthcare services in the U.S., the savings would be enormous to the U.S. and would also bring needed dollars to the Mexican medical profession.

This is being quietly discussed at the highest levels, leaving media attention to the negativity it seems to prefer with both the drug wars in Northern Mexico and healthcare naysayers in U.S. politics.

Many people from north of the border feel medical care in Mexico is equally expert but more human than in the US or Canada, and vastly cheaper. You can get excellent healthcare policies for 50-60% lass than in the U.S.

About one million U.S. expats already live in Mexico, and that number can grow to five million by 2025, according to estimates based on U.S. Census figures.  Enticing even more U.S. retirees to move south of the border is expected to depend somewhat on getting the U.S. Joint International Commission to certify hospitals that meet the standards of U.S. hospitals.

Hospitals that are already certified:

• American British Cowdray Medical Center IAP Observatorio Campus
  Mexico City
  Accredited December 6, 2008
• American British Cowdray Medical Center IAP Sante Fe Campus
  Mexico City
  Accredited December 12, 2008
• Christus Muguerza Alta Especialidad
  Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
  Accredited July 22, 2007
• Clinica Cumbres Chihuahua
  Chihuahua, Chihuahua
  Accredited April 23, 2008
• Hospital CIA Hermosillo
  Hermosillo, Sonora
  Accredited December 11, 2008
• Hospital CIMA Monterrey
  San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon
  Accredited December 19, 2008
• Hospital Mexico Americano, SC
  Guadalajara, Jalisco
  Accredited March 20, 2010
• Hospital San Jose Tec de Monterrey
  Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
  Accredited December 25, 2007
• Hospital y Clinica UCA. S.A. de C.V.
  Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

In other words, while the loudmouths roar, the whisperers are getting things done.

Contact Larry here.

There’s been a lot of news coverage about violence in Mexico, very little of it bothering to note that Mexico is a huge country with thirty-some states and that a) almost all of that violence is narco-related and b) you can count the number of tourists affected on one hand.

Meanwhile, according to the FBI, “An estimated 15,241 persons were murdered nationwide in 2009″ in the United States of America.

Officially, 111 U.S. citizens were killed in Mexico last year, a third in just two cities. Almost all of them were involved in illicit vocations, usually the trafficking of guns, drugs, or people across the border. This is 111 out of close to 8 million visitors, with nearly 1 million of those being part- or full-time residents choosing Mexico over the U.S. or Canada.

You know who else had 111 murders in one year recently? Boston. And Las Vegas. And Orlando. Are any tourists scared of going to those places?

Meanwhile, almost 1,000 U.S. citizens died in Puerto Rico. Nobody running the news desks cares about Puerto Rico or has an incentive to make people scared of Puerto Ricans (by nature, they can’t be “illegal immigrants”), so this isn’t widely reported.

Then there’s the U.S. proper, which can’t get a State Department travel alert because it’s, well, not a foreign country. How’s your city doing in comparison to Mexico when it comes to the annual numbers?

Atlanta  - city, 80 murders. Atlanta MSA (metropolitan statistical area), 325 murders
Baltimore – 238 city, 298 MSA
Boston – 50 city, 111 MSA
Dallas/Ft. Worth – 210 city, 310 MSA
Detroit – 365 city, 447 MSA
Houston – 287 city, 462 MSA
Indianapolis – 100 city, 111 MSA
Jacksonville, FL – 99 city, 120 MSA
Kansas City – 100 city, 163 MSA
Las Vegas – 111 city, 133 MSA
Los Angeles – 312 city, 768 MSA
Miami  - 59 city, 377 Miami to Boca Raton corridor
New Orleans – 174 city, 252 MSA
New York City – 471 city, 778 MSA
Orlando – 28 city, 111 MSA
Philadelphia – 302 city, 436 MSA
Phoenix – 122 city, 302 MSA
San Francisco – 45 city, 292 MSA
St. Louis – 143 city, 210 MSA
Washington, DC – 143 city, 325 MSA