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 connected to Facebook - and who are also fans of El Dorado Ranch - there is a Facebook fan page just for you. There are only 29 members on there at the moment - I rather suspect that reflects the the numbers of El Dorado Ranchers on Facebook rather than the number of El Dorado Ranch fans! Also, rather disappointingly, it is just a fan page. There are a few photos but it has no real information on there about the El Dorado Ranch project, or even any website links. The powers that be at El Dorado Ranch should seriously consider starting a Group page on Facebook for El Dorado Ranch - it would allow more conversation and interaction between members, and between members and El Dorado Ranch staff. Not only would it be a much better way to promote the project but it would also be a great source of insider knowledge for people looking at moving or retiring there. Just a thought.

If you really want to get a feel of just what life would be like if you were to retire down to San Felipe - maybe you like the idea but are still a bit on the fence  - you may want to read about Kathy’s experience at http://sanfelipetalk.com. She has lived  at El Dorado Ranch for just over six years now and has just started to write about that experience in her own blog, which started in May. It covers a mix of local news and happenings and her own personal insights, and will certainly give you a good flavor of what life is like there. I very much look forward to seeing how her blog progresses - for my part, I would like to see a few more pictures on the site but, in the meantime , here is one of mine - a picture of one of the houses located near the golf course that I took on my first trip down there. Not bad eh?

Ah ha! Well, I may not have had much luck in terms of videos of El Dorado Ranch (see previous post), but I did discover in my searches that there is a Flickr Group for people to upload their pictures of El Dorado Ranch.  We always try to include pictures of both El Dorado and the surrounding area on our blog, but for anyone thinking of going to take a look for themselves, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have an additional source - it all helps to get an idea of the place. And, although photos can’t really do justice to this little slice of heaven, it at least gives enough idea in helping to decide whether it is worth the trip (Hint: it is!).

I include one of the pictures from the site just to give you an idea of some of the great properties to be seen there (with thanks to jcozens).

The El Dorado Ranch Flickr site can be seen by clicking here.

I have noticed that one thing that is severely lacking when it comes to information about El Dorado Ranch is video. I have searched YouTube a few times hoping to find something that really shows off the the beauty of the location and the extent of its wonderful facilities, but there is really nothing out there that fits the bill. However, I was checking out the blueroadrunner.com website to see what was new and they have a whole new section dedicated to videos of San Felipe and the surrounding area -
http://blueroadrunner.com/sfvideos.htm - many of which have been gleened from YouTube, but it is very useful to have a single resource where you can find all these videos in one place - well done Blueroadrunner! In saying that though, there are still no videos of El Dorado Ranch itself. I am sure that a few home-grown videos of the place would be of enormous value to anyone contemplating going on one of the regular El Dorado Ranch tours (read about our experience here). So if anyone is planning on making the trip and wants to take some video, or who knows of such a video and can send us the link, we would love to show it on our blog!

I have been asked about camping in the San Felipe area. Due to the construction of developments such as El Dorado Ranch and others, camp grounds and RV parks have been disappearing over the years. However, right in San Felipe, there is a campground
just south of the Malecon, next to Bandidos bar and restaurant. Called Campo San Felipe, it doesn’t have an office to pull up to, and I was not able to find a phone number or web site. There is a woman who is available around the grounds and all one has to do is pay her $30/night for a place right on the beach, or $25 just off the beach and they can stay as long as they like. There is a bathroom and shower on the premises and it appears to be clean.

Most of the spots have a shaded picnic table and there are trash cans around for waste. I didn’t get a count of the number of sites available but the day we checked it out (weekday) there were plenty of sites available and this was in April when the temperature is ideal.
The Malecon is only a block away and can be accessed by beach. Once people are settled in the campground, there is no need for a car to get around town. San Felipe has a wonderful Malecon that runs several blocks along the beach and there are many restaurants and shopping within easy walking distance.
For those looking to rent a house or condo, there are many available at El Dorado Ranch which is just 7 miles north of town. People who rent here have access to the pool, tennis courts, private beach and the golf course.

In spite of the media coverage, those of us who travel back and forth to the area realize that Mexico, and particularly the area around San Felipe area, continues to be a gentle and quiet area with no shortage of outdoor things to do.

Now that the (non) flu crisis seems to be over in Mexico - the U.S. government lifted its travel warning on 15th May - get ready to take advantage of some bargain Mexico vacation deals!  According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle virtually none of the popular Mexican tourist destinations like “Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit, Los Cabos, Mazatlán and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo” had a single confirmed case of the H1N1 flu virus. Nevertheless, the effect on Mexico’s tourism industry has been devastating. As such, President Felipe Calderon has a big $1.3 billion stimulus plan to help Mexico’s tourist industry to get back on its feet.  This is likely to mean that there could be no better time to visit Mexico than now - there are likely to be plenty of bargains to be had, both in terms of accommodation and flights.

If have been reading our blog and you like what you see and hear about El Dorado Ranch and San Felipe, there may be no better time than now to visit the area.  There are many private houses for rent at El Dorado Ranch as well as hotels in nearby San Felipe.  Nancy always has weekend trips to view the El Dorado Ranch project  and is happy to be contacted for details - but don’t think about it for too long, places tend to fill up quickly!

As I have said before in another post on straw-bale building, one of the attractions of retiring to El Dorado Ranch, near San Felipe in Baja, is the fact that the building of your own house, especially incorporating environmentally-friendly, energy-saving building techniques and features, is actively encouraged.

I was leafing through the first issue of the Building in Baja Newsletter and found a very interesting article on building with Bamboo.  It turns out that Bamboo forests actually soak up 17 times more carbon in their growth than does a tree forest!  Just imagine what could be done in terms of mitigating against the excess carbon problem if Bamboo became a universal material for building! My own plans had been aiming at a timber and straw-bale structure, but now I am inspired to look into the possibilities of incorporating Bamboo into the structure - perhaps in place of some or the timber framework. I need to do a bit more research on that, but it if I can encourage others to look at this awesome building material then I am happy to do so.  The Building in Baja article contains a list of websites where further information about Bamboo.  I encourage you to at least check out  www.deboerarchitects.com/BambooThoughts.html and www.bambooliving.com. Great stuff!