Puerto Penasco has welcomed 2.2 milion tourists during 2022, according to the Office of Conventions and Visitors (OCV). The number of tourists since the Covid-19 shutdown has continued to climb and is now at a similar level to 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Lizette Ibarra, director of the OCV highlighted that through week 50 of this year, a total of 2,200,288 tourists visited our city. This represents an average occupancy rate of 47% of all available condos and hotels and is an increase of almost 13% from 2021. She add that in terms of economic benefits for this year approximately $123,270,000 dollars were spent in the city by tourists.

The year that is ending is described as very good for the tourism sector, almost matching the occupancy rate of 48% that was achieved in 2019

The director explained that the number of tourists and hotel occupancy so far this year confirm that Puerto Penasco continues to hold the first position in tourism generation in Sonora, even above Hermosillo, a much larger city.

January Jam with Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers is back MLK Weekend Jan 13-15!

Fifteen years ago following the completion of an eight day recording session for Turbo Ocho in Cholla Bay, Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers put out a last minute invitation on the band message board for an afternoon show playing many of the new songs just recorded. One year of intimate shows with zarapes and tequila led to another until we'll find ourselves back in Penasco in 2023 for what promises to be the best Jam yet.

Tickets are on sale now at www.januaryjam.net .

Joining RCPM will be David Lowery, the Platinum selling singer/songwriter for Cracker and Camper van Beethoven. David will not only be playing a rare solo set, but he'll be backed by RCPM for the first time playing an entire set of Cracker and CVB hits. Do not miss these shows on the big stage at Banditos.

Rockford, IL second favorite band Miles Nielsen & The Rusted Hearts are back for band shows as well as the Miles and Kelly Steward Breakfast Show Sunday morning at Al Capone's. Bluegrass originals Cross Eyed Possum will bring its Latin rock and Americana originals by Minnesota's J. Bell & the Lazy Susan Band.

The Jons will highlight everybody's favorite January pool party at Chango's Saturday afternoon following the Cancion Tequila Golf Classic at The Links at Las Palomas benefitting Penasco family-oriented charities. Want to golf? Check out the Tickets page for reservations.

Jim Dalton backed by The Jons will kick off Sunday afternoon followed by Miles Nielsen & The Rusted Hearts and RCPM beachfront at Manny's Sunday afternoon. Are you a late nighter? The Purple Onions and Stone will play inside Banditos Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Schedules, tickets and event info are available now at www.januaryjam.net . 

All advance purchase tickets are discounted through the event where tickets will increase at the door. Do not delay, grab your reservations and tickets today!

-RCPM

Jan Jam 2023

https://vimeo.com/769962911/72357a0910

Potpourri!

Short Shorts of All Sorts!

Sometimes so much is going on in our little slice of paradise by the sea that we can't address the many short subjects with proper attention. To handle the hodgepodge of dangling subject matter, we invented the Potpourri Page. Here are a few "short shorts" to keep you up to date.



Mexico’s general minimum wage (Salario Minimo) rises on January 1, 2023 to $207.44 pesos per work day, a 20% rise on the 2022 level of $172.87. The rate for 2023 along the ‘Northern Border Zone’ was raised to $312.41 pesos per work day—a rise of 20% on the 2022 rate of $260.34.

In the years before 2018, the minimum wage had been raised more-or-less in line with official annual inflation, to avoid a wave of wage demands that could cause a spiral of increases in prices and wages which would eventually have the most impact on the poorest people. The problem was that the minimum wage has for years been so low that it isn’t enough to for a single person to live on, never mind a whole family.

The decision to start raising the minimum wage more than other wages in a bid to even-up earnings took several years to implement. First it was necessary to uncouple thousands of official prices —including things like speeding fines and home loans— which for years were determined in multiples of the minimum wage.

For example, a big increase in the minimum wage level would have made hundreds of thousands of mortgages from the government-run agency Infonavit unaffordable.

The process of creating a new unit of value to replace the minimum wage for those prices took more than a year. There was also a need to take into consideration studies on the possible effects that the change would have on wages and employment. In 2016, Mexico introduced the Unidad de Medida y Actualización (UMA) to enable minimum salaries to rise without adversely affecting other official costs and charges.

The financial criteria required to obtain legal residency in Mexico may be calculated using Minimum Salary figures or UMA. For further information about this, read: Mexican Immigration Begins to Adopt UMA for Residency Qualification.

In 2016 the minimum wage as $73.04 pesos per work day;

in 2017, the minimum wage rose about 9% to $80.04 pesos per work day;

in 2018 it rose just over 10% to $88.36 pesos per work day;

in 2019 it rose a further 16% to $102.68 pesos per work day;

in 2020 it was increased 20% to $123.22 pesos per work day;

in 2021 it was increased by 15% to $141.70 pesos per work day;

in 2022 it was increased by 23% to $172.87 pesos per work day; and

from January 1, 2022, minimum wage was increased by 20% making the current minimum wage $207.44 pesos per work day.

In 2019, Mexico introduced a ‘Northern Border Zone’ minimum daily rate of $177.72 pesos a day, and this increased:

to $183.56 pesos per work day as of Jan 1, 2020;

to $213.39 pesos per work day as of January 1, 2021;

to $260.34 pesos per work day as of January 1, 2022; and

to $312.41 pesos per work day as of January 1, 2023.

The ‘Northern Border Zone’ is a defined set of municipalities in Mexican states bordering the USA.

Mexico has retained its title as “the king of vacation destinations and locations for second homes” for United States citizens, a real estate company has announced.

And the country appears to be becoming even more popular among Americans looking to buy a property abroad, with searches for real estate-related keywords for Mexico up by almost 60% in the last 12 months, the news division of the company Point2 Homes reported.

“Just like last year, Mexico remains the king of vacation destinations and locations for second homes for Americans,” Point2 News said in a recent article about the 30 most desirable home buying locations in the Americas. “However, what did change was the number of monthly searches,” it added. Data published by Point2 showed that Google searches for real estate-related keywords for Mexico increased 59% over the last year.

The average number of Mexico-related real estate searches in the U.S. increased to over 132,000, well over double the number of searches for properties in Canada, which ranked as the second most sought-after location in the Americas. Point2 said it wasn’t surprised by the strong interest in Mexico given the attractiveness of destinations here.

“In absolutely dreamy locations throughout Mexico, home seekers aren’t just looking for their next vacation home, but also a more joyous lifestyle and their very own slice of paradise,” the company said.

After Mexico and Canada, Costa Rica was the most popular home buying destination for U.S. citizens over the last 12 months based on Google searches, Point2 said. The other seven locations in the top 10 were, in order, Puerto Rico, Belize, Panama, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, United States Virgin Islands and Honduras.

Eight destinations recorded higher percentage increases than Mexico for real estate searches, but their total volumes were much lower. They were Haiti, Chile, Aruba, Brazil, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Peru and Saint Lucia.

A visit to Rocky Point is not complete without going to the Malecon, or “Old Port” as it is known to some. Others call it “Downtown”, although neither the Old Port or Downtown labels are accurate. The correct name is Malecon Fundadores, in honor of those who founded Puerto Penasco almost one hundred years ago.

The area has had three major transformations since Rocky Point was founded. The first was in the 70’s when large cement planters were built and palm trees planted in them. The street was a typical city street and the traffic and tourism was minimal. Other areas of town were more popular and the Malecon was largely ignored by locals and tourists.

When Mayor “Coco” Velez took office in 2000, he began promoting the Malecon area and was able to receive Federal funds in order to improve the boardwalk. His original plan included building three pedestrian piers jutting into the sea, but do to a lack of funds, that part of the project was never completed. However, the area did receive a significant face lift and improvement. Tourism picked up and it became obvious that the area would be popular from that time on.

Only about 5 years after Coco improved the Malecon, then Governor Eduardo Bours and Mayor Heriberto Renteria decided to upgrade the area even more. Part of the reason was the fact that a meeting of border Governors was to take place in Rocky Point. Those included California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas from USA, and Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and Sonora from the Mexico side. At that time, the Malecon was upgraded to the current version of the area.

The Malecon today is not without its problems such as limited parking and pesky street vendors, but nonetheless, a visit to Puerto Penasco will not be complete without a visit to our Malecon. 

Formal immigration to Mexico from the United States is at a record high, federal government data shows, while many more Americans are living and working here while on tourist visas.

Data published in an Interior Ministry migration report shows that 8,412 U.S. citizens were issued temporary resident visas in the first nine months of the year, an 85% increase compared to the same period of 2019 – when the coronavirus pandemic hadn’t yet had an impact on people’s life and work choices and options. The figure is the highest since comparable data became available in 2010, the news agency Bloomberg reported.

The number of U.S. citizens who were granted permanent residency in the first nine months of 2022 also increased significantly, rising 48% from 2019 levels to 5,418. There are a range of ways foreigners can qualify for residency in Mexico, including by meeting income requirements, having an employer who sponsors their visa and having family ties.

The aforementioned residency figures don’t take into account the large number of Americans who entered the country as tourists but are living here for all intents and purposes. Such people include a growing number of digital nomads – many of whom were able to settle here due to new remote work policies introduced by their employers during the pandemic – as well as older, retired Americans, some of whom have been spending part of their time in Mexico for years.

Another source of the increasing numbers may be families. Data from Mexico’s 2020 census shows there are over 470,000 U.S.-born kids in Mexico, aged five to 19.

In addition to Americans, foreigners from many other countries have flocked to Mexico in recent years, attracted by the country’s openness and lack of restrictions during the first year of the pandemic, as well as traditional draws, including beaches, archaeological sites, tasty food and beverages and the wide range of cultural experiences on offer.

So it’s not surprising that an increasing number of Americans – and other foreigners – don’t want to go home. Government data also shows that the number of Canadians granted temporary residency in the first nine months of the year went up to 2,042, an increase of 137% compared to 2019.

More than 1,000 citizens of many other countries received temporary residency permits between January and September. Those counties include Spain, France, Germany, China, India, Japan and numerous Latin American nations, among which are Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Cuba.

But none of those countries can compete with the United States in terms of the total number of citizens residing in Mexico. The U.S. Department of State said last month that “an estimated 1.6 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico,” while data from Mexico’s 2020 census put the figure at a more modest total of just under 800,000. 

Among the U.S. citizens living here are a growing number of families with children, attracted in part by Mexico’s family oriented-culture. Data from Mexico’s 2020 census shows there are over 470,000 U.S.-born kids aged five to 19, although many of those likely belong to Mexican families.

In addition to being a popular place to settle, Mexico is also the top foreign destination for U.S. travelers, according to the State Department, while data from the Center of Research and Tourism Competitiveness at Anáhuac University in Mexico City shows that more than 10 million Americans flew into Mexico in the nine months to the end of September, injecting billions of dollars into the Mexican economy.

A notable aspect about Mexico is the great variety of foods and dishes that can be easily identified with the country.

Most of the traditional foods are available all year round, although certain dates and holidays are associated with particular dishes.

September, the Mes de la Patria because of the Independence Day, brings  chiles en nogada, hot green peppers filled with walnuts and raisins, covered with cream and sprinkled with pomegranate; and pozole, a broth with large grains of corn, red or green chili, chicken or pork, radish, and other trimmings.

October is when bakeries bring out the Pan de Muerto bread for the All Souls Day celebrations, although some stores, particularly supermarkets, start selling it during late August, presumably to maximize their sales opportunity.

Christmas dishes include bacalao, specially prepared codfish; romeritos, dried shrimp and rosemary sprigs in mole; and the  Rosca de Reyes cake is cut at Epiphany (Three Kings Day) on January 6th.

Tamales - a traditional (and ancient) food made using corn dough steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf, and flavored with savory or sweet fillings are eaten all year round, but traditionally at Candlemas, on February 2nd. Also by tradition, if your slice of  Rosca de Reyes contains a baby doll figurine (baked into the mix of every cake), you are obliged to host a party on this date to serve the tamales to family and friends.

For newcomers to Mexico, some local dishes, particularly spicy ones, take a while to get used to, and some people at first turn their noses up at the different tastes and smells. Quite understandably, many Mexicans are astounded someone wouldn't like pozole, or mole, or some other dish that people here get excited about, and they assume you haven't tried it. If you say you have, then obviously " no has probado el que hace mi tía" - you haven't tried the one my aunt makes.

Perhaps one of the most acquired tastes in Mexican food is mole. This sauce is made from dried and ground chile peppers mixed with other spices and ingredients-famously chocolate used in making  mole poblano (from Puebla) or black mole of Oaxaca. There are many kinds of mole, which are usually mixed with meat, rice, chicken, or vegetables.

Mole recipes vary, and local restaurants renowned for their mole often keep the precise recipe (moreover, the proportions of the ingredients) a closely-guarded secret.

Mole is one of the truly mestizo (mixed indigenous and Spanish) dishes of Mexico. The Aztecs were making sauces from chili peppers to which they attached the suffix -mulli or -molli. Following the Spanish conquest, other spices were introduced and different kinds of sauce were developed.

Mole Recipe (one of countless shared and secret recipes):

Ingredients

  2 Chipotle peppers      

  1 Onion, sliced

  2 cloves Garlic                

  2 Tomatoes    

  1 tablespoon Raw Peanuts (Moongphali)          

  1 Star anise     

  1 inch Cinnamon Stick (Dalchini)            

  2 Cloves (Laung)           

  2 inch Dark chocolate

  1 teaspoon Dried oregano       

  1 teaspoon Black pepper powder         

  1 tablespoon Raisins   

  1 tablespoon Maize flour (Corn Meal)                

  1 tablespoon Butter    

  1 cup Chicken stock     

  Salt to taste

Preparation:

To begin making the Homemade Mole Sauce Recipe we will first, roast the tomatoes by heating a sauce pan with oil, add the whole tomatoes.

In the meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes.

Once the tomatoes roasted slightly and got light brown on skin, switch off the heat. Take a foil add the tomatoes and drizzle some olive oil and cover the foil and place it in the oven and roast them for about 15 minutes.

In the same pan add some more oil, sliced onions and cloves of garlic and saute until it softens.

Once the onions are sauted switch off the flame, allow it to cool down. Add them into a mixer along with star anise, cloves, cinnamon and raisins. Add little water to blitz it into a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

Take the tomatoes out and chop them up and blitz them also along with toasted peanuts and chipotle chilies to a smooth paste.

Let's start to make the sauce. Heat the pan with butter once the butter starts to melt, add maize flour and keep whisking it to make a roux.

Add chicken broth and mix well so that there are no lumps formed. Keep whisking till the sauce thickens.

Add in the onion paste and tomato paste and bring it to a boil. Add in your seasonings and broken chocolate now and whisk well. Adjust the salt level and boil for 10 more minutes switch off the flame.

U se the Homemade Mole Sauce to make Chicken mole sauce with brown sweet corn rice recipe to make a nice lunch meal for yourself.

Learning Spanish vocabulary can seem so easy: Constitución means "constitution," nación means "nation," and decepción means "deception," right?

Not quite. True, most words that end in -ción can be translated into English by changing the suffix to "-tion." And the pattern holds true for the first two words listed above (although constitución refers to how something is constituted more often than does the English word, which usually refers to a political document). But una decepción is a disappointment, not a deception.

English Translations of Spanish False Cognates

Spanish and English have literally thousands of cognates, words that are basically the same in both languages, having the same etymology and similar meanings. But combinations such as decepción and "deception" are so-called false cognates — known more precisely as "false friends" or falsos amigos — word pairs that look like they might mean the same thing but don't. They can be confusing, and if you make the mistake of using them in speech or writing you're likely to be misunderstood.

Following is a list of some of the most common false friends — some of the ones you're most likely to come across when reading or listening to Spanish:

• Actual: This adjective (or its corresponding adverb, actualmente) indicates that something is current, at the present time. Thus the day's hot topic might be referred to as un tema actual. If you wish to say something is actual (as opposed to imaginary), use real (which also can mean "royal") or verdadero.
• Asistir: Means to attend or to be present. Asisto a la oficina cada día, I go to the office daily. To say "to assist," use ayudar, to help.
• Atender: Means to serve or to take care of, to attend to. If you're talking about attending a meeting or a class, use asistir.
• Basamento: You won't run across this word often, but it's the base of a column, sometimes called a plinth. If you want to visit a basement, go down to el sótano.
• Billón: 1,000,000,000,000. That number is the same as a trillion in American English but a billion in traditional British English. (Modern British English conforms with U.S. English, however.)
• Bizarro: Somebody who's this way is brave, not necessarily strange. The English word "bizarre" is conveyed better by extraño or estrafalario.
• Boda: If you go to a wedding or wedding reception, this is what you're going to. A body (as of a person or animal) is most often cuerpo or tronco.
• Campo: Means a field or the country (in the sense of living in the country, not the city). If you're going camping, you'll probably be staying at a campamento or even a camping.
• Carpeta: Although this can refer to a type of table cover, it doesn't have anything to do with carpets. It most often means a file folder (including the virtual kind) or a briefcase. "Carpet" is most often alfombra.
• Complexión: This refers not to your skin, but to one's physiological build (a well-built man is un hombre de complexión fuerte). To speak of skin complexion, use tez or cutis.
• Compromiso: Meaning a promise, obligation, or commitment, it does not usually convey the sense that one has given up something to reach an agreement. There is no good noun equivalent of "compromise" that would be understood that way out of context, although the verb transigir conveys the sense of giving in to, yielding to, or tolerating another person.
• Constiparse, constipación: In verb form, it means to catch a cold, while una constipación is one of the words that means a cold. Someone who is constipated is estreñido.
• Contestar: It's a very common verb meaning to answer. To contest something, use contender.
• Corresponder: Yes, it does mean to correspond, but only in the sense of to match. If you're talking about corresponding with someone, use a form of escribir con or mantener correspondencia.
• Decepción, decepcionar: Means disappointment or to disappoint. To deceive someone is to engañar a alguién. Something deceptive is engañoso.
• Delito: There's seldom much delightful about a crime. (Delito usually refers to a minor crime, as contrasted with a serious crime or crimen.) The feeling of delight can be a deleite, while the object that causes it an encanto or delicia (note that the latter word often has a sexual connotation).
• Desgracia: In Spanish, this is little more than a mistake or misfortune. Something shameful is una vergüenza or una deshonra.
• Despertar: This verb is usually used in the reflexive form, meaning to wake up (me despierto a las siete, I wake up at seven). If you're desperate, there's a true cognate you can use: desesperado.
• Destituido: Someone who has been removed from office is destituido. Someone without money is indigente or desamparado.
• Disgusto: Derived from the prefix dis- (meaning "not") and the root word gusto (meaning "pleasure"), this word refers simply to displeasure or misfortune. If you need to use a much stronger term akin to "disgust," use asco or repugnancia.
• Embarazada: It might be embarrassing to be pregnant, but it isn't necessarily. Someone who feels embarrassed tiene vergüenza or se siente avergonzado.
• Emocionante: Used to describe something that's thrilling or emotionally moving. To say "emotional," the cognate emocional will often do fine.
• En absoluto: This phrase means the opposite of what you think it might, meaning not at all or absolutely not. To say "absolutely," use the cognate totalmente or completamente.
• Éxito: It's a hit or a success. If you're looking for a way out, look for una salida.
• Fábrica: That's a place where they fabricate items, namely a factory. Words for "cloth" include tejido and tela.
• Fútbol: Unless in a context that indicates otherwise, this means soccer. If you want to refer to the popular U.S. spectator sport, use fútbol americano.
• Fútil: This refers to something trivial or insignificant. If your efforts are futile, use ineficaz, vano or inútil.
• Insulación: This isn't even a word in Spanish (although you may hear it in Spanglish). If you want to say "insulation," use aislamiento.
• Ganga: It's a bargain. Although ganga may be heard in Spanglish as a word for "gang," the usual word is pandilla.
• Inconsecuente: This adjective refers to something that is contradictory. Something inconsequential is (among other possibilities) de poca importancia.
• Introducir: This isn't truly a false cognate, for it can be translated as, among other things, to introduce in the sense of to bring in, to begin, to put, or to place. For example, se introdujo la ley en 1998, the law was introduced (put in effect) in 1998. But it's not the verb to use to introduce someone. Use presentar.
• Largo: When referring to size, it means long. If it's big, it's also grande.
• Minorista: Means retail (adjective) or retailer. A "minority" is una minoría.
• Molestar: The verb doesn't usually have sexual connotations in Spanish, and it didn't originally in English either. It means simply to bother or to annoy. For the sexual meaning of "to molest" in English, use abusar sexualmente or some phrase that says more precisely what you mean.
• Once: If you can count past 10, you know that once is the word for eleven. If something happens once, it happens una vez.
• Pretender: The Spanish verb doesn't have anything to do with faking it, only to try. To pretend, use fingir or simular.
• Rapista: This is an uncommon word for a barber (peluquero or even the cognate barbero is more common), derived from the verb rapar, to cut close or to shave. Someone who attacks sexually is a violador.
• Realizar, realizacón: Realizar can be used reflexively to indicate something becoming real or becoming completed: Se realizó el rascacielos, the skyscraper was built. To realize as a mental event can be translated using darse cuenta ("to realize"), comprender ("to understand") or saber ("to know"), among other possibilities, depending on the context.
• Recordar: Means to remember or to remind. The verb to use when recording something depends on what you're recording. Possibilities include anotar or tomar nota for writing something down, or grabar for making an audio or video recording.
• Revolver: As its form suggests, this is a verb, in this case meaning to turn over, to revolve, or otherwise to cause disorder. The Spanish word for "revolver" is close, however: revólver.
• Ropa: Clothing, not rope. Rope is cuerda or soga.
• Sano: Usually means healthy. Someone who is sane is en su juicio or "in his right mind."
• Sensible: Usually means sensitive or capable of feeling. A sensible person or idea can be referred to as sensato or razonable.
• Sensiblemente: Usually means perceptibly or appreciably, sometimes painfully. A good synonym for "sensibly" is sesudamente.
• Sopa: Soup, not soap. Soap is jabón.
• Suceso: Merely an event or happening, sometimes a crime. A success is un éxito.
• Tuna: Order this at a desert restaurant and you'll get edible cactus. A tuna is also a college musical glee club. The fish is atún.
• 
  

Especially in the United States, Spanish doesn't exist in a vacuum. In the United States, you may hear some speakers, especially those who frequently speak Spanglish, use some of these false cognates when speaking Spanish. A few of these usages may be creeping into the language elsewhere, although they would still be considered substandard.

December 2022

November 2022

October 2022

September 2022

August 2022

July 2022

June 2022

May 2022

April 2022

March 2022

February 2022

January 2022

December 2021

November 2021

Let me know if you would like links to any of the earlier ones. (Over 11 years worth)