The people of Tecate will tell you that the ancient God Cuchuma and his princess still rest in the hill above their little city that bears his name. They say that is the reason that fortune has so favored them. And if you haven't visited there lately maybe you are unaware, as was this writer, how much fortune is smiling on this lovely little city.
This city is not oriented to tourism - at least not to the traditional kinds of tourism. Artisan stalls and vendor stands are virtually nonexistent, and in the past, the only two attractions for which the city was known were the brewery for Tecate beer, and the beauty and health spa, La Puerta. For a while there was the attempt to copy the famous Pamplona festival, made famous by Ernest Hemingway, the running of the bulls. But the city gave it up because of the danger to the bulls as well as to irresponsible participants who overindulged in holiday festivities before engaging in a hazardous sport. Now the quiet is broken only by an annual Arts and Crafts Fair, a family affair, held in Los Encinos park.
Equally amazing for a city of only about 100,000 people is the very active artistic and intellectual life. There is an extension division of the Baja California University there, housed in a building that was designed originally to be a convention center. The auditorium is the site of dance, drama and music productions; the offices and meeting rooms are filled with evening classes in all kinds of subjects from computers to languages; and the lobby houses a rotating art exhibit, open to the public. Many of the local artists use a large, high ceiling area as a studio and as a place to mingle with their fellow artists to share ideas and creative intuition. The results prove to be an active creative artistic colony and interesting sights for the citizens to enjoy, the most obvious example probably being the mural and statue in front of the extension building.
Tecate is also proud of its colony of writers, and, in addition to the building described above, there is a brand new building housing o college of engineering. The two edifices mean that a nucleus of intellectual development is already visible in a part of the border area where it would be least expected.
The Baja aficionado who has not seen Tecate for some time should surely make a visit to catch up on what's new. The nice homes stretching up the sides of the various hills, the busy and contented people, the border lines only six cars long lines going north, the self-sufficiency and pride of the city resting under the shadow of the powerful and benign Cerro Cuchuma all present a different aspect of the Northern Baja scene. Fortune indeed has been good to this lovely area!