Mexico News Daily reports: Falling oil prices prompted Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso in January to announce public spending cuts of 124 billion pesos (US $8.3 billion), an austerity measure that affected President Enrique Peña Nieto’s plan to establish a Mexican passenger train network.

Two projects were canceled: a high-speed train linking Mexico City and Querétaro and the Transpeninsular Train, which would have connected Yucatán and Quintana Roo states.

But the 38-billion-peso Mexico City-Toluca train, which is designed to carry 270,000 passengers a day over its 58-kilometer route, is going ahead.

Tourism Is Up In Mexico

Mexico News Daily reports: A record 29.1 million visitors arrived in 2014, an increase of 20.5% over the previous year, a big turnaround after some dismal years following the 2.5% decline recorded in 2009.

It is also significant in relation to the growth recorded during much of the last 30 years, when Mexico saw only modest increases in tourism. Its 1.1% growth during that period was shadowed by Turkey with 11.6%, Hong Kong with 8.6% and Malaysia with 7.8%, for example.

Another gratifying figure for the industry was in the estimated amount of money spent by visitors last year, a total of US $16 billion, a massive increase over annual revenues generated between 2000 and 2012, which fluctuated between $8 billion and just over $13 billion.

Last year’s numbers are expected to move Mexico into 12th place from 15th on the list of the world’s most-visited countries.

Road to San Miguel (4)

We made it to Sedona yesterday afternoon. On the way we stopped at The Grand Canyon. Wow, lots of people all with cameras, even some with long handles so they could take selfies with the canyon as a background. Yes, you need people in your shots at times, but somehow it seems the selfies are all about them, "Look at me, I'm at the Grand Canyon. Don't I look good at the grand canyon?"

We had dinner last night at the Cowboy Club. Bev found a way to have a $24 salmon dinner  for $16. She asked for a salad with the salmon on top. I had a half rack of baby back ribs and they were simply the best I've ever tasted accompanied by home made cole slaw and corn bread.

We have two more nights in Sedona. Tomorrow we will investigate the Vortexes of Sedona.

Road Trip to San Miguel (3)

Another night in Las Vegas. We walked the strip last night. Stopped at Thomas Urban had some drinks and watched the fourth quarter of the Blazers-Miami game (we lost). Three rounds of drinks  was $42. Amazing how pricey everything is, Buffet is $30 plus tax per person. At the food court, A slice of pizza, a salad and two bottles of water $17! Last night we dined at the Rain Forest: two lemonades, a glass of wine and two dinners that weren't very good for $71.05 including tip. I could have three dinners in San Miguel for that price.

Las Vegas seems to be always under construction. Every where are expensive shops for Tom Ford, Dolce & G, Pucci, etc. and it is so loud!

We solved our dilemma. We are leaving tomorrow morning and staying the night near the Grand Canyon south rim, then on to Sedona.

Every one marvels at us when we say we are moving to Mexico. Their faces light up. They wish us well and almost all secretly wish they could ride along. The trickle will become a flow, with 40 million boomers living in the US.

Road Trip to San Miguel (2)

We spent the night in Las Vegas. We are now just 30 miles shy of 1,000 miles on the Clampet Mobile since PDXland. We arrived a day earlier than I planned. My schedule had us in LV on the 18th, not the 17th. So now do we spend four nights here before trekking on to Sedona, or four nights in Sedona instead of three? We lean toward the latter.


Did some investigation of the geology of Northern Nevada and found this:

Nevada is unique. Consider the Himalaya region, where two continents are colliding and creating an area of very thick crust. Nevada is the opposite, where a continent is stretching apart and leaving the crust exceptionally thin.

Between the Sierra Nevada to the west in California and the Wasatch Range in Utah to the east, the crust has been extended by some 50 percent over the last 40 million years. In the upper crust, the brittle surface rocks broke into long blocks, while in the hotter, softer lower crust there was more plastic deformation, allowing these blocks to tilt. The upward-tilting parts of the blocks are mountain ranges and the downward-tilting parts are basins. These filled with sediments, topped with dry lake beds and playas in the arid climate.

The mantle responded to the crustal extension by melting and expanding and lifted Nevada into a plateau more than a kilometer high. Volcanism and magma intrusions covered the state deep in lava and ash, also injecting hot fluids in many places to leave metal ores behind. All this, coupled with spectacular rock exposures, makes Nevada a hard-rock geologist's paradise.

Northern Nevada's young volcanic deposits are associated with the Yellowstone hotspot track, running from Washington to Wyoming. Southwestern Nevada is where the most crustal extension is occurring these days, along with recent volcanism. The Walker Lane, a wide zone of tectonic activity, parallels the diagonal border with southern California.

Before this period of extension, Nevada was a convergent zone similar to South America or Kamchatka today with an oceanic plate sweeping in from the west and being subducted. Exotic terranes rode in on this plate and slowly built the land of California. In Nevada, large bodies of rock moved eastward in great thrust sheets on several occasions during Paleozoic and Mesozoic time.

Fresh Bites: Tomatillos add fresh zip to anything Mexican

Small, green tomato-like fruits in husks offer a bright citrus taste that marks Mexico's famous salsa verde.

Cynthia David Special to the Star, Published on Tue Mar 17 2015

Tomatillos take me back to San Miguel de Allende, the fabled artist’s colony in the hills four hours northwest of Mexico City. On my first visit earlier this month, I drank homemade margaritas on a rooftop terrace with friends while watching the sun set, and spent days strolling narrow cobblestoned streets and feasting on tortilla soup and platters of enchiladas, sopes, quesadillas, marinated skirt steak and fish tacos.

The city’s lively markets sell everything from dried beans to rubber tires, but even the smallest grocer offers the essentials for a Mexican feast: avocados, fresh and dried chili peppers, white onions, plum tomatoes, pungent cilantro, tiny limes and shiny tomatillos, wrapped in veined papery husks.

With their meaty white flesh and bright citrus taste, these firm green tomatoes range in size from cherries to golf balls. Cooked briefly and blended, they become Mexico’s famous salsa verde, served as a dip with nachos, simmered into a mole and spooned over everything from tacos to grilled fish.

For the rest of the story go to http://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2015/03/17/fresh-bites-tomatillos-add-fresh-zip-to-anything-mexican.html

Road Trip to San Miguel

We arrived back in Portland on March 1st, and spent two weeks in an apartment in Vancouver, WA owned by Cheryl and Dave Leland. From there we attended to our storage unit figuring out what to store and what to take back to San Miguel. Our car was the limiting factor. Just how much could we stuff into the Mazda Tribute. While in PDX we also went to the Apple store for new iPhones, going to the Mexican Consulate to get our visas for Temporary Residente; getting the car ready for the long journey back to Mexico, seeing movies, going to dinner with friends, seeing the old neighborhood, seeing family, and watching the Blazers. Busy, busy!

Our first stop was near Bend for two nights with our friends Connie and Bill Berner. It was especially good to see these two. We all thought our get together in Ashland was a little tense; there were even thoughts of "friendship ending." Bill and Connie were even a little nervous about what this meeting would bring. The minute we arrived and got out of the car, they said all their apprehension disappeared. They said we were different, maybe even lighter; joyous? Was the change the month we spent in San Miguel? Was it the freedom from stuff that lightened us. Was it moving on from the US? No conclusions yet. All I know is that this was the best visit we've had in many years. So profound was the change that Bill committed to visiting us in San Miguel.

We left the Berner house Monday morning for our next stop in Winnemucca. Connie looked sad to see us go.

Spent the night in Winnemucca at the Winnemucca Inn. Tonight we will be in Las Vegas. The whole drive from Burns to Winnemucca was a wonder of snow capped mountains and flat rolling hills covered in sagebrush. I'm going to research the geology of the area.