Dear friends,

Some colleagues interested in attending the meeting have expressed concerns on account of the travel warnings issued by the U.S. government for some areas of Mexico.
It is beyond me to discuss the complex and difficult security situation in our country. Our government is making great efforts to reduce the impact of organized crime activities on the life
of citizens and tourists.
From our experience at the observatory, all I can tell you is that in the last 30 years, our drivers, personnel and visitors have been travelling from Tijuana (nearest airport) and San Diego to Ensenada and San Pedro Martir several times a week. During this time, they have not been involved in a single incident of violent crime while doing this. We are afraid we could not guarantee you this, even if we were not in Mexico, but we are quite sure that you will have a pleasant and safe time in Ensenada.
Nevertheless, in order to minimize the probability of any incident occurring to our visitors, we strongly recommend that you travel from San Diego to Ensenada using one of the shuttles services that will be made available to conference attendees. Visitors will be picked-up at the San Diego airport and brought to the host hotel in Ensenada.
Different views on the issue of travel safety in Mexico can be found in the following WebPages:

http://www.bajainsider.com/baja-california-travel/mexico-travel-warning.htm

http://isitsafetotraveltomexico.com/

http://gomexico.about.com/od/healthandsafety/f/is_mexico_safe.htm

http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2010/12/is-it-safe-to-travel-to-mexicojudging-from-the-numbers-many-say-yes/134217/1

Please contact us in case you have any questions in this regard.