Q: FONATUR is developing the Nautical Stair (Escalera
Nautica, Sea of Cortez project), can you tell us a bit about
that?A: The reserves we have in Loreto and Puerto Escondido, in Baja
California, we have made into the heart and capital of the Escalera
Nautica.
The nautical route of the Sea of Cortez will redo some towns.
For instance, Bahia de Los Angeles on the Baja Peninsula is the
most beautiful bay I have ever been in. It’s fantastic when you
stand on the beach and look out to the Sea of Cortez, and there are
these islands in front and the weather is perfect and the sand
color is perfect, and then you turn around 180 degrees and you have
a horrible town, a dump.
So, what we’re going to do with five of these towns is we’re going
to redo the five, give them some personality. We will try and pick
up the history of this area as well. There’s the Route of the
Missions, which goes all the way up from Cabo San Lucas to
Oregon.
The Sea of Cortez project has given certain destinations that
had almost been erased from the tourism map a new possibility
because they are technically the right distance away from another
port to be visited. And so, if you have a marina every 100 to 120
nautical miles and you have protected areas so that people who are
out on the ocean, if they go into the Bay of Guaymas, for instance,
they know they will be safe, they will have services and there will
be a good place to eat and sleep and they will come back to Guaymas
because of this.
Q: Does FONATUR have any plans for interior cities in
Mexico?
A: We are re-master-planning San Miguel de Allende to improve on
buildings with historical or architectural value and public spaces.
We’re using arroyos as architectural urban passageways, we’ll
reforest and improve the urban zone with furniture and signs and
the road to Dolores [Hidalgo] and Queretaro, over the next four to
five years.
There are plans to start a new modern area next to the City of
Guanajuato, within a couple of years, with golf and nice
shopping.
I was born in Tula, Hidalgo, a beautiful Toltec city, but it’s
next to a very old Spanish city which, because it’s surrounded by
cement factories, refineries, etc., needs a total redo. You will
see results within two years. That will be a nice place to go to if
anyone is staying in Mexico City and maybe a good place to spend a
night or two to see the ruins, the colonial parts of it. A bit like
San Miguel de Allende, we will do some signage, do some pedestrian
streets, some nice mercados (markets).
