-by El Gitano Peñasco, "The Peñasco Gypsy"
Should anyone not be familiar with the expression “Sister City” it simply means that one city has established a semi-formal relationship with another city, often with both cities being in different countries, to encourage ‘visits’ (tourism), business, cultural exchanges, etc.
If you haven’t heard yet, y’all should be ecstatic to know that a couple of Sábados ago right here in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico-- under the leadership of our Mayor, Alejandro Zepeda Munro-- just such a feat was accomplished with Mayor Ron Henry of Gila Bend, AZ!
In that meeting, accompanied by the Director of International Relations Soto Fausto Lopez and the Delegate for Tourism Laura Palacio Soto, the 'gang' agreed to join forces and work hand in hand to promote, among other venues, tourism between the two sister cities! This makes Gila Bend our newest (and perhaps quirkiest, and I mean that in a good way) sister city.
I know, the excitement is more that a soul can bear and we do love our Amigos and Amigas in tropical Gila Bend, AZ who proudly post a sign at one entrance to town saying all visitors are welcomed by the residents of the “Home of 1700 Friendly People and 5 Old Crabs”! Since our community leaders and many others folks here in PP are interested in promoting our region I thought I’d share a little online presentation that another community is using to promote their destination and if the Mayor and other ‘players’ here will look this over they’ll clearly see that they (we) need to start playing ‘hard ball’ as the travel and tourism competition is not for the faint hearted.
So, folks, take a look at www.gohawaii.com. And although I’m not suggesting that we can or will ever compete with the likes of the Hawaiian Islands (at least not in my lifetime) I am suggesting that there are other ways to promote Peñasco (like gohawaii.com presents the ‘islands’) in such a manner as to make people really want to come here in droves. Then other cities, perhaps a little larger than Gila Bend, AZ, might want us to be their sister city too.
So take a look at that site and then all you business owners and city leaders with a web presence start thinking about what you can do to spruce up your websites (I know we are) to lure the traveling masses here by visually ‘selling the dream’ (aka: sell the sizzle) because photos are always worth more than thousands of words and/or good deeds!
A Gypsy can always dream!
¡Viva Puerto Peñasco y México!
Gypsy
elgitanopenasco@gmail.com
