Are there any existing startup communities by the beach in Mexico? I can't think of a more ideal way to work for a few months (for those of us without families or who otherwise can't move around).
I doubt it, but there are a lot of gated communities in Baja where Americans own homes and they have private security guards. I'm not sure of the safety record of these places, but I think there are some that are pretty secured, you just don't necessarily want to leave the complex and travel to these places can be a bit sketchy. I took a bus down to Rosarito once and not sure I'd want to go back there again.
Which Mexico are you talking about? The one with millions upon millions of independent taco stands, repair shops, tianguis, ciber cafes, roving traditional music bands, and drug cartels?
Sure, internet startup culture hasn't taken the place as far as Silicon Valley yet, but entrepreneurial culture isn't what's lacking.
It varies. Tijuana is one of the more dangerous cities in Mexico with a murder rate of 107/100k from 2006-2010, but that's way behind Cd. Juarez with 485 over the same period. By comparison the national average was 30.8 and Mexico City was 7.36.
I couldn't find stats for Ensenada but Tijuana makes up over half of the population of the state of Baja California, which in 2010 had a murder rate of 28. I'd bet Ensenada is well below that. Baltimore by contrast was 34.8 and Oakland 22.
(FWIW the violence in TJ has abated considerably in 2011 as the Sinaloa cartel has effectively won the turf war that was raging.)
I don't know about Mexico, but city-wide US murder rates don't actually tell you much about individual risk. In other words, for some sub-populations, Oakland is a lot more dangerous than 22/100k would suggest while it's a lot safer for other subpopulations.
The reason is that US murders aren't random. (And yes, "competitors" know each other.) Even the "killed by accident" happen to folk who live in/visit the "wrong" neighborhoods.
Have lived in Tijuana almost my whole life, In no way my life has been in danger at any point, even when i decided to go to the bad parts of town, and I dont know anyone that has been kidnapped or killed, its always been someone far from me. On the news theres always stories of people getting mugged or killed, but somehow I've managed to stay away from it all, its mostly fear now, but we go about our business as if nothing happened.
I think he wanted to point out the ferry can land there, since Ensenada is a big Port, Tijuana and Rosarito dont have a docking port, but really I worked at a "startup" in San Diego for 4 years with a B1, living in Tijuana crossing the border, and as others can attest, it's miserable, every day you risk your B1
http://g.co/maps/35bqv
Reduce your expenses, Live in the beach, enjoy Mexican hospitality.