February Issue El Calendario de Todos Santos Online

I just uploaded the newest edition of El Calendario de Todos Santos. You can access it by clicking on the issue cover below:

El Calendario de Todos Santos - Feb 2009

Mexicans In The US Send Less Money Home

For the first time since the records have been kept, the amount of money that Mexicans in the US have sent back home to family and friends in Mexico has declined.

Yearly Mexican Remittances Drop for 1st Time

Todos Santos Winter Surf – Grey Day, Ripping, Barrelling and Crowded

We finally got a winter swell! Seems like it took forever. Normally we have already had dozens of great surf days by mid-January but this year is different and shaping up to be a terrible year for surf here. But this morning the swell finally filled in (it was supposed to be here yesterday) and even though it was cloudy and grey, the waves lived up to expectations. There were lots of barrels and we had a set of three ringers in the water – these guys came with still photographer and videographer in tow. Wonder what brand or magazine they work for?

Some photos you might enjoy, all taken with my new Canon 5D Mark II which is not a sport camera but still managed to get some great action shots.

Double Lines!

In The Barrel

That's A Ringer!

He's A Ringer Too!

Barrel's Abound!

More Barrels!

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Another Barrel!

Those Ringers Can Really Surf!

A Bit Crowded In The Water

Koy Catches A Barrel!

Mexico Cuts Interest Rates

This won’t appeal to all the blog’s readers, but some will welcome the knowledge. Expect the peso to continue to weaken against the dollar.

Mexico’s IPC rose 0.2% to 20,325.39, the first session in nine that it’s finished higher. The last time the index finished with losses for nine sessions in a row was in the summer of 1998.

Banco de Mexico cut its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 7.75%, in line with market expectations. The central bank last cut its rate in 2006.

“It’s an aggressive cut. Inflation is still on the rise and the currency is almost at historically low, weak levels,” said Rafael de la Fuente, chief economist for Latin America at BNP Paribas. The size of the rate cut “suggests to me a level of determination about the risks facing the economy, and clearly the central bank sees the risks skewed toward lower growth.”

Mexico’s peso on Friday traded at 13.893 against the U.S. dollar, up 0.6% from Thursday’s close and up 2% from Wednesday’s all-time low. Win Thin, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, said in a note Friday that the peso is likely to remain in the 13.80-14.33 range in the short term, with greater risk for an upside move because of the country’s rough economic conditions.

The central bank said earlier this month that inflation rose to an annual rate of 6.5% in December, the fastest pace since 2001 as prices for food and energy increased. Third-quarter growth, meanwhile, fell to a five-year low of 1.6%.

More Unsettling Press for Mexico

This stuff is scary. Is it real? I don’t know, but somewhere out there people think Mexico is in danger of collapse due to narco-trafficing.

You can decide for yourselves:

US Pentagon Says Mexico In Danger of Becoming a Failed State

More Tommy Lewis Info

I just discovered this link from the North Country Times. It has even more info on Todos Santos’ surfer Tommy Lewis and his life.

Tommy Lewis Obit

My New Canon 5D Mark II

Ooopsss. I forgot to mention that I only have such a wonderful new camera due to the hectic travel schedule of my dear friend and part time “mule” GoGo Diaz. Thanks a zillion GoGo!

Early Morning Todos Santos Sky

I woke up way too early this morning, Saturday, January 10. But photographer and proud owner of a new Canon 5D Mark II that I am, I made the best of it and took a wonderful photo of the colorful big sky of Todos Santos. Hope you all enjoy it.

Todos Santos Dawn, Saturday January 10, 2009

Don’t Spit Out Your Chewing Gum in Mexico!

This is not really about Todos Santos proper, but I love sharing the funny little tidbits about Mexico that come my way. Here’s another one:

Gulp! Mexico Tells Citizens to Swallow Their Chewing Gum

Surf and Weather in Todos Santos!

Well, there isn’t much surf. Hasn’t been much all late fall and early winter. No one is stoked. When a little swell comes, everyone scurries to the beach for waves that would have been totally boring 2 years ago. Some people don’t expect much this season. They talk of La Nina and note the great swells up in California to our north. Those swells just aren’t reaching us. A friend of mine is ready to blame global warming for changing the long term ocean currents and affecting the powerful ground swells we typically see here in the winter. I suppose we will find out as time goes by.

On a lighter note, the weather today was beautiful! After nearly a week of cloudy grey mornings (can you hear all the solar system home owners moaning?) today was clear blue skies with sun! Last night it was 55F in my trailer, the coldest yet of this winter. I know it doesn’t sound like much but on the beach with the wind blowing and the ocean moisture, 55F is cold! And it has been consistently windy too.