Rocky Point Tourism Up Again in 2016!  

The 2 million visitors mark was exceeded in November

Tourism in Puerto Peñasco had a very successful 2016, with numbers at the end of November showing another increase over the past several years.  The increase can be attributed to many factors, some of which are the growing number of people who have learned about Rocky Point, the lack of US State Department warnings, an advantageous dollar/peso exchange rate, and much hard work by our Mayor, Kiko Munro, the current administration, and Héctor Vázquez del Mercado, President of the local Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The calculations up until November 20 of this year show an average occupation rate of 50%, a figure that in previous years had hovered around the 40% mark. These figures are actually very close to those forecast by the OCV at the beginning of the year based on the tourism growth trend of at least 10% each year since 2012.

OCV director Vázquez del Mercado commented that it is a goal of the city to promote the winter months, which traditionally see fewer visitors,  with more special events and activities, giving more people a reason to visit between November and February. November is a good example, as the Rocky Point Rally is held every November and it always brings a large number of visitors to Rocky Point. This year, the popular event brought in 21% more visitors than in the previous year of 2015.

As Rocky Point is discovered by more and more people, it is very encouraging to see all of the growth and new businesses around town. Now that it looks like the Home Port will be back on track soon, the future looks very bright for our little city on the sea.

The Taste of Peñasco is Back!

Music, Food, Fun & Spirits, all for a great cause, is what you can expect from the 9th Annual Taste of Peñasco Culinary & Cultural Festival. So get your taste buds ready and join us on the patio, at the Peñasco Hotel & Conference Center, Saturday, February 18, 2017 from 12:00PM to 7:00PM.

Come experience all of the wonderful flavors of Peñasco, while you peruse local artisan booths, enjoy the sea air, or relax in the wine garden, new for 2017.  Another exciting new twist is the inclusion of all restaurant booths in the "Culinary Choice Competition."  Chefs are invited to present a "Taste" of their own specialty dish to our panel of judges, which will include one lucky winner of the guest judge raffle (held prior to the event). Want more food and fun? How about YOU be the judge? You decide who receives the new "People's Choice Award" for best salsa!

Since its inception, the Taste of Peñasco has not only been a popular culinary event but also, more noteworthy, a fundraising event. This year is no exception.  Proceeds from raffle tickets and booth sales will benefit Santa Claus Club and the Red Cross. A food drive, which starts NOW, will help support 2 Fish Ministry's efforts to feed the hungry.

This will be the 34th year the Santa Claus Club has been providing for the less fortunate of the Puerto Peñasco. In 2015 alone, the club distributed 1,506 food bags, 615 bicycles, and 4,800 pounds of clothing, toys, school supplies and other necessities to nearly 13,000 children. They also supply free clinics, Casa Hogar, Red Cross, the Fire Department, Esperanza's Community Center and DIF orphanage with blankets, clothing, and personal care items.

Anyone that's ever had the unfortunate experience of requiring Red Cross services knows just how important they are to our community.  The local office does not receive any governmental funding and is sustained solely through donations so that emergency services can remain free. They are always there for us so let's support them by purchasing raffle tickets and winning some great prizes! Raffle tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20.  To purchase pre-event tickets for the prize raffle or guest judge raffle email: [email protected].

For more than seven years the 2 Fish Ministry has been serving the needy 5 days a week, several meals a day.  They are completely funded and operated by donations to the ministry. So while out shopping for your holiday staples set aside a can or two, or a bag of rice or beans for the food drive. Bring your donation to the event or you can drop off a non-perishable food item at one of these locations. JJ's Cantina, Peñasco Beauty Center, Latitude 31 Restaurant, Rocky Point Realty Group or Rocky Point Best. For more information email contact@Peñascobeautycenter.com.

Become a sponsor, sign up for a booth, donate an item for the raffle, but most important... See you at the TASTE!

Maquilas Tetakawi Analyzes Investment of Manufacturing Plant in Puerto Peñasco

In promoting economic development, while continuing to make the city attractive for new investment, Mayor Kiko Munro met with businessmen of Maquilas Tetakawi to analyze the possibility of establishing a manufacturing plant here in the upcoming year.

The mayor, accompanied by Luis Felipe Seldner of Maquilas Tetakawi S.A. de C.V., and David L. Thomas and Charlie Thomason of St. Clair Technologies, Inc., went over the geographic advantages and strengths of the area, from connectivity by air, rail, and sea, to improvement of services and infrastructure, plus proximity to the U.S. border with Arizona.

"Puerto Peñasco has become not only the most important tourism destination in northwestern Mexico, but also an attractive city for new investment," stated the mayor. "Installation of a manufacturing plant would create new sources of jobs, which would benefit families in the city."

The mayor expressed his satisfaction that work his administration has done to promote Puerto Peñasco as a safe destination for investment is bearing fruit, affirming once again that Puerto Peñasco is part of a mega region for business.

Luis Felipe Seldner of Maquilas Tetakawi stated if they were to establish manufacturing in Puerto Peñasco this would be for wire harness assembly, noting there are tremendous advantages and possibilities for setting up the world class manufacturing plant here in Puerto Penasco.

Contributed by Guillermo Munro Palacio, anecdote of Héctor Munro Palacio  Photo: Guillermo Munro Palacio.   

Translation by Shandra Keesecker.  

We set sail for shrimp in direction of Islas Encantadas precisely at noon on December 18th, 1958. The ship was the Río Yaqui, of don Julián Bustamante; on this occasion shipholder Jorge Robles, "el Pizcachas", had to stay at port to care for his wife for whom Dr. Roberto Gracida had recommended absolute bed rest for her pregnancy. Jorge stayed to take care of his wife and small children, and his cousin Beto "El Pescado" Contreras went in his place. The engine man was Luis Irineo, the cook was "el Maestro" Moro, and in the crew we were Santos Gutiérrez, Yeto Araiza, Beto Moro, Ramón el Brevas, and myself, Héctor Munro Palacio.

It was clear we would not be spending Christmas at home and el Maestro had made preparations to celebrate Christmas dinner, as was the custom, with tamales and menudo. We had taken all the ingredients to prepare the dinner, and so it was.

Despite it being winter, we worked five days and nights in incredibly warm calm waters.

There on the boat's hatchway (which we used as a table) Beto Moro and Santos Gutiérrez prepared the masa for tamales while Luis Irineo set to cleaning the hooves for the menudo.

Very much in his role, "El Pescado" Contreras cooked up the ingredients: beef, chile colorado, and other things that would be needed. El Maestro Moro was an expert in these necessities as he was originally from Imuris, Sonora, a pueblo which is famous for its Sonoran flavor, much as Terrenate, San Ignacio and Magdalena de Kino, Curcurpe and others in the area. El Maestro and his wife were also experts in preparing traditional buñuelos pastries. We followed his instructions to the letter.

It must have been around 10 in the morning and, as we were all occupied with what we were doing, we didn't realize when a 16" fiberglass boat came into the bay with two North Americans on board.

They came in and alongside us; we offered them coffee. They went right to helping us with the preparations and were having a good time. The two Americans, who were about twenty or twenty-two years old, didn't speak Spanish and we didn't speak English. Yet, we joked through signing, gestures, and mimicking. In as much as we could communicate, we invited them to dinner that evening, which they apparently understood since they stayed through to the end.

The night fell on that precious Christmas Eve day and to all our surprise el Maestro Moro, without saying a word, had prepared two pots full of cinnamon and about a liter of 96 grade alcohol - though he pulled another out of his sleeve. We began preparing the tasty warm cups, which lifted our spirits with each drink.

Meanwhile, Luis Irineo began to wash out a small box with Fab. It was the box where we stored the gloves to pull apart shrimp and the sticks we used to select them. Seeing our curious looks, he went back inside and came out with the shiny paper from cigarette boxes. He then brought out the images of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and San Francisco Javier, both of which were never lacking on boats at that time. Luis had made an altar with what he had found on hand.

In the warmth we began to feel, and the liveliness from drink, the hours rolled on. The sun had already hidden behind the mountains of Baja California, but it was still early. Being inside that bay the sun went down much earlier. Suddenly, when the day's light had gone, we saw what appeared to be a good size boat appear in the mouth to the bay of San Luis Gonzaga. We realized it was actually a canoe, a canoe with two crew members pushed along by two short oars. They were two young men from Mexicali, "Cachanillas", where they didn't use simple oars but rowing oars; the "Cachanillas" were rowing champions. You could clearly hear their oars penetrate the calm waters as they passed near us.

They were headed to a spot on the bay to spend the night and someone suggested we call out to them. We did so and waved them over. They joined us. They were shy fishermen, introverted but very decent. They were two brothers, one was Armando and the other Roberto, with the surname Cota Romero. Despite the cold, they only wore one shirt on top of the other. They were headed to San Felipe and had come from Santa Rosalía, pushed by the need that made them flee the poverty that battered the Baja California peninsula in the 50s.

We quickly prepared two cups of hot coffee for them. They were really pewter cups, particularly for use on boats as the ceramic ones broke easily. The coffee already had a drop of alcohol. One of the brothers was probably twenty-two, and the other around twenty-six, slim, leathery, strong, and tall. They were good people, without vice, exhausted from rowing for so many days.

The night rolled on while we listed to XECL from Mexicali, Christmas songs and hymns; between joking and drinks we spent a delightful evening - that night of peace and brotherly love. The translucent moonless sky was covered with millions of stars that seemed like lights of a majestic celestial Christmas tree. The light reflected in the mirror calm waters of San Luis Gonzaga bay.

Perhaps due to the nostalgia that enveloped all of us in not being with our loved ones, we all felt more human, more fraternal, more softhearted, and filled with an internal peace that is difficult to describe; an enormous peace and happiness that overcame the nostalgia of being away from our families.

Each year on Christmas, el Maestro Moro and his wife had put together a candlelight celebration in the barrio. El Maestro always helped his wife with the songs and litanies they knew. Filled with this spirit, el Maestro called us over to the improvised altar and, though being new to praying, together we said the Lord's Prayer, three Ave Marias, and sang old hymns that didn't have anything to do with Christmas but were the only ones we remembered.

When it came time to eat, the tamales were brought over to the hatchway, along with the recently strained coffee and cinnamon.

At about eleven, we pulled out a huge pot of menudo of pata and white bone, and filled with all the ingredients - green onion, cilantro, diced onion, oregano, chiltepín, and all the necessities. Glory and jubilation abound, encouraged by the warm drinks and the cinnamon with a little extra "piquete."

Once around what we were using as a table, I turned toward the portside between the rigging and edge where the boss, "El Pescado" Contreras, waved me over. He said, "You and Yeto are the strongest, climb up the valance and from there lower the awning and affix it to the boat on the stern side so that the Cachanillas and Americans don't get cold."

We climbed up and threw down the awning - which was enormous - and drug it to the stern where we made a sturdy tent. After dining on menudo, the Cachanillas prepared to go but "El Pescado" told them to get a good night's sleep, protected from the cold. The Americans did the same. By about midnight we were all asleep.

The next morning, upon awaking in my cot where I slept with my feet sticking out as I didn't fit, el Maestro Moro came over and asked,

"What did Santa Claus bring you?"

"Nothing, why?"

"I think he did bring you something. Look."

He was quite the kidder and almost never spoke the truth.

"Pick up the pillow," he said.

I picked up my pillow and discovered that Santa Claus had left a can of Velveeta tomato sauce.

I don't know who Santa Claus was that night, but each of use - including the Americans and the Cachanillas - woke up with a can or jar of something: Spam, green beans, Carnation milk, canned corn, peas, pumpkin, cans of Nescafé, jelly, Rosarita beans....

Nobody fessed up to the gesture and we never knew who did it. After having menudo once again for breakfast, the Cachanillas began to ready to go. We saw they didn't have anything to cover them up. I took Yeto to the cabin and said, "Are you in?" I had a blue hooded sweatshirt that I never wore; el Yeto had a red one. "Alright," he replied. We gave them to the Cota Romero boys. El Maestro, who had been up before everyone, had already filled a basket with cans, Nescafé, tortillas, bread, and everything. In those days there was plenty of food; on each trip we had extra cans of corned beef, Spam, canned milk, etc. There was abundance and generosity among all the shipbuilders. El Maestro gave this to them. The Americans were also very grateful as they left.