Monday, January 7, 2008

Baja California, Mexico as a Suburb of Southern California

By Brian Flock

Some Baja California, Mexico real estate discussions during the now-cooled Baja Boom attempted to associate northern Baja California’s progress and future to that of Los Cabos, in Baja California Sur, and other high-profile Mexican resort destinations. This has been a great disservice to northern Baja (as it is popularly referred to) because it didn’t acknowledge from whence the area sprang or the elements that it takes to become a successful international resort destination.

Stepping back, I recall my first visit to Baja with my family, a two-hour walking tour across the border in the early 70's. I distinctly remember fluorescent paintings of Elvis on black velvet, nursing mothers begging on the sidewalk, and a one peso coin that I took back as a souvenir. Today the paintings are largely replaced by T-shirts.

In the early 80’s, Baja was a science trip to the Sea of Cortez. Tijuana was a midnight bus change and the silhouettes of crooked tar paper shacks while the noisy bus exhaust blared on. By daylight it was an otherworldly desert with crooked cirio trees and cactus. The occasional pueblo market sold meat in un-refrigerated glass cases on the counter. Ensenada sold fireworks and switchblades. A swarm of unregulated trinket vendors surrounded the bus as we waited at the San Ysidro border crossing. Today the vendors are somewhat more orderly, wearing identifying vests and city license badges.

Rosarito rose to my consciousness in the early 90’s when I heard from Southern Californians about the little hamlet where visitors could ride bony horses along miles of sandy beaches. Fifteen years later these four legged tourist attractions – now substantially better fed – still impact Rosarito politics and economics.

The point of this walk down memory lane is to help frame what the region is and what it is not. Northern Baja California has been – and more than ever is – a Mexican extension of coastal Southern California.

Equally, it is really not an international resort destination such as those near the Tropic of Cancer, including Spanish-era colonies such as Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco; and the more recent Mexican government investments such as Cancun, Los Cabos, and Ixtapa. (Notably, Rosarito did have a zenith in the 1920’s when the Hollywood elite came for booze and just about anything else that they wanted. However, that party settled down with the end of Prohibition in the early 30’s.)

Visitors to northern Baja will almost always drive through the Tijuana/San Ysidro border, and the California press has especially direct access to any shred of unpleasant news which tends to proliferate for weeks or even months as reprints to other parts of the US and the world.

The climate is similar to coastal San Diego with idyllic summer temperatures and mild winters of low precipitation. Yet few adults will dare enter the Pacific Ocean waters without a full body wetsuit. Instead of polished duty free shops at the airport, visitors get car fumes and trinket hawkers on their return to the border. This overall experience has an adventurous appeal to some and a folkloric appeal to others, but it is not the stuff of the pampered, international tourist destination.

When we compare northern Baja to the international resort destinations of Mexico we lose sight of what the area can truly become: an improved version of itself, a Mexican twist to the Southern California coastline at a fraction of the price.

Even a modest vision of local improvement will require great amounts of political will and infrastructure investment. Political will – completely outside the control of the visitors and foreigner residents – is required to improve security, eliminate corruption, improve city oversight and planning, eliminate litter and graffiti, avoid aggressive street vendors, and streamline border crossings. This in turn will welcome additional investment in services, coffee shops, family-oriented activities, art and jewelry shops, and create a more favorable relationship with the Southern California press.

The net result will be an improved future for the northern Baja California real estate market, and make the area increasingly popular as an alternative to Southern California coastal towns for vacationing and living.

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Brian Flock, a Mexidata.info guest columnist, is a degreed and certified real estate broker in Baja California, Mexico.  Founder of the Baja Fair Trade registry (www.bajafairtrade.com), he may be contacted at brian@bajaoceanrealty.com, www.bajaoceanrealty.com, or (619) 793-5224.