Volume XXX, Number 85 July 16-31, 2008 home page   |   who we are   |   ad rates   |   faq   |   links   |   contact us   |
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PAST ISSUES
ROSARITO - THINGS TO DO

Spas:
Whether you have come for a getaway weekend or a day, indulge yourself in a single spa treatment or a full day package, you won’t be disappointed.
Choose from massages, facials, herbal wraps, aromatherapy baths and more while enjoying Mexico’s traditionally friendly and festive hospitality and charming atmosphere! Some Spas offer ocean-view treatments, as well as unique treatments and products. Give yourself a treat and enjoy the beautiful facilities of one of the many excellent local Spas…

Restaurants:
Rosarito is a Gourmet's Paradise. It boasts more than 80 excellent restaurants that can satisfy the most exigent taste. Almost a million lobsters are served in the Rosarito coastal area every year. "Puerto Nuevo-style" is now a world-famous synonym for the exquisite lobster offered in our local restaurants. From traditional Mexican high-cuisine, International dishes or just the best Tacos you'll ever eat, this place means great food every where you turn. Chinese, French, Mediterranean, Italian… it's all here. From to sushi with a Mexican hint to Lobster burritos, you simply can't eat your way through Rosarito's affordable and exotic pleasures in a single trip…

Galleries:
Along Rosarito there are many beautiful galleries where you can also admire artistic jewelry. All of them have exquisite paintings and sculptures of great quality; selected pieces for those who take art seriously.
Mission Gallery & Del Mar Gallery are located in the Rosarito Beach Hotel Shopping Center, the Giorgio Santini Galley is located at km 40.5 on the free road Rosarito- Ensenada, and boasts a huge selection of the best art of Baja California. It has a sushi-bar, served with local wines; inside you will find small showrooms where many local artists explain their wonderful job. Polo’s Gallery, UGI’s and Silva’s are located at the Popotla Blvd. Along with these, you will find a wide variety of small places filled with treasures… Enjoy!

Shopping:
Shopping in Rosarito is unlike anything you've ever experienced north of the border.
Every store here is different. Every store is an adventure and we have hundreds of them.
Mexican craftsmanship is legendary, and in Rosarito. All up and down our main street are shops where you can choose from an array of hand carved wooden or custom wrought iron tables, chairs and bar stools. You can pick a sofa and have it covered in hand woven
Mexican fabric. Find the perfect armoire or a beautifully framed, hand carved and painted
mirror. Most shops take orders and will custom make you anything you'd like.
What else can you find here? Fountains. Pots. Hand painted tile. And more....
Buy a piñata for the kids, along with Mexican toys and dolls. How about a tall, elegant
blue bottle of Tequila for your favorite tequila aficionado, or a bottle of duty free French perfume for that special person in your life?

Fun Events:
There are many events, from gastronomic to sports, Rosarit has it all!
The annual Rosarito Fair with concerts and arts and crafts is usually in July; the International Seafood Fair is in June; a Wine and  Lobster Festival takes place in October, and there is a Mexican Food Fair where you can enjoy traditional gourmet Mexican Dishes in December.  In April and September you can  watch the Rosarito-Ensenada  50 Mile Fun Bike Ride or cheer at the  three-wheeler competitions at the  breath-taking Cantamar Sand Dunes. Enter a bi- or triathlon, a five or 10K run, a beach volleyball tournament or a sand castle building contest. Then there's our annual Holiday Shopping Festival in November and December! The whole town gets into the spirit and since Mexicans love to fiesta it's guaranteed to be a good time for all!

Historical Rosarito Beach Hotel:
The early 1930's were the heyday for most resorts. There was wide-open gambling in Baja California (prohibited in the United Estates, in California even horse racing was illegal). Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada became a Mecca for the thousands of visitors, but the bottom began to drop out with the Repeal of Prohibition in 1933, and later, in 1935 the Mexican government outlawed gambling in the country. Of the three big resorts: The Rosarito Beach Hotel, Tijuana's Agua Caliente and Ensenada's Riviera del Pacífico, only the Rosarito Beach Hotel survived.
In 1937 Manuel Barbachano shrewdly remodeled and greatly enlarged the hotel. Mexican muralist Matias Santoyo was retained to create the fascinating murals that adorn the lobby. During this period of extensive construction at the hotel, Barbachano also built an ornate and spacious mansion next door for his young bride Maria Luisa Chabert. Through the years the Rosarito Beach Hotel continued to attract the world's glamourous people. The beautiful mansion, located at the north wing of the hotel was restored into a world class spa and the elegant Chabert's restaurant.
The Rosarito Beach hotel boasts now 280 deluxe rooms and suites, two restaurants, three bars, 4 swimming pools, 3 jacuzzis, museum and a lot more. Is a place that reflects Mexico's past like no other hotel in the world. An alluring past is now combined with an exiting present and the future is just beginning...

Titanic Museum:
In the elegant first-class men's card room, a blackjack hand has been interrupted in progress. A face-up jack, partly covered by another card, is a chilling reminder that the players will never return to this game. Every item in the room is authentic and these very details make the story all the more real. A small box of Rizla rolling papers for tobacco open on a shelf; the wooden boxes of cigars from Honduras and the Dominican Republic, some tied with red ribbons. You'll see them in the movie. It is disconcerting to see them here in the stillness of the museum. There are also the simple, carved wooden toys of children, the watermarked suitcases, including a wicker pet carrier, the alligator purse, with claws, of a wealthy but doomed passenger, the corroded silver hairbrush brought up from the bottom of the sea. All are poignant reminders of the human side of this 86-year-old drama.
From the single canvas life jacket marked Titanic to the eerily lit and empty first-class hallway, the props and sets alone at the museum bring the history of this tragedy alive. And a short video, detailing the making of the movie right here on this location, brings Cameron's larger-than-life retelling of it to life, too. It is definitely worth a half-hour stop the next time you're in Rosarito.
Look for the sign out front signifying that the museum is open. Find the studio on the Free Road, five minutes south of downtown Rosarito.

Foxploration:
Baja Studios was originally built for James Cameron's epic film, Titanic. The complex is located on 45 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean, three miles south of Rosarito Baja California and 45 minutes south of San Diego. Here the world’s largest filming tanks work in conjunction with stages, offices, scenery shops, dressing rooms, wardrobe facilities and other production areas to accomplish nearly any filming requirement.
Since opening in 1996, eight movies have been filmed here, along with several television shows, commercials and video productions. Fox’s presence in Baja California provides many benefits for the region and promotes film production as well as tourism.
Foxploration is an exciting addition to Baja Studios, a one-of-a-kind movie park. Foxploration allows visitors to discover tricks of the film making process within the context of a working movie studio. Attractions include film sets, prop rooms and exhibits where visitors learn about the magic of movie making in an entertaining and interactive way. Also on display are original props, sets and costumes from the blockbuster film "Titanic" and other movies filmed at Baja Studios.
Getting to Foxploration is an easy 45-minute drive from San Diego. Take Interstate 5 or 805 south to the US/México border. Follow signs for the Rosarito-Ensenada Scenic Road. Continue 15 miles to the last Rosarito exit, La Paloma/Popotla/Calafia/Las Rocas exit. Continue south on the “free” road for 3 miles to Foxploration.

Wa-Kuatay Museum
At the museum of Playas de Rosarito you will find the most important historical events, divided in several exposition halls. It shows how the Kumiai tribe lived and you will also find arrows and vessels made from stone.
It's important to mention that descendants of the Kumiai tribe still live in a reservation south of Rosarito.
The museums also counts with Pre-hispanic and Mesoamericans objects where you can find pieces from 2300 b.c to 300a.c and from the "post-classic" period from 900 to 1521. The recent history of Rosarito is well-illustrated with pictures, displaying all the information in English and Spanish . The museum opens from 10am to 4pm Monday thru Sunday (Closed on Tuesday).
If you are one of those people with a healthy appetite for good food, a definite recommendation is this quaint village dedicated exclusively to the sale of seafood and their specialty is recognized worldwide as lobster based dishes.
Puerto Nuevo is only 10 minutes South of Rosarito Beach (approximately 45 minutes South of the border with the U. S.) it's accessible from the toll road as well as the free road. We must mention that the view from the road is absolutely breathtaking. The spectacular marine view on one side and the hills on the other, they are an ideal excuse not to forget the camera. If you are traveling from North to South, Puerto Nuevo will be on your right hand side and you will be able to identify it when you see its arched entrance. The climate is always nice but it never hurts to take a jacket.
It's a small village by the ocean, surrounded by sun and beach, it started many years ago as a fishing village. There is still some fishing but its infrastructure has changed. Today its filled with restaurants and store filled with Mexican craftsmanship ideal for spending a nice afternoon delighting your pallet and doing a little shopping.
All of the restaurants without exception sell dishes based on lobster Puerto Nuevo Style, it consists of a lobster cut in half served with a bowl of rice and beans with delicious hand made flour tortillas with melted butter and lemon on the side. (mmm!) You can accompany the lobster with a pitcher of Margaritas or your favorite Mexican beer.
The ambiance in these restaurants is very Mexican and for a few dollars you can enjoy some of the traditional Mexican music, interpreted by mariachis bands there at your table.
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