Up date from Sean in Mexico for friends old and new

Hola Amigos

Been pretty hectic down here in San Felipe where the economic downturn has hit pretty hard. They have a saying, "When the US gets a cold, Mexico gets Pneumonia". Well it looks like the US of A has Pneumonia, so here in San Felipe we are experiencing by some accounts an over 85% drop in tourism. The swine flu scare didn't help... haven't hear of but a case or two in all of Baja, and nobody understands that the drug violence in Tijuana is mostly drug dealers killing drug dealers, with the occasional poor bastard who got in the way... Tijuana is a 4 hour drive and a world away from San Felipe.

Real Estate sales are in the practically nonexistent and have been for nearly two years. So whats a guy to do? No I am not being negative, that is just the way it is, so one needs to roll with the punches and I am trying to do just that by going native.

I have setup a couple of home businesses that are part of the local economy. Allowing me to work from home and to do business with the locals while allowing me to keep my fingers in the real estate market place for when the new market for San Felipe appears. (it might be soon and it might look alot like people escaping from the US with what they've got). And of course you really can live well for less. Not dirt cheap but much cheaper than anywhere I would want to live in California.

I have attached pictures of the Home base biz in San Felipe. Just a three minute walk to the Malecon and downtown beach where the tourist go and many of the city based activities take place.

The house came with a Salon that had been operating for years and was ready to go so it was just a question of getting some gals to operate it. Berthy (Sean and Berthy on the Beach last July) has found a few great gals and they keep the salon open from 9 am -9pm 7days a week. The property also had a new small retail like space with good frontage on a fairly busy street in a good neighborhood that shouted internet cafe. A partner helped with the Internet cafe and video games, bringing down some big screens and gaming equipment and additional computers. I must admit that my Internet cafe plan in my mind was more of a quite operation with folks who didn't have Internet or a computer at home quietly checking their email and chating with friend and family...I had no idea what video games had become. I now need to listen to music on head phones just to isolate myself and my work from the gun fire and explosions of "Modern Warfare" and those Trophy Trucks and Race Cars on "Dirt" can really drowned out a good high powered weapons skirmish. I am thinking I will be moving my office outside as we get busier to help me keep what sanity I have left. Pictures of the salon & Internet Cafe

The restaurant/cafe an outdoor sidewalk cafe is next on the list to be brought to reality and I hope to have that up and running in a few weeks. There is also a small room that we have turned into a massage room. Taking an advanced course in Massage Therapy was my first step in setting up my old business "The Back Shop" in Monterey California..(one of my other lives).
Also a huge backyard will allow me to continue my Segunda (an outdoor second hand store specializing in consignment sale of excess stuff Americans have brought here, including Segunda Motors) and a veggie garden First round of plantings have just begun to sprout) There is also a very large second bedroom which will probably end up as a photo studio and combined that and the salon and do some Glamor shots after they get dolled up in the salon. While my job titles aren't what they used to be it is more or less on my own terms and none of really feels like work.

All in all I am happy to be living in San Felipe. Things haven't worked out as planned but it is not like that hasn't happened before. "Be careful of what you want...you might get it" I am enjoying the challenges of making a new life in a different country and experiencing a different culture. I am still in the throws of collecting a settlement from a Real Estate developer for earnings so all of this is done on a shoe string budget, and a wore out shoe string at that, but after 50 years the majority of it in California, wasn't interested in doing it anymore.

Change is good

My Favorite pictures I have taken while in San Felipe

More Pictures
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Sean Harrington
San Felipe South Beach Properties website under construction

760 592-8254 from the US
686 179-1849 Mexico