BajaNomad

Problems at Tecate's Rancho La Puerta

makana.gabriel - 4-8-2009 at 06:33 PM

A sad letter. The media's sensationalism is really hurting!


Dear Friends of the Ranch:

I am writing to you today with a very different kind of message than the ones you’re used to receiving from me. Whether you’ve been to the Ranch once, twice, or 50 times—or are still considering your first visit—you know how special this experience is and how much your visits mean to us. I write to let you know that we are going through some very serious times, so much so that our ability to remain open is threatened. It’s all due to misinformation.

Undoubtedly you have heard about the drug-war problems that have plagued parts of Mexico—areas nowhere near Rancho La Puerta. The crimes have drawn considerable negative publicity, including comments on CNN’s shows hosted by Larry King and Anderson Cooper in March and early April.

A guest of Mr. King, the highly respected actor Edward James Olmos, told viewers not to travel south of the border, warning them that it wasn't safe.

Mr. Olmos, we beg to differ. Your warning is a suggestion that U.S. citizens punish all of Mexico and its hardworking citizens—like our staff—for what has been happening in their country. It is terribly hurtful and unfair.

Due to the power of the media, last week we had more cancellations than reservations, a first in our almost 70 years.

I write to assure you that our home town, Tecate, Baja California, is many miles from Tijuana and hundreds of miles from Ciudad Juarez, on the Texas border. Tecate has had one violent incident two years ago, a safety record far better than most cities anywhere in the world.

I would never knowingly put my guests’ safety at risk. As always, I am at the Ranch every week , and for the staff you know and trust, it is business as usual. They continue to come to work each day, many of them crossing the border at Tecate—the entry point for all our guests..

But fear may drive us out of business, and your help—and that of all your friends—is needed to spread the word that the Ranch is still the safe oasis you know and love. Tell your friends. Blog, Twitter, Facebook (be a “friend” on the Ranch’s page and post a comment there, and on your own page)…whatever you can do. Perhaps you can send me a testimonial that we can use.

Please join in our efforts to correct this devastating misperception. For more information, please visit our home page at www.rancholapuerta.com.

Most importantly, don’t shy away from a vacation that you need…a vacation that can change your life. We all look forward to welcoming you back soon.

With gratitude,



Deborah Szekely, Co-Founder





www.RanchoLaPuerta.com | 1-877-440-7773 | Forward this message to a friend

Bajajack - 4-8-2009 at 06:53 PM

Ranchera Single $3,510 Weekly Rate.

Kudo's for Olmos telling the truth.

Some how I just can't conjure up any sympathy on this one.
:lol:

vandenberg - 4-8-2009 at 07:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bajajack


Some how I just can't conjure up any sympathy on this one.



Sympathy??
I doubt very much that you know the meaning of the word.:no::mad:

Phuleeze

Dave - 4-8-2009 at 07:09 PM

Deborah Szekely is an amazing woman and Rancho la Puerta is a pretty amazing place... even though the food sucks. :D

But to plead poverty is a stretch. According to my estimates they have been raking in 20+ million each year for the last 10-12 years.

I would assume someone has been saving for the rainy day.

fdt - 4-8-2009 at 09:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by makana.gabriel
I write to assure you that our home town, Tecate, Baja California, is many miles from Tijuana and hundreds of miles from Ciudad Juarez, on the Texas border. Tecate has had one violent incident two years ago, a safety record far better than most cities anywhere in the world.



La Puerta is so out of touch with Tecate that they don't know that just yesterday 2 Federal officers and 2 civilian bistanders, one of them a minor were shot right at the entrance to Tecate, not to mention all of the other narco news items generated in Tecate.
http://www.frontera.info/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Noticias/07042...

Bajahowodd - 4-8-2009 at 11:24 PM

A case of an imperiled business person painting a self-serving picture. No winners here. On one hand, I have no sympathy because they have charged incredibly high rates for their service, and have made tons of money. On the other hand, chances are that if you do go there, it will be an experience that will not include anything involving the violence that has been cited.

Phil S - 4-9-2009 at 08:22 AM

I don't have any problem with their rate!!!!! Only those that pay it have the right to comment on it!!! It's not in my budget, but I can't 'knock' it???
If it's been that successful in the past, must be someone out there that can afford to go. Then there's other like ourseslves that like beach camping rather than being pampered. Pampering is what my wife likes to do for me

CaboRon - 4-9-2009 at 09:24 AM

Deberah Szeklly also founded the Golden Door Spa in Escondito California.

It was my honor to have known her husband Professor Edmond Bordeau Szekely, a graduate of the University of Transelvania (at least that's what he liked to tell people) and the founder of Mille' Meditation in the southern California desert.

An incredable couple who lived side by side in duplicate homes with duplicate swimming pools. They said it kept them together ...... very interesting, no ?

Deborah's and the Professor's spa retreat/ Champaign grape ranch south of Tecate was a pioneering effort in the spa inductry and led to many others being inspired to open european style, total imersion spas in the US ....

I salute them both,

Here is a bit of history of the Professor,

Edmund Bordeaux Szekely (ca. 1900-1979) was a Hungarian scholar, philosopher and natural living experimenter.

Contents [hide]
1 Life
2 International Biogenic Society
2.1 Credo
2.2 Biogenic Living
3 Rancho la Puerta
4 Bibliography
5 References
6 External links



[edit] Life
Edmund's mother was French and Roman Catholic and his father was a Hungarian Unitarian. Various biographies have said that Szekely earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Paris or from the Pasteur Institute, as well as other degrees from Vienna and Leipzig Universities. He also held professorships of Philosophy and Experimental Psychology at the Babeş-Bolyai University in Kolozsvár-Cluj-Napoca and was conversant with Sanskrit, Aramaic, Greek and Latin as well as several modern languages.

In 1923, while studying at the Vatican, Szekely translated several obscure Aramaic texts which, he claimed, proved that the Essenes were vegetarians, and that vegetarianism was prescribed by Jesus. Szekely also translated portions of the Avesta, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and documents from pre-Columbian Mexico.

In 1928 he and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Romain Rolland founded the International Biogenic Society (see below) to promote and expand on his research. Szekely travelled widely — Tahiti, Africa, the Carpathians, France, Eastern Europe — but settled down somewhat when in 1939 he married Brooklyn-born Deborah Shainman, whose mother was a past vice president of the New York Vegetarian Society. In 1940 the couple opened a camp in Baja California, which they named Rancho la Puerta (see below), where they could explore and test some of their ideas. The couple had two children, Alex and Livia; meanwhile Edmund continued to lecture, travel, teach, conduct seminars in the United States and other countries, and write.

In the 1970s, Edmund and Deborah divorced and he retired from Rancho La Puerta. Edmund married Norma Nilsson, a long-time assistant, and focused on his writing and teaching. He died in 1979.

Deborah continues to operate Rancho La Puerta today (2006). From 1984 to 1990, she ran the Inter-American Foundation, which works with the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean, and she was Creative Director of Wyndham Hotels International.

Norma Nilsson Szekely took over leadership of the International Biogenic Society.


[edit] International Biogenic Society

[edit] Credo
The credo of the International Biogenic Society states the following:

We believe that our most precious possession is Life.
We believe we shall mobilize all the forces of Life against the forces of death.
We believe mutual understanding leads toward mutual cooperation; that mutual cooperation leads toward Peace; and that Peace is the only way of survival for mankind.
We believe that we shall preserve instead of waste our natural resources, which are the heritage of our children.
We believe that we shall avoid the pollution of our air, water and soil, the basic preconditions of life.
We believe that we shall preserve the vegetation of our planet: the humble grass which came 50 million years ago and the majestic trees which came 20 million years ago, to prepare our planet for mankind.
We believe that we shall eat only fresh, natural, pure, whole foods, without chemicals and artificial processing.
We believe that we shall lead a simple, natural, creative life, absorbing all the sources of energy, harmony and knowledge, in and around us.
We believe that the improvement of life and mankind on our planet must start with individual efforts, as the whole depends on the atoms composing it.

[edit] Biogenic Living
Szekely classified foods into four categories, depending on their qualities and what they contributed to one's health:

Biogenic: life renewing - germinated cereal seeds, nuts; sprouted baby greens.
Bioactive: life sustaining - organic, natural vegetables, fruit.
Biostatic: life slowing - cooked, stale foods (but legumes must be cooked after sprouting first).
Biocidic: life destroying - processed, irradiated foods and drinks.
The daily diet should consist of 25% biogenic foods, 50% bioactive foods, and 25% biostatic. No biocidic foods should be consumed.

Biogenic living also includes meditation, simple living, and respect for the earth in all its forms.


[edit] Rancho la Puerta
In 1940, Edmund and Deborah opened a camp they named Rancho la Puerta in Baja California. The camp had one adobe hut and the Szekelys started an organic garden, bought goats and began marketing cheese, and invited like-minded people to visit for $17.50 a week. Guests (who chopped wood, milked goats, and brought their own tents) listened to Szekely's lectures on achieving good health, long life, and the interdependence of mind, body and spirit. Szekely spoke against herbicides, pesticides, artificial fertilizers, the increasing use of food processing, and the dangers of cigarettes. He emphasized the threat of pollution and the need for pure air and pure water, recommendations for safe sunbathing, and the dangers of cholesterol and fats in the American diet.

As the spa increased in size in the early 1950s and began to operate year-round, visitors of another sort were attracted by the weight-loss potential of Rancho la Puerta's vegetarian diet. Edmund and Deborah began searching for and hiring specialists in yoga and other mind/body exercise regimens, adding a fitness aspect to their offerings.

Today, Rancho La Puerta is a 3,000-acre (12 km2) holistic health spa and eco-resort with a staff of nearly 400, owned and operated by the Szekely family. The spa is situated on the slopes of Mount Kuchumaa. The spa includes, among other things, a full-size replica of the labyrinth of the Cathedral of Chartres, 32 acres (130,000 m2) of gardens, a 5-acre (20,000 m2) organic vegetable, kitchen, and herb garden, 87 rooms, eleven gyms, a library, and the Szekely Art Collection -- sculpture, painting, glass, and other work primarily by Mexican and South American artists.


[edit] Bibliography
Szekely is the author of over 80 books, including two autobiographies. Some of his best-known include:

Cosmotherapy of the Essenes
Discovery of the Essene Gospel Of Peace
Essene Gospel Of Peace, Book 1
Essene Gospel Of Peace, Book 2: The Unknown Book of the Essenes
Essene Gospel of Peace, book 3: Lost Scrolls of the Essene Brotherhood
Essene Gospel Of Peace, Book 4: The Teachings of the Elect
Essene Origins Of Christianity: How The Great Pan Died
Essene Way: Biogenic Living

[edit] References
Biography of Edmund Bordeaux Szekely
Ranch La Puerta website
Interview with Deborah Szekely, age 90

[edit] External links
Rancho La Puerta website
Lengthy biography of Edmund Szekely, with photos ....


Note: There are so many interesting people in the world !!!

CaboRon





[Edited on 4-9-2009 by CaboRon]

In all fairness

Dave - 4-9-2009 at 11:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by fdt
La Puerta is so out of touch with Tecate that they don't know that just yesterday 2 Federal officers and 2 civilian bistanders, one of them a minor were shot right at the entrance to Tecate, not to mention all of the other narco news items generated in Tecate.


The email was sent before this happened.

But Rancho la Puerta is out of touch with the Tecate...and with the world. Occasionally, I have nightmares about being trapped in there... forever. :rolleyes:

Tecate

tehag - 4-9-2009 at 11:45 AM

In response to the shooting of the Feds, who refused bribes, more than 20 alleged members of 2 different cartels have been arrested in Tecate.

I think this is a coffin nail for Rancho la Puerta

arrowhead - 6-17-2009 at 07:16 PM

http://www.frontera.info/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Noticias/17062009/382919.aspx

The article says that Rancho La Puerta, outside of Tecate, was held up by armed robbers. The way they were dressed and the precision in their actions leaves little doubt these were cartel organized crime people.

bajabound2005 - 6-17-2009 at 07:59 PM

Quote:
Quote:
But Rancho la Puerta is out of touch with the Tecate...and with the world.


Isn't that the whole idea behind a SPA and RESORT? So you can "vacate" and enjoy?

If you can't afford it, que lastima! This type of vacation ain't for eveyone!

gnukid - 6-17-2009 at 08:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by arrowhead

The article says that Rancho La Puerta, outside of Tecate, was held up by armed robbers. ...


Let me get this right Arrowhead Doomsayer (who uses anonymous ip proxy to hide their computer identity unlike anyone else), the employees were robbed at a ranch so that's a nail in their coffin? How is that, if someone is robbed its somehow a cause to close down their hotel? Or suggests that they will always be in danger? That's silly. They can continue to remain open and continue to run the Ranch without the implication it was their fault or that they are in continued danger and guests should stay away.

Risks are everywhere, we all leave our homes and take risks and continue to do so in the face of occasional criminal activity. It happens everywhere in the world, NY, Paris, London, Chicago, Tecate. Its life, yet we continue to work, play and have fun.

In general I would not blame the victim or pile on them the idea that they are under any increased risk than they were before.

bajabound2005 - 6-17-2009 at 08:06 PM

arrowhead=Minnow

arrowhead - 6-17-2009 at 10:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by gnukid

Let me get this right Arrowhead Doomsayer (who uses anonymous ip proxy to hide their computer identity unlike anyone else), the employees were robbed at a ranch so that's a nail in their coffin? How is that, if someone is robbed its somehow a cause to close down their hotel?.


Ya know, perhaps if you went back up to the first post in this thread and reread it, everything might fall into context. I don't post from an anonymous ip proxy, except for the few times when I am at work. That is because our system blocks most websites, like myspace, tweeter, etc. 90% of the time I post from home, and I am sure whomever runs this board can read my IP.

But I do have a little secret. I am beaming radio waves into your brain and reading your thoughts. You will have to get one of these to keep me out:



It's a big conspiracy, ya know?

arrowhead - 6-17-2009 at 10:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajabound2005
arrowhead=Minnow


First bajagabacho says I'm a Nancyboy and now I'm a fish. Why don't you two meet and work out the story-line...that is if he is not currently being racially profiled by ICE. Maybe you can also get Dennis drunk again and have him curse out the whole message board with profanities and then claim no knowledge of it in the morning.

In case you haven't noticed, I am becoming thoroughly convinced that half the people here are totally paranoid psychotics.

gnukid - 6-17-2009 at 10:28 PM

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." --From Hamlet

Bajahowodd - 6-17-2009 at 11:34 PM

I'm amazed at how much amusement I can glean from crime, drug trafficking and business failure. Kudos.

gnukid - 6-18-2009 at 11:26 AM

Here's another one:

I was talking to my mother who often retells the story about how she went to Rancho La Puerta many years ago. It is a very nice spa says my mother and the six million dollar man was also on vacation there. So, Lee Majors went with friends to town to get a bunch of Tecate beer from Tecate. They loaded the beer in the back of their truck and then went shopping. When they came back someone had stolen a case of beer? !@#$

So, there you go arrowhead another "nail in the coffin" story for ya.

Obviously arrowhead you're asking yourself, why didn't they shut it down long ago???

arrowhead - 6-18-2009 at 12:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by gnukid
Obviously arrowhead you're asking yourself, why didn't they shut it down long ago???


Actually, I am not asking myself that.
Quote:

ELF rotating magnetic fields have a very marked effect on the brain. In 1977, the CIA contacted Margaret Thatcher and gave her all the detailled
information regarding ELF frequencies, including how to induce paranoia (4.5 Hz), depression (6.66 Hz), manic rage (11.3 Hz) and manifest various health problems in troublesome or unwanted populations ...Microwave weapons are targeted on middle class troublemakers and researchers who cause problems for the establishment.

Pulse modulated microwaves (as used for mobile phones) can, when modulated with ELF, mimic specific brain patterns that change the behaviour of the victim at the flick of a switch. It has been found that UK security police, such as MI5 use the 450 MHz frequency used for this research (legally allowed to be used by the police) for behavioural control.

A vast catalogue of mind control frequencies are in the MHz range, FM radio, TV and mobile phone frequencies, have been measured, which are used for
control, killing or disabling victims: 147, 153, 197, 199, 447, 453, 456, 466, 853, 883, 884, 887...

Symptoms can be depression, befuddled thinking, loss of memory, stress, not being able to cope, manic behaviour, schizophrenia, nervous breakdowns,
physical collapse, brain and nervous system damage, heart attacks, cancer ....

Research dating from 1976 and shows these things were known over thirty years ago. Frequencies and intensities used by mobile phones, 1800 MHz and 900 MHz, can be and are utilized as weapons.It is a rule of the intelligence community that you hide things in plain view, getting the public to accept microwave mind control weapons which effect their behaviour under the guise of mobile phones was a stroke of genius.

Getting the public to pay for these microwave mind control devices, so their brains and behaviour can be damaged, to make them more docile and easy to
control, was pure diabolical genius.

ELF frequencies of special interest are 6-10 Hertz. These frequencies are the same as those produced by the human brain in the theta and alpha states. Generally, specific brain wave frequency ranges can be associated with mood or thought patterns. Frequencies below 8 Hertz are considered theta waves. Use of these frequencies can cause entire populations to become apathetic when deemed
necessary ...

These specific frequencies are associated with creative, insightful thought. When an artist or scientist has the 'aha' experience, there's a good chance he or she is in theta. Alpha frequencies are from 8 to 12 Hertz and are commonly associated with relaxed, meditative states. Most people are in an alpha state during the short time immediately before they fall asleep. Alpha waves are strongest during that twilight state when we're half asleep and half awake.

Beta frequencies (above 12 Hertz) coincide with our most 'awake' analytical thinking. Most of the waking hours of the human adults are spent in the beta state.

Frequency numbers, below, are in Hertz (cycles per second):

1 Hz -- Approx. beginning of brain waves 6.66 Hz -- Theta brain waves 7.85 Hz -- Alpha brain waves 15.7 Hz -- Beta brain waves 30-30.56 Hz --- Government
VLF stations 32-33 Hz -- Government VLF stations 34-42 Hz -- Government VLF stations 50 Hz -- Approx. Upper limit of brain wave frequencies 60 Hz --

http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/482059




The hat, gnukid, remember the hat.
:lol:

Yep, this will kill 'em

Dave - 6-18-2009 at 12:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by arrowhead
The article says that Rancho La Puerta, outside of Tecate, was held up by armed robbers. The way they were dressed and the precision in their actions leaves little doubt these were cartel organized crime people.


Most of the folks who visit la Puerta are well heeled and afraid of their own shadow. They can afford to go to any spa in the world.