PUERTO VALLARTA
Velas Vallarta features ideal family-style accommodations. This beach-front resort, located in Marina Vallarta, offers a year-round complimentary children’s program including a Kids Club for children 4 to 12 years old. The beautifully landscaped grounds, which include flowered walkways and rustic bridges, make this location a true family paradise. For more information, contact 1-800-VELAS –PV.
For those that enjoy larger family-friendly resorts, La Jolla de Mismaloya in Puerto Vallarta features 303 luxurious suites with private terraces and an exceptional program for kids ages 5 to 11. The program features handicrafts, painting, singing, beach soccer, bingo, piñatas, treasure hunts, a kid’s parade, bobbing for apples and more.
What to Do
Vallarta Adventure Tours offers an opportunity for families to swim with dolphins at the Nuevo Vallarta Dolphin Center, watch Humpback whales at the Marietas Islands, take a brief flight up to the 16th century mining village of San Sebastian, explore the Sierra Madre foothills or simply relax on the pristine beach of Caletas.
CABO SAN LUCAS, SAN JOSE DEL CABO AND LA PAZ
Fiesta Americana Grand offers a program known as Fiesta Kids. Specially designed for children, the activities include arts and crafts, table games and access to an air-conditioned area with television programs playing for kids. The resort also features a game room and arcade and provides babysitting services and cribs upon request.
Families looking for a little diversity can enjoy Hotel Cabo San Lucas where a variety of unique children’s activities and programs are available. Families can participate in a marine biology tour of the tide pool, sign up for a day of whale watching, play doubles on the tennis courts, sail, parasail, or even discover hidden trails on horseback.
What to Do
Several local excursions are great for families interested in experiencing the rich eco-tourism offerings of the area.
The Baja Adventure Company offers whale watching trips, diving adventures and kayaking expeditions on Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula.
Santiago Zoo: This small but well maintained zoo is located in Miraflores (about 30 minutes north of San Jose del Cabo). Residents of Parque Zoologico include petcarts, bears, coyotes, foxes, monkeys, parrots, and ducks, some which are Cape Region natives. The park is open daily 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. in summer and admission is free.
ACAPULCO
Fiesta Americana Condesa Acapulco caters to families with on-site children’s activities and a Fiesta Kids Club program in the summer. Located right on the beach in the center of downtown Acapulco, families can easily stroll around town visiting many of the dozens of restaurants, stores and arts and craft shops.
At the Radisson Resort Acapulco you’ll find a spectacular view of the Acapulco Bay from the private beach, two swimming pools, and a children’s wading pool. A tramway takes you from the lobby down to the guestrooms and pool.
What to Do
Parque Papagayo - This Pacific port playground is a kid’s delight and adults will love it too. It features a 52-acre playing field filled with an aviary, roller skating rink, mini racetrack, bumper boats, and replica of a space ship. Located at Costera Miguel Aleman, the park is open daily from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Call 011-52-7-485-9623 for more information.
Swim with the dolphins, watch seal shows and glide down water slides at Cici Water Park. It’s located along the Costera Miguel Aleman, and open daily from 10-6. Call 011-52-7-484-8210 for more information.
CANCUN
Hyatt Regency Cancun offers something different and fun for kids: Camp Hyatt. This recreational program is designed exclusively for Hyatt guests 3 - 12 years old and includes a pin, t-shirt, hat, beverages and a special meal created by the Camp Hyatt chef. Activities are offered Tuesday - Sunday, with two sessions daily: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. Prices range from $10 per child per session, or $15 for a full day. Other fun activities for kids include a game room, arcade and a private children’s pool.
Aquamarina Beach Hotel offers all-inclusive family accommodations with services such as a Children’s Club, where kids can play miniature golf right at the hotel. Up to two children aged 11 or younger stay free at the hotel with at least two accompanying adults.
What to Do
Yucatan Ecotourism & Adventure Tours: Children can experience an adventure through bird watching, Mayan ruin exploration, jungle trekking, kayaking, scuba diving & snorkeling, swimming with dolphins and wildlife observing.
Xcaret ecological theme park is sure to amaze the entire family. Just a short drive away from the hotel zone, families can participate in a myriad of activities including swimming with dolphins, snorkeling, visiting turtle hatcheries, floating down rivers and watching displays of ancient Mayan dances.
About the Mexico Tourism Board
The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) brings together the resources of federal and state governments, municipalities and private companies to promote Mexico’s tourism attractions and destinations internationally. Created in 1999, the MTB is Mexico’s tourism promotion agency, and its participants include members of both the private and public sectors. The MTB has offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
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Erick Laseca
Mexico Tourism Board
312-228-0517 ext 14
erick.laseca@bm.com
http://www.visitmexicopress.com
By Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter May 8, 2008 1:00 PM PDT
Four Americans were shot and wounded on Thursday as they were leaving the Arriba Chihuahua nightclub in the ProNaF tourist zone in the violent Mexican border city of Juárez. The shootings were apparently deliberate attempts on Americans. They were targeted not just random bystanders caught up in the wave of violence that has recently engulfed Juárez, Mexican authorities said.
The wounded were identified by police as Juan Manuel Contreras Machado, 32, Luz Elena Velazquez, 27, Jorge Jimenez, 21, and Alejandro Vazquez, 26. Mexican police confirmed that all four wounded are Americans and live in the border city of El Paso Texas.
Police said the victims were taken to hospitals in both Juárez and El Paso. Thomason General Hospital in El Paso confirmed that Vazquez and Jimenez are being treated there and are in stable condition.
Many Americans are wondering when the Bush administration is going to raise the travel alert to its highest level “travel warning,” for American travelers to Mexico? How many American citizens are going to have to be shot, killed or kidnapped before the American government move to prevent needless deaths and issue the proper “travel warning,” for Americans?
At the scene of the shooting, investigators found nine 9 mm bullet casings and a green Chevrolet Malibu with Chihuahua plates that had four gunshots in its side windows and windshield.
Since the start of the year, more than 200 people, including several law enforcement officers, have been killed in Juárez alone, in a war between the rival Sinaloa and Juárez drug cartels. Since the beginning of this year more than 3500 people have been murdered in Mexico in what authorities blame on the Mexican cartels and their criminal gangs and para-military forces. Officials claimed the rising death toll showed that criminals were panicking about the clampdown.
Last month, and only after pressure from the American press the U.S. State Department updated its travel alert for Mexico warning U.S. tourists about the ongoing violence in Mexico, including the drug battles in Juárez and other border cities. The alert, which is less serious than a “travel warning,” advises visitors to travel during the day, avoid traveling alone and stick to well-known tourist zones. The four shot Americans where in that well-known zone. In fact it happened in downtown Juarez and within a very short distance from downtown El Paso Texas.
More than 50 people died in several separate incidents of related Mexican drug cartel crime in Mexico, with the most gruesome attack by cartel para-military members, occurring in the southern Guerrero state.
In Ciudad Juarez, despite a huge army deployment in the violent city across the border from El Paso, Texas Mexican drug hit men killed a senior police officer.
Gunmen with assault rifles shot Saul Pena, who was due to be named one of city’s five police commanders, as he left police headquarters.
“It seems they were waiting for him,” said police spokesman Jaime Torres. “They shot him with AK-47s in the back, the stomach and the leg. He died in hospital this morning.”
Berenice Garcia Corral was executed by killers who went into her private home garage as she was parking her car. She was the commander of the Juarez sub-office of the state of Chihuahua’s Att’y. Gen’s. Sexual Crimes unit and also 2nd in command of the State Investigative Agency.
Also in Juarez, a private security guard in a bar was found dead an hour after being taken away by commandos. Still in another event, two city police officers in a parked patrol unit suffered bullet wounds from a drive by shooting by unknown persons.
In a barrage of more than 70 shots were fired in a roadway shooting that killed two men Lorenzo Juárez Aguayo, 29, and Agustin Damian Navarrete, 38, and wounded another along Avenida Vicente Guerrero in Juárez, Chihuahua state investigators reported.
The men were in a gray Crown Victoria and had just left a horse race track when they were followed by a white van, whose occupants fired multiple shots; they received multiple gunshot wounds investigators said. Juan Verdugo, 21, who was in the back seat of the car, was wounded and taken to a Juárez hospital in undisclosed condition.
The lifeless bodies of three more men were found on different streets in Juarez. All dead from stab wounds, beat to death and/or shot.
A captain of the Public Municipal Security Dep’t., Saul Pena Lopez, died after having been shot during a car-to-car assault in Juarez.
In Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, a “heavy caliber” car-to-car gunfire assault killed a lawyer, his wife and a third adult and left the dead couple’s minor daughter gravely wounded. Casas Grandes Mexico is some 125 mi. SW of Ciudad Juarez.
Chihuahua, Sonora & Sinaloa experienced extreme violence as seventeen persons were executed, seven of whom were state and city police officers. At Parral, Chihuahua, two city police officers were shot and killed just two blocks away from the police station when they tried to stop subjects in a “camioneta” (read either p/u truck or SUV).
In Nogales, Sonora, a shootout between city police and “presumed criminals” resulted in four deaths, one of them an agent. Three persons were arrested and a woman relative of the thugs was later killed in Hermosillo in what was believed to be a follow-up event to those deaths.
The partially burned bodies of two men were found inside bags in Cajeme; one of them had had his legs cut off.
“Ministerial” agent Jose Manuel Pena Lopez was driving a vehicle in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, when he was shot and killed by subjects riding a motorcycle. And Miguel Angel Santa Cruz Armendariz, the state’s Ministerial Police investigations coordinator was riddled by gunfire.
In Navolato, Sinaloa, the body of a beheaded man was found with a message on a tag board. Three other crimes presumable linked to organized crime took place in the states of Chiapas, Tamaulipas and Durango. Meanwhile, four police officers were killed in an ambush in the northern state of Sinaloa and a local media report said another two local police officers had also been killed.
Rival factions of the local Arellano Felix drug cartel in Tijuana on the Mexico-California border fought each other with rifles and machine guns in the early hours of the morning, police said.
Fourteen bodies lay in pools of blood, strewn along a road near assembly-for-export maquiladora plants on the city’s eastern limits. The corpses were surrounded by hundreds of bullet casings and many of the victims’ faces were destroyed.
A 15th body was found close by after the victim apparently tried to walk away before collapsing dead. Eight other men were wounded and taken to a local hospital where two more cartel members were sot dead by Tijuana police.
In the El Refugio section of Tijuana the body of a man was found inside a vehicle and wrapped in a blanket (note: this is a typical sign that an execution has been committed); the vehicle was left parked in front of a children’s playground.
Heavily armed men killed at least 16 people, all members of a ranchers’ association, in two different massacres in southern Mexico, Mexican media said.
Some 40 men riding in luxury vehicles and wearing uniforms of an elite police squad shot nine people dead in the town of Petatlan in the state of Guerrero, El Universal newspaper reported. And a group toting automatic weapons killed seven people in the town of Iguala, also in Guerrero.
Reforma newspaper said the ranchers were holding a meeting in Iguala and at least two of the sons and other family members and employees of the association’s state leader, Rogaciano Alba, were killed in the attack. Alba himself has survived two other attacks in the past, Reforma said.
The newspapers did not say what could have triggered the attacks but well-armed drug traffickers are active in Guerrero, a poor, mountainous state on the Pacific coast home to the Acapulco beach resort. Clashes over land rights or local politics are also common in Guerrero.
The number of dead in the war against narcotraffic already exceeds three thousand 500 hundred. On average, 205 members of the different factions have died on a monthly basis between Dec. 2006 and April of this year. In contrast, the monthly average of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq is around 100.
President Felipe Calderon has warned that the narco-war would bring with it an elevated cost in human lives, but the specialists in the matter point out that the level of violence was underestimated. The president of the “CNDH” (Mex. Natn’l. Commission on Human Rights), Jose Luis Soberanes, warns that the capacity of the State has been surpassed and that more forceful means are due.
Since December 2006, President Felipe Calderon’s Federal Government has deployed 36,000 military troops and thousands of police around the country in an operation aimed at clamping down on Mexican drug cartels and other organized crime. Many local and state officials think more troops are needed and feel like the troops are losing the battle. The Mexican drug cartel violence has plagued the country since before he took office. Just in March of this year, the Mexican government sent more than 2,500 soldiers and federal police officers to curb the violence in the border city of Juárez. Killings slowed for a few weeks after the arrival of federal forces but appear to have recently resumed. Now many Mexicans believe the cartels have the upper hand and are continuing the horrible global drug business that terrorizes many Mexican families.
For related articles go to: www.lagunajournal.com
Sources:
Mexico Attorney General’s office
Mexican Military officers
The president of the “CNDH” (Mex. Natn’l. Commission on Human Rights), Jose Luis Soberanes
Juarez police Dept.
Reforma newspaper
El Universal newspaper
Tijuana police
U.S. State Department
The National Association Of Former Border Patrol Officers
Borderfire Report
Laguna Journal
El Paso Times
The San Diego Union-Tribune
There are many websites proclaiming that they have the “perfect” place for you and your needs. But the reality of this is that only you know exactly what you want, and only you can find your own perfection when it comes to Mexico vacation destinations. You have choices ranging from rustic and peaceful to modern and exciting. Whatever it is your heart desires can be found within those Mexican borders.
Here are a few Mexico vacation destinations you may enjoy…
Mazatlan is one of the first premier resort locations you will find south of the border. Often referred to as the “Pearl of the Pacific”, Mazatlan is close to the United States but with the flare you expect in this country. Overlooking the might Pacific, Mazatlan is the perfect vacation spot where you will find perfection out your own backdoor. Attractions are geared for the family with a touch of elegance for the retiree just wanting to get away for the weekend.
Oaxaca is another wonderful location, but this Mexico vacation destination is not on the coast. Instead, this is inland far enough to allow you to experience the beauty of desert meet jungle. Often referred to as “The Land of the Seven Moles”, Oaxaca is a culinary master’s dream come true. From vibrant celebration to a night solo enjoying this exquisite cuisine, Oaxaca allows you to be master of your own destiny. Not as popular a location for tourists wanting exceptional beaches, but Oaxaca has its own charm anyone can appreciate.
Monterrey has often been called the richest city in all of Mexico. Often referred to as a businessman’s paradise, Monterrey offer a complete fusion of yesteryear and today. You will find everything from exceptional museums to spectacular shopping. This wonderful city caters to the vacationer which means you will not find it difficult to find your way. Absolutely stunning scenery even friendly residents make Monterrey an exceptional inland vacation experience where you will be remembered forevermore.
Guadalajara is an amazing Mexico vacation destination where you will find everything at your fingertips. Explore your own inner self or you can even explore the ancient history of yesteryear. Mariachi music, bull fighting, and other authentic Mexican activities make Monterrey a wondrous experience you will not soon forget. Of course, you have to try the amazing cuisine too.
When it comes to superb Mexico vacation destinations, you do not have to stick to the hustle and bustle of such locations as Cancun or Acapulco. Go for something different! You will find you enjoy your vacationing even more when you choose something that is as unique as you are.
Tonya
The people who have a soft corner for adventure and water sports can engross themselves on the beaches. Acapulco is the best place for avid divers. Vacationers can enjoy the sun and sand. Along with it, activities like water ski, parasailing, beach volleyball etc, also intensifies the visitor’s interest. The Mexico holidays are full of site-seeing excursions like Chichen Itza, Mexico city Zoo, the Papalote, Basilica de Guadalupe, Chapultepec castle, Metropolitan cathedral, museums etc. It is one of the hottest destinations of North America.
Other destinations worth visiting are monuments like the Diana Cazadora, Angel of independence etc. The people who love to shop at this exclusive destination for shopping can arrive at the Zona Rosa and Almeda Park. When it comes to special adventure, the travelers can visit the pyramid of the sun and moon. The cave structures and ancient structures are so captivating in this part of western peninsula. The Mexico holidays are a one stop solution for rejuvenation.
The Mexico Holidays are bound to give the travel enthusiast a worth for his money. The most interesting thing about these vacations is that they are not at all fixed to a single activity. Moreover, the people must visit the Mazatlan, it is amongst the tallest light houses and an observatory too. Lastly, to pull maximum fun out of such a vacation, never forget to book them with a travel service provider and organize the tour.
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