We recently spoke to an American acquaintance who was making his first trip to Puerto Peñasco. He could not have been more nervous if he had being departing for a 20-year trip to outer space. He was afraid to go alone so persuaded a friend to go with him. He repeatedly asked if the roads were safe. He worried about how much insurance to buy and where to buy it. He was apprehensive about finding a hotel.

The term "cottage industry" probably originated in England, where such enterprises were common before the industrial revolution. Those of you who read Silas Marner (it was once the standard novel for 10th grade English) remember that Silas was a weaver who had his loom right in his cottage. The village blacksmith had his smithy, if not in his cottage, at least on his grounds. It was customary for many small shop owners to live over or behind their shops. And what was the family farm but a cottage industry?

Business in America started out the same way. The family farm, the corner grocery, and the blacksmith are all examples of early cottage industries.

Many Americans heap scorn on immigrants from Mexico, calling them wetbacks and other derogatory names. They deplore the fact that by being here these people are breaking the laws of the U.S. and the states in which they come to work.

It is interesting to note that the same phenomenon is happening in reverse in Sonora. A number of Arizona real estate agents have been observed putting up signs, handing out cards, and holding open houses in Puerto Peñasco in an effort to sell real estate there.

Thirty-five years ago we used to travel to Rocky Point to vacation with a group of friends. We'd form a caravan of 3 or 4 vehicles so that if one of us got stuck in the sand, there would be others to dig us out.

In those days, the town was quite small, and the streets were unpaved. Las Conchas had not yet been conceived

We took an interesting trip last month wherein we saw both sides of the Baja California peninsula. We had business in Ensenada, and we wanted to visit a large new housing development in San Felipe, so we planned to drive across the peninsula from Ensenada and see a bit of the country.