Rodrigo y Gabriela

Last year, while sitting around the pool at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay tanning and listening to the music, I heard a new and exciting group.  I asked the waiter if he knew who was singing.  He said, "Si, senor. That's Rodrigo y Gabriela."

Here we are a year later and guess who was a recent guest at the White House?  Rodrigo Sanchez y Gabriela Quintero! They met in Mexico while trying to get a band going and that failed, so they traveled to Europe as a duet and perfected their craft. Now they are back in Mexico with a new album,that embraces "...Latin music on their ambitious new album, Area 52, recorded in Havana with an 18-piece Cuban orchestra."

Area 52 finds them reinventing nine of their most popular original instrumentals with dynamic Cuban arrangements.

I just listened on iTunes to a preview of their album and am favorably impressed.  This will make a nice addition to our growing collection of Latin music.

International Living has been writing about Tulum for years. FONATUR, the Mexican tourism agency, wants to increase tourist numbers along the coast from three to 11 million over the next decade.  The issue of IL just arrived with another take on Tulum in "Five Places at the Profit Tipping Point."

Ronan McMahon in IL writes that "the new highway overpass system at Playa del Carmen is open, reducing the drive time from Cancun Airport. Now Tulum is just a 90-minute drive from the airport, and that facilitates a high-volume of vacation and second-home owners.  And that's before they turn a sod on the new airport in Tulum itrself."

Like Posh, Like Adventure?

I came across two articles this evening about places in Mexico,

The first article in the Houston Cronicle is titled "Living the sweet life on the Riviera Maya" by Dudley Althaus. I'm a sucker for these resorts that offer living that probably only the "1%" can afford. The article takes us to "...Mayakoba, an eco-focused luxury resort that's home to three hotels on Mexico's frequently frenetic Caribbean shore."

There's the Banyan Tree hotel:



"Banyan Tree Mayakoba takes opulence in Playa del Carmen to new heights with the first all-pool villa resort on Mexico's pristine Riviera Maya. Within the gates of eco-haven Mayakoba, the resort blends the romance of travel with a unique sense of place and signature touches of Asian hospitality, making it one of the most exclusive resorts on Mexico's Riviera Maya."

Next, is the Rosewood Hotel's Casa del Lago



"From the consummate operator of ultra-luxury hotels such as The Mansion in Turtle Creek, Las Ventanas al Paraíso in Cabo, and the Carlyle in New York, comes Rosewood Mayakoba. Rosewood Mayakoba voted Best Hotel in México in 2009 by Travel+Leisure continues to delight discerning guests with jaw-dropping design and exceptional amenities."

Finally, we have the Fairmont Mayakoba:




"Secluded on 45 acres of lush tropical mangroves and canals, the property features 401 rooms and suites, including a collection of beach and lagoon casitas- each one offering guests extraordinary views. The resort features 32,495 square feet of meeting space and a business center."

The second article from the Huffington Post is titled "In Puerto Vallarta There's Life And Then There's Living" by Barbara Barton Sloane. She writes about the zip-lines 200 feet above the jungle guided by Vallarta Adventures, whose tag is "One of the greatest adventures on earth. If you like adventure visit Puerto Vallarta!

 

Will I be safe in Mexico?

6 Ways To "Live and Finish Rich in 2012"

Here's some good advice from David Bach, he says to "Live and Finish Rich in 2012." I think it's great advice if you are planning to be an expat.


1) PAY YOURSELF FIRST - have a goal of doubling your savings.  Then, look at your 401K and increase your contribution  by 1%.

2) MAKE YOUR FINANCES "AUTOMATIC" - Change the way you get paid by directly depositing your pay into your checking account. Then by using online banking and bill pay, you will distribute your money automatically into the following key accounts:

Retirement Savings

Emergency Savings

College Savings

Dream Account (i.e. vacations, holidays savings)

Mortgage Payment

Credit Card Bills (minimum payment, so you will never miss a payment again)

Recurring Bills (utilities, phone, cable, etc.)

3) GET A WILL - for as little as $50 using a program such as Quicken WillMaker or you can hire an attorney to help you. Critical things that you will need in your will are:

Health care directive
Financial power of attorney
Executor documents
Final arrangements

4) TRACK WHERE THE MONEY GOES "AKA FIND YOUR LATTE FACTOR®" - The best way to improve your financial life that I know of, other than paying yourself first, is to track where your money is actually going. I would use a site like Mint.com, or Yodlee Money Center.


5) CLEAN IT OUT AND SELL IT - accumulating stuff is not cool and your heirs will just ditch it or put it in a cardboard box high up in the garage.


6) GIVE SOMETHING UP - One of the fastest ways to cut your expenses in 2012 is to pick ONE thing and give it up.

"There's A Big Gap Between Perception And Reality,"

The Seattle Times carries a Washington Post article about safety for tourists in Mexico.

Without a solid understanding of the geography (761,606 square miles) and the nature of the drug wars (internecine fighting), many foreigners assume that all of Mexico is a war zone. But it isn't.

"The episodes of violence are in very specific pockets," says Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete, chief operating officer of the Mexico Tourism Board, "and are unrelated to tourism."

For proof, Lopez-Negrete rolls out the statistics, derived from a combination of government and non-government sources: Of 2,500 municipalities (what we call counties), only 80, or fewer than 5 percent, have been affected by the drug war, which accounts for only 3 percent of all crime. Mexican cities are also safer than some urban centers north of the border: Mexico City, for example, has 8.3 homicides a year per 100,000 people. That's fewer than Miami (14.1) and Chicago (16.1). On a global scale, Mexico is safer than many of its neighbors. In 2008, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported Mexico's homicide rate as 11.6 per 100,000, significantly lower than Honduras (60.9), Jamaica (59.5) or El Salvador (51.8).

Bottom line: check the news daily in any city in America or watch the late night news and you will see evidence that people are dying violently every day. Many of those people are killed in areas that I wouldn't go into in the daylight. When traveling anywhere, keep your eyes open, don't flash your wealth and stay out of bad neighborhoods.

Feliz Navidad y un muy feliz año nuevo a todos.