Baja California Mexico

Developer Donald Trump and Los Angeles-based real estate investment company Irongate are expected to announce plans today to build a $200-million luxury resort in northern Baja California, Mexico. The partners plan to start construction by year-end on Trump Ocean Resort Baja, a hotel-condominium on Punta Bandera with 526 suites that may be offered for rent when they are not being used by their owners.

Bob and Carol Dawson love living in Baja California, but the region's violent reputation has put them on the defensive. They have been called delusional and reckless -- all because they choose to live in an oceanfront gated community about 30 or 40 miles and a world away from the U.S. border. Americans living in this part of Mexico are often grilled, half-jokingly, about their sanity. They get asked whether they've seen decapitated heads rolling down the street. Friends wonder whether they wear bulletproof vests or drive around in armored cars.

Stephen and Linda Drake cast aside concerns about owning property in Mexico because they believed in Donald Trump. The Southern California couple made a $250,000 down payment on a 19th-floor oceanfront condo in Trump Ocean Resort Baja in 2006 before the first construction crew arrived.

Stephen and Linda Drake cast aside concerns about owning property in Mexico because they believed in Donald Trump. The Southern California couple made a $250,000 down payment on a 19th-floor oceanfront condo in Trump Ocean Resort Baja in 2006 before the first construction crew arrived.

Bob and Carol Dawson love living in Baja California, but the region's violent reputation has put them on the defensive. They have been called delusional and reckless -- all because they choose to live in an oceanfront gated community about 30 or 40 miles and a world away from the U.S. border. Americans living in this part of Mexico are often grilled, half-jokingly, about their sanity. They get asked whether they've seen decapitated heads rolling down the street. Friends wonder whether they wear bulletproof vests or drive around in armored cars.

For Tom Miller, Baja California's Mexico Highway, also known as La Carretera Transpeninsular Benito Juarez, wasn't just another strip of asphalt. It became his 1,000-mile oasis. But Miller, described by Southern California sports and travel writers as "the man who knows Baja best," travels no more. Miller, 64, of Huntington Beach, has been found to have incurable lung cancer.

Baja California, already a prime source of televisions, textiles and other U.S.-bound exports, is poised to start shipping a more critical commodity to California in the next few years: electricity. California's power shortfall--and a newly approved natural gas pipeline linking Baja to the United States--have led investors to propose building several new power plants and expanding previously announced ones in Baja, Mexico's top energy regulator disclosed Friday.

The burnt-orange remnants of daylight brushed across the darkening sky as we unloaded our bags at the Old Mill Hotel and tried to recover from a teeth-rattling three-mile drive off Baja's trans- peninsular highway. Before we had finished unpacking, the hotel's white-bearded proprietor, Jim Harer, shouted across the courtyard. "Stop by for a beer whenever you feel like it," he said. "It's free."

It's a cliche to describe Baja beach towns as sleepy. Then again, naps did punctuate my four days here. Rest and relaxation are primary selling points of San Felipe, a fishing village set along a quiet bay on Baja's eastern coast, far away from the masses in Ensenada and Rosarito. In many ways it's classic Baja, low key and low cost.

Sierra de San Francisco, Mexico THE air was clear and fresh. Heat from the sun radiated from volcanic rubble, intensifying a midday temperature in the high 70s. Some nights were mild; some were frigid. But always, as the winter light waned, a concert began. Doves sang plaintive songs from the red willows or palms that lined the pools. Frogs started croaky calls, so loud at times that our tent vibrated in the echoes. Owls occasionally swooped up the canyon, hooting softly.

Do you think the ground feels a little shakier these days? It's not your imagination. Last year saw a significant increase in the number of temblors of magnitude 3.0 or greater in Southern California and the northern portion of Baja California, according to data from Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey. The region recorded 267 shakers with magnitudes of 3.0 and above last year, compared with 125 in 2007. Seismologists said 2008 had the highest number of such quakes of any year since 1999.

The National Geographic Society has published two new travel maps of the Baja California region of Mexico, one for Baja North and one for Baja South. They are part of National Geographic's AdventureMaps series, which also cover Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama. A new map for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula will be released early this year. The Baja maps, which are printed on waterproof and tear-resistant material, provide details on terrain, local routes, ferry routes and even locations for gas stations.

He is said to love the ladies, fast horses and dissolving enemies in lye. Teodoro Garcia Simental is among the best known but least identifiable villains in Mexico's drug war, blamed for a trail of terror across Baja California. His heavily armed hit men, authorities say, have been leaving the gruesome displays of charred and decapitated bodies across the city, signed with the moniker "Tres Letras," for the three letters in "Teo."

As the death toll mounted after two separate riots at a prison here, Baja California state authorities came under fierce criticism Thursday for allegedly brutal tactics used by police on inmates and the treatment of inmates' relatives who had gathered outside the prison.

GUADALUPE ISLAND, Mexico -- The mammoth predator is lured from the abyss by the scent of blood, and looms larger with every fathom it covers. My heart races as I turn this way and that, sucking air through a hose, peering through a mask, intently following its progress. Upward the shark swims, slowly, warily, casting a vacant gaze through ominous black eyes. Dagger-like teeth protrude from its lower jaw. Forty feet . . . 30 . . .

Come summer, artist Scott Kennedy, known for his depictions of sailing ships, always carries a stick--"for rattlers," he explains. His home, a compound with a '70s construction trailer, a makeshift studio and a partially built outdoor room, sits atop a desert canyon overlooking La Bufadora, known as "buffalo snort," the famous Mexican blowhole at the tip of the Punta Banda peninsula southwest of Ensenada.

Do you think the ground feels a little shakier these days? It's not your imagination. Last year saw a significant increase in the number of temblors of magnitude 3.0 or greater in Southern California and the northern portion of Baja California, according to data from Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey. The region recorded 267 shakers with magnitudes of 3.0 and above last year, compared with 125 in 2007. Seismologists said 2008 had the highest number of such quakes of any year since 1999.

In summer, the billfish come to the Sea of Cortez under the heat of the sun. We knew about the sun; we learned about the billfish. We also learned about the quite satisfactory state of affairs these days at the one-horse resort of Loreto on the eastern Baja California Sur waterfront halfway between the U.S. border and La Paz. As sometimes occurs with spontaneous travel, we had to take a chance.

Sharon Storey needed a vacation, "somewhere close enough to drive, but far enough away so we felt like we were really on a holiday," she recalls of that moment four years ago. A friend in the travel business found an oceanfront rental home in Puerto Nuevo near Rosarito, a 2 1/2-hour drive from her Laguna Beach condominium.

They arrive by land, air and sea, with visions of the good life dancing in their heads. At first, their numbers are so small as to be barely noticeable. But within a few years they may end up taking over your street, your colonia, practically your entire town. They bring their curious native customs with them--skinny Frappuccinos, "personal watercraft," wireless Internet access--and replant them in foreign soil.