International Insurance Group, Inc. recently launched a new website at http://www.iigins.com which allows customers to more easily learn about specialty insurance for Recreational Vehicles, Manufactured Homes, and Non-Standard Home Insurance coverage for Rental, Vacant, and Vacation Homes. “For many years, consumers have been placing these coverages with traditional Home and Auto insurers, who may not specialize in these markets. Our website educates our specialty insurance customers about the unique risks and coverages that are available for RVers, Mobilehome Owners, and Landlords”, stated Nate Watson, IIG’s Chief Operation Officer.

Leading Recreational Vehicle, Manufactured Home, and Non Standard Homeowners (Rental, Vacant, Vacation Rental) insurance provider International Insurance Group, Inc, has recently launched a new website that allows its customers to learn about the unique insurance risks and coverages available for these niches.

Consumers can research specialty coverages and obtain quotes from multiple A rated insurers from the website, which is located at http://www.iigins.com.

The site also offers a robust Service Center where customers can make payments, obtain copies of policies, and request changes to their policies.

“For many years, consumers have been placing these coverages with traditional Home and Auto insurers, who may not specialize in these markets. Our website educates our specialty insurance customers about the unique risks and coverages that are available for RVers, Mobilehome Owners, and Landlords”, stated Nate Watson, IIG’s Chief Operation Officer.

The site also offers Blog Post and a News section so that customers in these niches can spend some time learning about current events which are important to them.

International Insurance Group, Inc, licensed in every state except Hawaii, is a leading provider of Specialty Personal Lines Insurance for owners of RV’s, Travel Trailers, Manufactured Homes, Vacant, Rental, and Vacation Dwellings, and Mexico Coverage.

Click here to read more from PRWeb.

TDA individually interviewed domestic as well as international tourists, American and Canadian Consuls, retired ex-pats, time-share members, part-time residents, seasonal boaters, business owners, hospital administrators, gay community business representatives, health insurance professionals, cabbies, conventioneers, and honeymooners. The interviews were followed up by requests to local law enforcement sources for crime data and department deployment. The Civil Protection Department (FIMA) was also consulted regarding natural disasters.

The interviews focused on the following three areas; safety in Puerto Vallarta and the perception of its visitors; personal experiences and the US Travel Warning on Mexico.

The study found that the number of negative events involving foreigners or non-foreigners is fractional compared to the large ex-pat resident population and the millions of visitors that come to vacation each year in Puerto Vallarta. Overall the study found that visitors to the destination feel safe and continue to visit Puerto Vallarta numerous times through their lifetime and that the destination’s support services are well above the average standards and dedicated to serving the visiting public. In relations to the drug wars, TDA found that the limited land transit makes the smuggling of guns and drugs through Puerto Vallarta very difficult and thus a non-issue in the destination.

Click here to read more.

ProAlliance Sign above The Tequila Factory

I’ve had the pleasure of being at the helm of the TOURISM & VISITOR ASSISTANCE (TVA) in Rocky Point since its inception in 2009, when a group of business owners decided to creatively counteract negative press about Mexico in the U.S. It was and remains a simple plan, based on giving every visitor to our community a friend they can call at any hour if they have any problem whatsoever. The assistance offered is available in English and is free of charge.

The office itself operates as any tourism office would. Free brochures, business cards, and discounts general tourist information are made available to anyone who visits, as are International phone calls, faxes, internet and email.

We’re frequently asked to recommend hotels, restaurants and other services. We’ve been asked to find musicians to play at beachfront weddings and we’ve helped return lost wallets to their grateful owners. Unfortunately, not all problems can be solved with a brochure or a discount. TVA volunteers are familiar with how to provide assistance in situations of a much more serious nature, too.

When a foreigner dies in Mexico, there is a process that can be daunting to the next-of-kin, especially if there is a language barrier. It doesn’t happen often, but there have been occasions where we’ve been asked to accompany people to the morgue, the district attorney’s office, a hospital or the jail. We’ve learned that there’s a knack to knowing how to be helpful in the midst of stress. It takes more than language skills to be an interpreter for someone who has a legal problem, when we want also to give due respect to the officials and to the system in place in Mexico.

Sometimes all we can do is let the process run its course, but while waiting, bringing a burger to someone being detained at the jail is a gesture that goes a long way towards expressing who we are as a community.

I’ve been asked whether those late-night phone calls bother me. I think I’d be more bothered by the thought of someone needing help and not having it. I’ve also been asked what others can do to help. That’s easy…get the word out. Let everyone know that the people of Rocky Point care enough about our visitors to look after them and help them if they should need it.

The office is located in the Tequila Factory building, on the 2nd floor, Suite 202. From the US dial 602.773.1031 or 638.388.6624 in Mexico. For emergencies, call 638.386.9081 or email rosie@proalliance.com.mx.

“You don’t eat at the street stands, do you, genius?” I get this annoying question all the time. I tell them “hell yes, it’s good and it’s cheap.” In many years of traveling Mexico I have been taken ill from bad food a few times, but I can’t think of one time that I could trace the problem back to eating street food. And in recent years I rarely get sick…ever. And it’s not because I have become “used” to it, somehow convincing rogue bacteria that they are powerless attempting to invade my long-battered immune system. Sanitation and proper food preparation have improved immensely in Mexico, and if you use a little common sense and chant a daily prayer to the porcelain god you can fine-dine at the street stands, just like the locals do. I like the street stands in part because you can see the person cooking your food and what they are cooking. It has to be fresh and look safe for consumption. Having been a waiter and bartender just after college graduation I know what goes on in a closed kitchen, and…never mind.

The first thing you should look for when choosing your street food is to discover who is doing all of the business. If a street stand operator is dishing tainted food he’ll be out of business in a week, so go where the locals go. They know who has safe food and just as importantly, who has really good food. You can fill up on three sizzling meat-filled tacos (try to find the stand that is cooking with mesquite wood for the best flavor) for about $3.00. There is usually a small tienda nearby to grab a soda, beer or bottle of water. Generally, you’ll order what you want and they’ll hand over your plate in a minute or so. Load up the tacos with the bowls of salsa, guacamole, onions, cilantro, and whatever else is offered. Find a place on the street or lean against the counter to enjoy your meal, or some stands offer a couple of portable tables and chairs. Then, get this, you pay the person at the cash register AFTER you have finished eating. Try that at Bubba’s Burger Shack takeout back home.

Most stands specialize in one or two signature dishes, usually serving variations of beef, chicken, and near the coast, fish. Some stands serve just fresh fruit or elote – roasted corn on the cob slathered in a mayo-type sauce with lime and cayenne pepper. Another stand might just serve carnitas, sold in bulk with salsa, cilantro and fresh tortillas, and down the street it might be churros, the long, deep-fried donut-like waist exploders. The list is endless, as are the flavors.

But my personal favorite, the one dish I would order on the way to the gas chamber, is birria, or goat stew. Most commonly found in the state of Jalisco, it is served in a bowl with a side dish of cilantro, onions, chiles and tortillas. I usually have to be dining solo when I’m searching for birria – apparently goat meat doesn’t agree with everyone, even after I explain that we aren’t actually eating someone’s pet. Oh well, birria and a beer is as good as it gets for me.

So on your next Mexico trip take a walk on the wild side (apologies to Lou Reed).You can find open stands all day, but many don’t open until the evening, staying in business late into the night. A couple of street tacos right after a night of cantina-hopping will lessen the hangover symptoms immensely the next morning…or so I have been told.

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating and managing content as a Contributor for the México Today Program. All stories, opinions and passion for all things México shared here are completely my own. Mexico Today is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to help promote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination.

I thought since some of you might be considering Rocky Point for the Memorial Day holiday, I would share my experience from a few weeks ago when I visited Rocky Point.

I post Mexico articles to the Mexpro.com blog and Facebook pages every week. And therefore, I read all the news about Mexico. So I can’t deny that I considered all the “drug war warnings” when I decided to take a vacation to Rocky Point a few weeks ago.

I had been working really hard on Mexpro.com’s sister company’s new website www.iigins.com and was due for a vacation. Rocky Point is close by (only a 6 hour drive from Flagstaff, AZ) and sits at the north end of the Sea of Cortez. It’s amazing the ocean is such a short distance from the dry desert of Arizona.

The first time I ever went to Rocky Point we stayed on Sandy Beach in a tiny trailer that sat almost in the water at high tide. I was about nine years old. I remember the seafood was good and the beach was empty and I had more fun than I could imagine. Even now it’s been over 20 years since I was in Rocky Point, the last time being in my early college years.

Penasco del Sol Hotel in Rocky Point, Mexico

Sonoran Desert

The drive from Flagstaff to Rocky Point is extraordinary. You begin in pine trees at 8000 feet; you slightly descend to juniper and bright red rock, then to rugged desert and giant saguaros. Then around Ajo you start to see even more Saguaros, but you also see the famed organ pipe cactus and many, many ocotillo (one of my favorites), which were in bloom. You will see more organ pipe cacti in Mexico. They are more plentiful and larger than what you see in the states (at least from the highway). You then will hit more mountains and then down to the sandy desert and the beach. It’s quite an amazing summit to sea driving adventure.

A room with a view: View from our hotel room

Rich & Dogs Playing in Tidal Pools outside Manny's Beach Club

We got back to the room tired and hungry. We walked across the street to Filibertos. There was a place called Max’s Cafe just a few doors down and it looked like a great place to get American food –it had that vibe, but we were looking for something more authentic. So, for $11 we each ate two large fish tacos with the best salsa we had our entire trip (and all the salsa was way better than average)–oh and that included the beer.

Our days in Rock Point were filled with beach combing every morning and every evening at sunset. We had a delicious breakfast of chilaquiles at Manny’s Beach Club one morning before heading to the large tidal pools there for discovery.

The beaches were mostly bare, with only a handful of people each day. The jacuzzi at Penasco del Sol was only busy in the evening and even some evenings we had it to ourselves.
Nobody reprimanded us about our dogs. We could take them most places with little trouble.

One morning when we awoke there was a large canister on the beach—like maybe 100-200 pounds. We didn’t think much of it—probably something from a fishing vessel–but soon watched as the local military or police force went to check it out and then had it hauled away.

Several days while we were there locals were out cleaning the beach.

I guess the Sonoran travel warnings were good for one thing – making my vacation quiet. But really, I have no idea what they are talking about. When we first drove into town we saw guys in military looking outfits carrying guns in a humvee. That’s not abnormal – even before the drug wars–I have often seen that during travels to Mexico.

When I talked to Rosie Glover of the Visitor Assistance tourism program about the safety, she mentioned that the police force was completely revamped recently. All the “crooked” officers were fired and a new standard was set in the city. Those who are looking for a mordida have been canned, as well.

CEDO with whale bones on the path

I am glad to know Rocky Point is still the same as I remembered—besides the high rise hotels. I will go back again soon. It was one of the most relaxing vacations I’ve had, the sites were gorgeous, the food was delicious and the people were a joy, as always.

This charming little beach town located on Pacific Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit, is only a forty-minute drive north of Puerto Vallarta. Sayulita has exploded in popularity as an alternative beach vacation destination during the past few years and celebrity sightings are becoming rather common place. You just know that Sayulita is special, even before arriving, because when you exit Highway 200 you have to drive along a two-kilometer road carved through the surrounding jungle to get there.

No doubt, some day trippers from Puerto Vallarta started exploring the beaches north of Puerto Vallarta and were captivated by the paradisiacal beach, surrounded by luxuriant tropical foliage, rich with natural wonders. Once word spread of the beautiful beach, with its surf perfectly curling ashore, the area’s explosion was guaranteed. Surfers and nature lovers alike began to flock to the area.

As if that alone was not enough to attract attention to Sayulita, along came Barry Golson, with his book Gringos in Paradise, which just happens to be a great read. It tells the story about how he and his wife fell in love with Sayulita when it was a funky and dusty beach town, and made the life-changing decision to buy property, build their dream home and reside in Mexico full time. Despite his stories of an encounter with a boa constrictor and the invasion of their home by the local colony of land crabs, or maybe because of the lure of adventure, soon thereafter people started building vacation homes and accommodations. Once celebrities started visiting Sayulita for vacation, this funky little town became a hot spot.

Today’s Sayulita has a decidedly international flavor and bustles with folks from all walks of life, including artistic Mexican folks with a passion for preserving the environment, Americans and Canadians, Europeans and a few folks from as far away as Japan. Sayulita today reminds me of Playa del Carmen in its early years, before it was discovered by the world. This colorful Mexican town attracts adventure travellers and celebrities seeking an off-the-beaten-path locale, day trippers from all over the Riviera Nayarit, and youth who head down to surf the breakers and enjoy a little action.

Click here to read more from Mexconnnect.com.

Friday, May 4, 2012 | 2 a.m.

Baja California Secretary of Tourism Juan Tintos addresses the local chapter of the American Marketing Association at Bali Hai Golf Club Thursday. Tintos is traveling the Southwest United States to promote tourism to northern Baja, and area he says is safer than news reports lead people to believe.
Promotional Video

Hugo Torres, the former mayor of Rosarito Beach, Mexico, is on a mission to “replace fear with facts” and again lure U.S. tourists to his beloved Baja California.

Torres and Juan Tintos, Baja California’s secretary of tourism, were in Las Vegas on Thursday as part of their tour across the Southwestern United States, spreading the word that the Mexican state just south of San Diego is full of great spas, wineries, restaurants, beaches and other attractions.

Thanks to increased border security, travel advisories from the U.S. government and negative perceptions of ongoing violence from drug cartels built over years, U.S. tourists are not traveling south of the border at the same rate as before the Mexican drug war caught the attention of international media.

While violence does exist in Baja California, it rarely touches the state’s tourism community, Torres and Tinto told the Las Vegas chapter of the American Marketing Association during a presentation at Bali Hai Golf Club.

The number of tourists entering Mexico by plane hit 22.7 million in 2011, the most ever, according to statistics released in February by the Bank of Mexico. Yet, air travel to Mexico from the United States dropped 3 percent last year. The gains came from other countries such as Brazil, Russia, Peru and China.

Torres said that as news of the war between Mexican authorities and rival drug cartels spread in 2008, tourism from the United States to Baja fell off a cliff — 70 percent, to be exact. Torres said the region had since recovered about 20 percent of that figure.

“The city of Rosarito had its lowest crime rate ever in 2010, but that is not the perception in the United States,” Torres said. “People hear about violence in Juarez and the thought is that all of Mexico is dangerous. Americans don’t know Mexican geography.”

Torres also pointed to long border waits to re-enter the United States and a new regulation mandating U.S. citizens have passports to visit Mexico that took effect in 2010 as deterrents to increased tourism.

One Las Vegas travel adviser acknowledged wariness about travel to Mexico.

“We are getting a lot of questions on safety in Mexico, and I would say we didn’t see as many college students asking about Mexico for spring break as we used to see,” said Donna Steele, a AAA Travel counselor. “There is a reticence to go to Mexico. People are wary, and I think parents have been telling their kids, ‘No,’ when it comes to Mexico.”

Steele and other travel agents in Las Vegas said they discouraged travel to border areas, including Tijuana, but have generally told their clients that most tourist areas, including Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City, are safe to visit.

The most recent U.S. State Department travel advisory on Mexico, issued in February, cautions against travel to northern, but not southern, Baja and 18 other states.

“You should exercise caution in the northern state of Baja California, particularly at night. Targeted TCO (Transnational Criminal Organization) assassinations continue to take place in Baja California. Turf battles between criminal groups proliferated and resulted in numerous assassinations in areas of Tijuana frequented by U.S. citizens. … During 2011, 34 U.S. citizens were the victims of homicide in the state. In the majority of these cases, the killings appeared to be related to narcotics trafficking,” the advisory states.

Tintos said he had met with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and had discussed the travel advisory.

“We told him what goes around comes around,” said Tintos, who estimated that Nevada sends the third highest amount of U.S. tourists to Baja after Arizona and California. “If they lift the advisory and we get more tourists, then our economy will be healthier. In turn, our residents will have the money to visit the United States.”

The new campaign includes video testimonials from U.S. citizens and celebrities who live in and visit the Baja peninsula. The state hired a U.S. public relations firm and is touting attractions like wineries, top-flight restaurants, bicycle and automobile races, fishing and surfing. The campaign also involves the “road show,” which visited 18 U.S. cities last year and has already landed in six in 2012.

The Mexican state also is promoting its film industry. The largest water tank in the world for use in filmmaking is in northern Baja — James Cameron sank the Titanic there — and several films are made in Baja each year. If Baja is safe enough for Hollywood, the thinking goes, it should be safe enough for U.S. tourists.

In one testimonial, celebrity chef Rick Bayless talks about filming an entire season of his show in Baja.

“I encourage everybody to come and explore,” Bayless says.

Other initiatives the state has advanced and is promoting to prospective tourists are new border crossings and improvements at existing ones, an “enhanced” California driver’s license that would allow holders to use that for U.S. re-entry in place of a passport, development of convention centers and resources for large events in the region, and medical tourism.

Rafael Villanueva of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority attended the presentation Thursday and said he was open to collaborative efforts that would draw more tourists from Mexico to Las Vegas and vice versa. Measuring the market is problematic, he said, because those who drive from Tijuana to Las Vegas most likely enter in San Diego and are counted as Southern California visitors.

“We’ve never negated the fact that there’s violence,” Tintos said after his presentation. “It is just like any other tourist destination in the world; you have to take precautions and be smart. I was mugged in Philadelphia. It can happen anywhere. … We have a lower crime rate than many U.S. cities.”

Click here to read more from the Las Vegas Sun.

For years Puerto Vallarta lived in relative obscurity, eclipsed by more popular resorts like Cancun and Acapulco. But over the last 50 years, word of Puerto Vallarta’s beauty has gotten out. The town was a frequent port of call in the popular 70s and 80s TV show “The Love Boat” and in 1964, it was the backdrop for Ava Gardner and Richard Burton’s movie “The Night of the Iguana.” The movie’s success, along with Burton’s off-screen relationship with film siren Elizabeth Taylor, helped draw attention to the glimmering Pacific Coast town.

Puerto Vallarta lies at the inner recess of the Bay of Banderas, the largest natural bay in Mexico. The town is positioned at the same latitude as the Hawaiian Islands, giving it a similar climate. It is a three hour flight from Los Angeles and a four and a half hour flight from New York. From water sports to colonial history, there is a perfect Puerto Vallarta vacation for everyone.

Beaches

Puerto Vallarta boasts miles of pristine beaches. From secluded sanctuaries to hopping hotspots, the resort can meet any expectations. One of the town’s most famous and popular beaches is Los Muertos, located in the Zona Romántica (Romanic Zone). Don’t let its name (translated as the beach of the dead) deter you.

Los Muertos is among Puerto Vallarta’s liveliest beaches. The area is full of hotels, restaurants and bars. The south section of the beach is part of Blue Chairs resort, the most popular gay beach in the area.Playa de Oro beach, which is located north of the city, is another popular spot. Playa Conchas Chinas stretches to the Sierra Madre Mountains and is said to be one of Puerto Vallarta’s most luxurious and peaceful areas.

Playa de Sayulita, about 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, offers surfer-friendly waves and fishing opportunities. El Anclote, on the northwest peninsula of Banderas Bay, draws surfers year-round. Movie enthusiasts can visit Mismaloya Beach and see the movie ruins from the 1963 film “Night of the Iguana.”

Sites

Puerto Vallarta’s old town, with cobbled streets and white stucco buildings, is also a huge draw for tourists and history buffs. The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the central feature of the town’s skyline. It is dedicated to the patron saint of Mexico and the destination of thousands of Catholic pilgrims during the 12-day Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe each December.

If you are looking for a taste of history during your stay, you can visit the rural village of San Sebastián del Oeste, which sits at an altitude of 4,500 feet, nestled among pine trees in the Sierra Madre mountains. About 90 minutes from Puerto Vallarta by car, you can get a feel for colonial Mexico at the 400-year-old former New Spain mining capital. South of Baderas Bay is Los Arcos National Marine Park, a popular diving and snorkeling spot.

Puerto Vallarta also boasts a vibrant art and culture scene and you can take advantage of the town’s shopping, dining and partying along the Malecón (boardwalk).

Wildlife

While in Puerto Vallarta, you have the chance to swim with dolphins or sea lions. If you visit between mid-December and the end of March, you can go whale watching in the Banderas Bay, possibly spotting humpback whales and wild dolphins, Pelicans and parakeets are just a few of the birds you can see at the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens.

The waters surrounding Puerto Vallarta are a favorite for deep sea fishermen and the resort is also home to top-flight horseback riding, kayaking, snorkeling and scuba diving.Whether you are looking for fun in the sun or a complete cultural experience, Puerto Vallarta has something for you.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2012/05/06/puerto-vallarta-sparkles-as-topbeach-destination/#ixzz1uJgjqJA2

Mexico’s Tourism Department notes with some satisfaction that tourists arriving during March included some highly regarded Texans — the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. They agency says they did a calendar shoot on Mexico’s Caribbean coast.

Michael Appleton/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Mexico’s Tourism Department notes the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders visited the country in March for a calendar shoot on the Caribbean coast.

A Tuesday announcement from the department says 77,000 young tourists visited Mexico on spring break trips between March 5 and 30.

You may not know it yet but, if you are over age 65, you have been given specific permission and encouragement to enjoy yourself especially this month. May is “Older Americans Month” and the theme this year is “Never Too Old To Play!”

Janice Jacobs, assistant secretary for consular affairs, the U.S. agency charged with care for our citizens overseas, noted in a recent website posting, www.travel.state.gov/news/news_5448.html, that this year’s theme, “Never Too Old To Play!” puts a “spotlight on the important role older adults play in sharing their experience, wisdom and understanding, and passing on that knowledge to other generations in a variety of significant ways.

“International travel is increasingly one of the more popular ways that older Americans ‘play’ as they visit new places and learn about new cultures.” She further noted that “the experiences older Americans share with their families and friends upon return further enrich all generations in our communities.”

So, if you are in the mood for travel, either within the U.S. or internationally, questions arise concerning what you need to know. While Social Security benefits, for instance, follow Americans to other countries, basic Medicare likely generally will not and seniors might need to be prepared for alternate arrangements.

Here are some things to know.

On Medicare. If you have original Medicare either alone or with a Medigap (Medicare supplement), you can travel anywhere in the U.S. and its territories and get the medical care you need from doctors and hospitals. This includes all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Except for some rare cases of inpatient hospital services in Canada or Mexico, traditional basic Medicare does not provide coverage for hospital or medical costs outside the United States.

If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, your plan might not cover care while you travel in the United States unless you need emergency or urgent care. This needs to be checked with the individual plan before traveling.

If your plan does allow you to see providers that are outside your network or area, you might need to follow additional rules such as rules regarding prior authorization (except for emergencies) and there may be additional costs that do not apply to treatment at home.

The rare cases when Medicare may pay for inpatient hospital services in Canada or Mexico relate to three possibilities.

One is that you live in the U.S. near a foreign hospital and need emergency or non-emergency treatment and the foreign hospital is closer or easier to get to from home than the nearest U.S. hospital.

Second, if you are in the U.S. when you have a medical emergency and the hospital in Mexico or Canada is closer than the nearest U.S. available hospital

Click here to read the rest from the Daily Local News.