I Want To Be In Baja

I’m sorry I haven’t written in a long time.  Due the media publishing so much negative information, I felt like things had just gotten bogged down and decided to hold off.  This has not stopped my traveling to EL Dorado and just to let people know, although business has felt the impact by the economy, people are still taking one day at a time and it is still a wonderful place to be.  I went down in June, July, and August, and although the days are warm, it does cool off in the evening and  one can be entertained just by going out at night to enjoy the stars in the  sky.

Building continues at El Dorado ranch and I will come back from time to time to update progress at El Dorado Ranch.  If anyone ever has any questions, you can always e-mail me at nancy@ICleanUglyCredit.com (my US job) and I will be happy to assist you.

For those of you heading down to San Felipe this weekend it should be a lively one! The 2009 Tecate SCORE Baja 500 off-road race takes place this weekend and is one of the premier family events of the year down in Baja. It certainly doesn’t seem like a whole year has gone since the last one!

The race itself starts and finishes in the northern Baja town of Ensenada and covers a total of 432 miles with San Felipe as its most southerly part of the circuit.  It is an international affair with entries from UK, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, Japan, Mexico and Canada joining representatives from 25 American States to compete in the race.  There are also several different categories of race including motorcycles, ATVs, cars and trucks, giving plenty of variety and color for every kind of motor-vehicle-racing fan!  It is always a lively, good-natured, family event and it is certainly going to give the business community of San Felipe a much needed boost after what has been a dreadful first half of the year. And you can check out the great facilities at El Dorado Ranch while you are there - sweet!  I only wish that I could be there but, unfortunately I already had other commitments. But if you are going to be there we’d love to hear of your experiences - and send us some photos!  Have a great and fun weekend!

Tiki Bar Seed

Excitement is a-building for the Blues Festival in San Felipe, Baja Ca, Mexico, around the 28th of March!
Just mentioning it to friends up here in AZ has generated some major hype!
Unfortunately we’d love to get the seed for the Flip Flops Tiki Bar to sprout a little so we can provide some refreshments to Blues fanciers over that weekend, but we’re afraid there just isn’t time for all the pieces to be put in place.  Even a temp set-up on the Beach at El Dorado Ranch using two 10ft barrels bracketing a 5 X 5 “hut” would be a good start, if we could get them brought together, (along with required paper-work), in time!

Regardless, the Blues Festival is gonna happen on the 28th and for now there are some quality venues of refreshment available in town, like the V-Lounge.  Meanwhile the “Flip Flops spirits” and we “Tiki pushers” are gonna be trying our best to become the prime fun-venue on the beach, as soon as we can make it happen!

Meanwhile, whoever can make it, look around for Flip Flops on the beach and the Tiki Seed.  They’ll be sprouting soon!!  When they show up, everyone will be told!

The construction of a critical border roadway, The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry, has just won approval, and will surely change the economic landscape for Southern California, and the Baja region.

Over 60 million people each year cross at the existing ports, which comprise the world’s most heavily trafficked border crossing. Baja California officials estimate that wait times cost untold billions of dollars a year, due to hours lost.

Currently under environmental review, the project is years away from breaking ground, but is worth a look now for the person considering a property investment in Baja, Mexico. The new border crossing shows us that U.S. dependence on Mexico will increase, and is at the forefront of investors long-term plans.

Novemeber saw the 41st SCORE Baja 1000 Off-Road Race hit the Baja Peninsula, the final race of the 2008 SCORE Desert Series. This year saw over 370 entries from 39 U.S. States and from 24 different countries all congregate at Ensenada, Baja for the the start of the 631 mile race with the entrants competing in 28 Pro and 7 Sportsman classes for cars, motorcycles, trucks and All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs). There are six checkpoints that the contestants must stop at before continuing to the finish line back at Ensenada. The video (above) should give you an idea of what it is all about.

The competition attracts some big sponsors including Tecate Beer, Coca-Cola (Mexico), Suzuki, Volkswagen and Red Bull to name but a few. There is also an XBox 360 Game of the race apparently - certainly a cheaper way of enjoying the action! Described as ‘The Grandaddy of Off-Road Racing’, the real race is certainly not for amateurs. “A favorite race of the Speed Technologies crew The Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 offers not only challenging terrain and tough conditions, but bragging rights that are second to none”, according to dirtnewz.com - I’ll take their word for it! For those that don’t like that kind of noise, especially those resident at El Dorado Ranch, you will be pleased to hear that although the race does reach as far south as San Felipe, as an off-road race, most of the action takes place in the mountains to the north-west, so unless you want to go watch the race, you won’t even know that it is happening.

This last weekend saw a bunch of us head down to San Felipe’s annual Shrimp Festival. It was good to be back there and we were blessed with excellent weather and an easy an uneventful drive down. The festival itself runs over three days from Friday through Sunday, November 7 - 9 and is well known as a gastronomic event. We rented a house at El Dorado Ranch, just a few miles out of town, and the plan was to spend a bit of time at the beach during the day and go into town for the festivities and food in the evening.

The whole of the promenade area was cordoned off with a stage for the bands in the center and a variety of craft and food stalls stretching from one end of the promenade to the other. All the sea front restaurants and bars were open and at many you could sit outside and enjoy the festivities from the comfort of your seat! After wandering around for a while, that is what we did for the first evening - you do have to be patient though - the service was operating on Mexican time!

There were also a few speciality shrimp restaurants set out under tents along the promenade, very smartly laid out and this is where we decided to eat on Saturday night. The restaurant we dined at served four different shrimp recipes, all of which were excellent. The only problem with dining out alfresco was the noise! Our restaurant was unfortunately close to one of the street ‘orchestras’, which was amplified and very loud, but fortunately short-lived. There were several dotted along the promenade, each taking their turn for a few minutes before the next started up.

On the main stage were a variety of bands, mostly playing varieties of rock and roll. The highlight, on the Saturday night was a group of Mexican folk dancers, resplendent in their traditional costumes and dancing what appeared to be a form of Flamenco, at least to my untrained eye. Both evenings were well attended with a warm and friendly family atmosphere and. although we didn’t stay particularly late, there was no signs of any over-indulgence or trouble.

During the day on Saturday we had some relaxing time at the beach - you wouldn’t believe how far the tide goes out there. My wife got a pedicure by the pool and we showed some friends, (here on their first visit) around El Dorado Ranch. There was a farmers market there on the Saturday morning, which we missed most of because we had rather a long breakfast at a nearby cafe. Instead we did a bit of shopping in town and at one shop owned by a woman from California, we discovered that she had a plot at El Dorado Ranch just a few lots down from our own! So we got to know one of our neighbours as well! That’s what it is like when you own property at El Dorado Ranch - you meet up with many ex-pats who are setting up businesses down there in expectation of the numbers moving down there.

It is such a great atmosphere down there - everyone knows everyone, the weather is always great, the sunsets are spectacular - it is always a wrench to have to leave and what with work commitments it was a rather short visit this time - but we are already planning our next trip back there for February!

There have been several articles about the San Pedro de Martir Mountains and this time I will discuss just how important this range is to real estate.  Being the tallest range on the Baja, the peaks protect El Dorado Ranch from the Pacific storms, which come consistently each year.  On the west side of the range is the wettest part of the Baja and the runoff is what’s significant to El Dorado Ranch.  Under the mountains are aquifers which are where our water comes from.  The definition of an aquifer is “a rock layer or sequence that contains water and releases it in appreciable amounts”. I don’t know how many aquifers there are under these mountains, but there is more than one, and the water from these is piped to El Dorado.  On the other side of the Sea of Cortez, there is an aquifer but all along the coast, from Rocky Point to San Carlos, people have had to dig wells for years.  Rocky Point is moving towards putting in a de-salinization plant.  We already know these plants use a lot of electricity and create a toxic sludge. 

At El Dorado, we have enough water to last for as long as we can anticipate.  So what does this do to the value of our real estate?  Well think about it: wells on the east side of the sea, aquifers on the west side; de-salinization plant on the east side, aquifers on the west; filtered salt water on the east side, fresh water on the west.  If you’re considering getting in on the expected explosion around the Sea of Cortez, El Dorado Ranch’s water source alone puts us way above other locations when it comes to the best value for the dollar.

We tend to promote the fact that El Dorado Ranch is located on the Sea of Cortez and that every lot has a view of the water.  What’s just as lovely is the mountain range behind us, the Sierra San Pedro de Martir Mountains.  Being the tallest range on the Baja, it is home to Picacho del Diablo which stands at 3100 meters or 10,153 feet.  What surprises many people about this range is the variety of animal life that calls this area home.  In the  fresh water streams, one can fish for Nelson’s rainbow trout.  There is a variety of mammals including bighorn sheep, mule deer, and cougars.  This is also a release site for the California Condor.  Recently, there was a report of the condors reproducing in the wild for the first time in many years here.  One may wonder why they picked the Baja.  We think we know, even the condors know good real estate when they see it!!

If flowers are more to your liking, the meadows can become a botanist’s paradise, sometimes white with Meling’s Linanthus and other times pink with lpomopsis, and all of this interspersed with a variety of less abundant colorful species.

To those who come to El Dorado, the mountains behind the ranch finish off the incredible 360 degree view of beautiful country surrounding a community that is being built to last so the following generations will be able to enjoy what we see today.