Dengue Fever in Baja

Tis’ the season, unfortunately. In Baja, dengue fever outbreaks typically occur in September and October following hurricane season when water from tropical storms is available for mass breeding of mosquitoes. There are four different types of dengue fever, with no vaccines or cures currently available.

Classic symptoms of the illness are: a high fever that may last from 5 to 7 days; intense headache; joint and muscle pain; and a rash. The rash typically begins on the arms or legs three to four days after the beginning of the fever. Symptoms can range greatly in severity yet in general usually resolve within 1 to 2 weeks.

There is no specific treatment for dengue except well-intended advice to rest and drink plenty of fluids. After recovery from infection of one type you obtain some immunity against that specific virus but subsequent infections by any of the other three types of dengue viruses can be more severe.

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever is the most serious form of this illness. In addition to the classic symptoms listed above, sufferers can experience internal bleeding, liver enlargement and circulatory shut down. Hospitalization is usually required. It is most common in children under 15 yrs of age, but is also seen in adults.

Health Alert: Dengue Fever & Children If you are the parent of a child who has had an episode of dengue illness, it is important to know that a second infection can be much more severe. Symptoms of Dengue Fever in infants and children are outlined on the Pediatric Oncall website.

The best tactic to prevent dengue is to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. This includes sleeping in areas screened from mosquitoes, wearing long sleeves and pants and using mosquito repellents. Another protective measure is to destroy breeding sites containing standing water such as old tires, plastic packaging, pet water dishes, etc. Anything that holds standing water can breed mosquitoes.

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation & Real Estate Guide to the Baja California Peninsula

Learning The Language - For Kids

Note: This is an excerpt from the chapter “Children and Education” of the Viva La Baja! Relocation & Real Estate Guide. To view all topics covered in the eBook, click here: Table of Contents.

There are many alternatives for educating a non-Spanish speaking child in Mexico, and for acquiring language ability. An excellent way to start is to spend a summer in Mexico and have the child or teenager attend a summer program or camp. It is a fun, low-stress method of learning and can help you assess how quickly he or she will pick-up the language. It also gives a jump-start on the school year if enrolling your child the following Fall is your goal.

My son and I spent a summer in Morelia, Mexico (July, 2007) to beat the heat of Baja and had a good time. He attended a Mexican professional, arts school – Belles Artes – for a month-long program in dance, painting, theatre and music for $75 USD. I wrote an article that contains information on available summer programs for children in Morelia. It can be read online here: Traveling to Mexico with Children.

Even a few days or a week at a hotel day care program can be beneficial. While Mom and Dad play, kids have fun and gain the experience of being in the care of adults who speak Spanish and English. An easy trip across the border, Rosarito Beach Hotel offers supervised kids camp for guests. Detailed information can be found here: Rosarito Beach Hotel.

Ecotourism Kuyima, located in San Ignacio, has weeklong summer camps for Mexican and American children: Adventure's for Kids. Your child would have the opportunity to interact with Mexican children, who may or may not speak English. Interacting with their peers outside of a classroom setting is often times the most effective way for kids to learn.

Viva La Baja! Relocation & Real Estate Guide has additional listings of summer camps, volunteer programs, environmental studies in Baja and other programs for teens and families.

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation & Real Estate Guide for the Baja California Peninsula. www.vivalabaja.com

Private Bilingual Education for Children in Baja - Norte & Sur

Private, bilingual schools for Pre-K, Kindergarten, Elementary, Junior High and Highschool are found throughout the Baja California Peninsula. In Northern Baja (Baja Norte) the greatest number of private schools are found in the area from Tijuana to Rosarito. There are private, bilingual schools in Ensenada as well.

For Southern Baja (Baja Sur), the majority of schools are found in La Paz and the Los Cabos area (Cabo San Lucas & San Jose del Cabo). Loreto also has private schooling available.

For information on how to enroll a child in school in Baja, read the previous blog entry: Sending a Child to School in Baja.

Some private schools in Baja offer a bilingual education with curriculum in both Spanish and English. Others are primarily Spanish-only, with English classes. Private school hours typically follow the North American norm of 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Private schools have independent authority over their hours of operation and curriculum but must follow federal guidelines regarding enrollment, the same as with public schools. If your child cannot show proof of successfully completing the previous grade level, he or she will have to repeat the grade.

The three school levels covered here are Pre-escolar (Pre-school grades 0 to kindergarten), Primaria (Primary school grades 1-6) and Secondaria (Middle school grades 7-9). Highschool in Mexico is called Preparatory and is grades 10-12.

There are a few small towns with one private school, such as Loreto; the larger cities such as La Paz and Cabo San Lucas have many. In addition to monthly tuition, you will pay an enrollment fee (approximately one-months tuition) and book and uniform fees ($300 to $500 USD and up).

Private school tuition pricing varies greatly. In La Paz, Montessori La Paz is approximately $180 USD a month for tuition. In Cabo San Lucas, Papalote is approximately $350 USD per month. Below is a selection of private schools in the Baja California Peninsula. Visit the school for more information.

Private Bilingual Schools
Here is contact information for a few private, bilingual schools for both Baja Norte and Baja Sur:

Rosarito Beach:
• Colegio Colina de la Luz (1-6), Lazaro Cardenas 1400
• Instituto de las Americas Bilingüe (1-9), Floresta del Mar. Tel +52 661-22 442
• Colegio Ingles (1-6), Calles Rocio No 1030. Tel 668-02 515

Ensenada:
• Cristóbal Colon (1-6), Av Miramar 831. Tel +52 174-0024
• Colegio Rodríguez Cabrillo (pre-K and up), Calle San Martín No. 700. Tel +52 172-4640
• Colegio Valle de la Trinidad (7-9), Avenue de las Aguilas. Tel +52 003-5050

Loreto:
• Colegio Calafia Loreto (1-6), Calle (street) Colegio Num 20. Tel 613-135-0152

La Paz:
• Colegio Anahuac (7-9), Guillermo Prieto y Republica. Tel 612-122-1184
• Centro Infantil Montessori (pre-K), Normal Urbana Num 1680 ESQ. Tel 621-122-9268
• Colegio Maria Fernanda (1-6), Calle Cuauhtemoc Num. 1615. Tel 612-123-5188

San Jose del Cabo:
• Juan Mc Gregor (1-6), Km 24. 8, Carretera Transpeninsular. Tel 624-144-5595
• Instituto Particular International Libertad, A.C. (1-9), Morelos Num 17. Tel 624-142-0428
• Centro Educativo Cactus y Mar (1-6), Manzana 21 Lote 8. Tel 624-172-8288

Cabo San Lucas:
• El Camino (1-12), Callejón del Jorongo Num 210. Tel 624-143-2100
• Montessori Omeyocan (1-6), Jacarandas s/n Lomas del Pacifico. Tel 624-173-0156
• Colegio Amarento, A.C. (1-6), Km 6.7, Carretera Transpeninsular. Tel 624-145-8701
• Papalote (1-6), 5 de Febrero E/ignacio Zaragoza. Tel 624-144-4311

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula, available for order at www.vivalabaja.com.

Sending a Child to School in Baja

Your kids have had a blast in Baja. You have as well. They’re sold, you’re sold. Everyone is caught up in hyper-speed towards relocation until you realize... yikes! It is time to pull back on the Baja-bound, super-shuttle throttle – your children have to go to school.

You have three basic options for schooling your child in the Baja California Peninsula: public school, private school or homeschooling. My personal advice, based upon experience with both private and public school systems on the mainland and in Baja, is this; if your child is bilingual, and speaks Spanish fluently, you have any school in the country available to you, pick and choose.

If your child is not bilingual, and has little familiarity with the Spanish language, tread cautiously. A private school may best suit his or her needs, where Spanish is taught for half the day and English the other half. For the English-learning part of the day they get to be the star student, counter-balancing the initial struggles and frustrations during the hours of Spanish instruction.

In immersion programs the instructors are trained to deal with issues faced by non-native speakers. They have to be to teach Mexican children English. In public schools they most likely are not. The cost of private schooling runs anywhere from $150 to $350 U.S. a month and up.

Mexican schools will welcome you as a foreigner – to a certain extent. In deciding what option may be best for your child, keep in mind that public schools in Mexico will not provide support for a non-native speaking child, as is common in many areas of the U.S, and other First World countries. Your advantaged and/or bright child may succeed effortlessly from the ages of three to seven years of age (approximately) when language acquisition is at its peak and little academic stress is put upon them.

Your middle school-aged child or teenager may or may not. A less-stressful first leap into the culture may be a summer program or volunteer abroad program. There are summer programs in Baja and on the mainland.

Another alternative is to start-out homeschooling and take it from there, making decisions based on how it goes and what resources are available in your particular Baja town. Some expat parents send their children to the local public program in the day or afternoon and homeschool English curriculum.

To enroll a child in public or private school in Mexico you must show proof he or she has successfully completed the previous school year and therefore is eligible to continue on to the next grade level. If there are no school records available, or the student does not pass final examinations, they have to repeat the previous year. In my sons’ fourth grade public school class one child was 12 years old.


The school will ask for a copy of the child’s birth certificate, a copy of school records showing completion of the previous year of study and photo identification for the child and for the parent. If your child has been homeschooling in the states independently of any school system you must create an official report for him or her that is validated in a way acceptable to the school.

Mexican public school hours are typically from 8 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Private school hours commonly follow the North American norm of 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Private schools have independent control over curriculum and hours of operation but must adhere to the same government-mandated guidelines for enrollment.


Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula, available for order at www.vivalabaja.com.

Can You Catch Lyme Disease in Baja?

Time out in the Baja desert means ticks, yet thankfully not Lyme disease. There has not been a reported case of Lyme disease on the Baja California Peninsula, and those dedicated smart folks - scientists - have figured out why. It seems the organism that causes Lyme Disease can not survive in the primary host for ticks in Baja - lizards.

Lyme disease is contracted when a tick carrying the Lyme disease spirochete bites a host organism and passes the bacterium in the blood. Three different types of bacterium can transmit Lyme disease. In Baja and Western states in the U.S. such as Utah, Arizona and California the ticks feed off of lizards. Lizards have been found to have some type of substance in their blood that kills the bacterium present in the ticks stomach. The ticks then do not harbor the organism any longer so cannot transmit it to other hosts such as us humans.

In the Northeast, where Lyme disease in prevalent, the black-legged ticks feed off of white mice and continue to carry and transmit the bacteria. It is estimated that 50% of ticks in the Northeastern states of the U.S. harbor the Lyme disease causing spirochete, but is found in only 5% of ticks inhabitating the Western areas.

A trademark of the illness is a round, red rash on the skin where bitten. The infection can be treated successfully with antibiotics if diagnosed and treated promptly, but if left untreated can cause long-term, disabling symptoms.

An article describing the above in more detail can be found here on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: Learn About Lyme Disease.

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula available for purchase at Viva La Baja!

Desert Series #4 - The Magdalena Plains

The fourth and final sub-region of the Sonoran Desert that encompasses land area on the Baja California Peninsula is the Magdalena Plains.

The other three segments were described in these previous blog entries:
Desert Series #1 - The Vizcaino Desert
Desert Series #2 - The San Felipe Desert
Desert Series #3 - Gulf Coast Deserts.

The Magdalena Plains sub-region lies south of the Vizcaino Desert(a designated Biosphere Reserve) and is the souternmost region of the Sonoran Desert. Located along the coastal plains and in the foothills this area receives less than 3 inches of rain a year, almost exclusively in the summer months from tropical storms.

The primary plant endemic to this area is the creeping devil (Stenocereus eruca) cacti, which literally grows along the desert floor. Thornscrub and other tropical plants, trees and shrubs can be found in the rocky inland foothills.

Molly
Author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula, available to order at www.vivalabaja.com.

Desert Series #3 - Gulf Coast Deserts

The Gulf Coast section of the Sonoran Desert extends from Bahia Los Angeles along the Sea of Cortez to the tip of the Peninsula (San Jose del Cabo). The further south you travel in Baja the hotter (generally speaking)it gets, with temperatures on the Sea of Cortez side approximately 10 degrees higher than the Pacific Coast. Summertime temperatures in the Gulf Coast Desert region often rise above 100F. Sizzling hot.

The mountain ranges on the Peninsula create a rain shadow effect on the Sea of Cortez side protecting it from winter rains. Much of the moisture found in this area comes from tropical storms during hurricane season. These tropical storms, or chubascos as they are also called, can have winds reaching speeds of up to 200 kph.

Cardon cacti are prevalent on the Gulf Coast often in large tracts. They are less dominant in desert forests north as they can not survive the winter frosts. Other trees in the Gulf Coast Desert include palo verde, ocotillo, ironwood and elephant trees. There are few small shrubs in this region as there shallow root systems and lack of water storage don't survive the long droughts that can last several years.

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula

Desert Series #2 - The San Felipe Desert

The other primary desert region in the Baja California Peninsula (in addition to the Vizcaino Desert) is the San Felipe Desert. According to Brittanica Encyclopedia Online, "Areas with a mean annual precipitation of 10 in. (250 mm) or less are generally considered deserts". They take up one-third of the Earth's land surface.

The San Felipe Desert is located in the northeastern portion of the Sonoran Desert. The Sonoran Desert is approximately 120,000 square miles and covers area in Arizona, California, Baja and Sonora, Mexico. This eastern desert area is drier than the Vizcaino region to the west and vegetation is sparse.

Over 140 species of cacti can be found in the Sonoran Desert, with an abundance of Cardon Cacti in the San Felipe desert region. Cardon Cacti are the largest cacti species (growing up to 70 ft high and weighing up to 25 tons) and have been estimated to live over 300 years. A previous blog entry describing the difference between Cardon Cacti and the similar-looking Saguaro Cacti can be found here: Cardon Cacti & Saguaro Cacti - One in the Same?

A popular tourist attraction in San Felipe is the natural Cardon Cacti reserve with many specimens to oogle and awe over. One of these was transported to Seville, Spain in 1992 for an exhibit in the World's Fair. Here is a fun read of the trials and tribulations transporting a giant cacti across the world, complete with original photos: The Cardon of '92.

The tourist town (with many relocated expats) of San Felipe is one of many in Baja where the desert - San Felipe region of the larger Sonoran Desert - truly does meet the sea (Sea of Cortez), unlike anywhere else in the world.

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula

Desert Series #1 - The Vizcaino Desert

The Vizcaino Desert is a primary desert region of Baja located on the western side of the Peninsula. According to Wikipedia (online encyclopedia), "Deserts are defined as areas that receive an average precipitation of less than 250mm (10in). They take up one-third of the Earth’s land surface". Annual rainfall in this area is approximately 5cm per year (2 inches) - with additional moisture from condensation of Pacific Ocean breezes.

The Vizcaino Desert is just south of Vizcaino Bay and encompasses the coast from Barra San Juan to El Rosario and includes the following mountain ranges: Cerro Matomí, Sierra San Luis, Sierra San Borja, Volcán Las Tres Vírgenes, and Sierra San Francisco. It, and Vizcaino Bay that is adjacent to the desert areas, are named after the Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino. A map of the area can be viewed here: Desert Ecology - Baja California Deserts. It is a minor portion of the larger Sonoran Desert that encompasses areas in Arizona, California, and Sonora, Mexico as well.

The vegetation of this desert area includes the following types of cacti: senita, barrel, candelbra, cholla and sour pitaya. It also contains boojum, elephant trees and agaves stem or leaf succulents and the desert shrubs slipper plant and ball moss.

Photos and more information on Ocean Oasis' online Field Guide - Vizcaino Desert.

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula

Express Mail Services in Baja

A previous post on sending and receiving a letter or package in Baja described regular postal services, including sending mail within the Peninsula by bus: Mail in the Baja & How to Receive a Package.

For many travelers and residents, 10 days plus to receive mail is not sufficient in many instances. For expedited service, some areas in Baja have businesses offering private, express mail services.

In Baja Norte, Rosarito Beach has two options: International Mail & Business Center (located in Quinta Plaza) and Mail Express & Extras (located behind Le Costeau).

In Baja Sur, Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo have the following services: DHL Worldwide Express (in Plaza Copan) and MailBoxes Etc.(in Plaza Las Palmas).

When you are receiving mail from the U.S. using FedEx, DHL or other expedited services, remember that you usually have to give a street address in Baja, as most delivery companies will not deliver to a postal office.

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula

New Crime Alert Issued For Baja

I would rather be writing about fish... but crime seems to be a central issue currently in the Baja California Peninsula. Two previous blog entries on crime & safety are:

1. Safety in the Baja & What is the Risk of Travel
2. Men in Black - Who are These Masked Men in Baja?

On April 14th, 2008 the U.S. Department of State issued a new travel alert for the Baja California Peninsula, set to expire in October, 2008. The travel warning describes current happenings along the U.S. - Mexico Border such as:

** violent criminal activity between criminal organizations struggling for control of the narcotics trade

** confrontations between Mexican army and police forces against heavily armed drug cartels using machine guns and fragmentation grenades

** an increase of armed robberies and carjackings, "apparently unconnected to the narcotics-related violence" in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez

The article states, "Dozens of U.S. citizens were kidnapped and/or murdered in Tijuana in 2007". Americans have been the victims of crimes but the majority of victims are Mexican, and the alert states that there is no evidence U.S. citizens are being targeted due to their nationality.

Crime may be on the rise in southern Baja as well, with recent armed robberies occurring in La Paz and the Todos Santos area. Residents are urged to keep doors and gates locked at all times. In the central Baja area, Mulege had an armed hijacking of an airplane at The Serenidad airstrip. The military have been sent to patrol the area.

Caution and common sense seems to be the name of the game for travelers to the Peninsula at present time - heed the advice of the U.S. Department of State and others; never travel at night, avoid the Tijuana-U.S. Border if driving and use the Tecate border instead, do not travel to or camp in remote locations, visit only legitimate businesses and tourist areas (that exclude brothels and cantinas), be extra alert to your surroundings, avoid traveling alone and displaying obvious signs of wealth (expensive jewelry, wads of cash, etc.).

Anyone and everyone who cares about the Peninsula can only hope that the situation eventually gets under better control.

Molly, author of Viva La Baja! Relocation Guide to the Baja California Peninsula