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Letters: Itemizing the crate escape

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Itemizing the crate escape

Regarding the Nov. 29 letter “Getting a Dog In and Out of Mexico”: With the costs, crate, rabies certificates, updated health certificates and security checks, why would a beagle want to visit Cabo San Lucas?

-- Bill Thomas, San Clemente

Where the real Holland blooms

As Susan Spano pointed out in her fascinating article [“A Dutch Haven,” Nov. 22], the importance of Leiden as a religious center in the early 17th century has a special relevance for us because the city did indeed offer a haven for the Pilgrims before they embarked on the Mayflower.

Leiden is one of Holland’s best-kept secrets, rarely a destination for the millions of visitors who throng the noisy streets of Amsterdam, and it is still a haven for those tourists who enjoy quieter streets and canals. I would like to point out also that it takes only minutes on a shuttle bus from the city center to reach the Keukenhof Gardens, where the annual spring display of tulips, daffodils and other flowers provides, in my estimation, the finest floral feast for the eyes anywhere in the world.

-- John B. Welch, North Hollywood

Hawaii’s other ‘mystery island’

Catharine Hamm’s story about her trip to Niihau revealed the essence of pure Hawaii [“An Enchanting Visit to the ‘Mystery Island,’ ” Nov. 15]. Those of us who have seen the changes in Hawaii in the last 50 years must congratulate and admire the descendants of Elizabeth Sinclair.

It is less well known that the last of the royal family leased another island, Kahoolawe off of Maui, to a nonnative family. They homesteaded it until World War II, when the federal government kicked them off to use the island for target practice. You can read about it in Inez Ashdown’s book about her family, “Recollections of Kahoolawe.”

-- Gordon Elkins, Santa Monica

How to travel safely in Mexico

I read with great interest the letter in the Nov. 22 Travel section in which he criticized the idea of encouraging people to visit Mexico and suggested they get the “real” facts about what he or she refers to as “my” Mexico.

My visits to Mexico have been so many and so frequent over the last 40-plus years I cannot say how many times I’ve visited. Most of my extended family lives in Mexico, so I think I can say it is my Mexico too.

My experience as a traveler in Mexico and as an agent who sells Mexico is that you need to be aware of your surroundings and stay out of places and situations that would put you at risk. I would recommend

the same caution in L.A. or Hong Kong or anywhere else.

I suggest that all my clients refrain from making jokes and/or observations in public regarding the drug cartels. I strongly suggest not getting out of control in any other country with drugs or alcohol.

“My” Mexico has its problems. But be a responsible traveler and I doubt you will encounter them.

-- Sonia Robledo,Travel agent and Mexico specialist, Riverside

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