I Want To Be In Baja

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!

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!

I saw the following comment on the El Dorado Ranch Yahoo Group the other day and couldn’t help chuckling at the ironic comment from one of the residents which highlights the utter ridiculousness of the recent scare stories in the American Press about Mexico -

“I was just watching the news. In the U.S. last night several Police officers were shot and killed. If you value your life and the safety of your family you will not visit the U.S. It is very unsafe there”.

Is America descending into a failed state!!!!! With the number of shootings in the news recently you would be forgiven for thinking so. But no-one would seriously believe such a story.  However, such was the hysterical rubbish being put out about Mexico very recently. Don’t believe any of it. In fact it just serves to question the validity of any news put out by the mainstream American press. Get your news from a more reliable source, like the BBC World Service.

In a piece of good news, it seems that El Dorado Ranch developer, Pat Butler, is confident enough in Mexico’s stability that he is investing further funding into both El Dorado Ranch and another project in Mazatlan -  see http://www.homesgofast.com/view_news/1428/ 

“We really feel once the economy turns around there will be a pent up demand from the baby boomers,” said Butler, who was quoted in the New York Times. 

Yep - that certainly includes me. And the American Press is certainly penting up my demand to to go build my house down in Baja.  Idiots!

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!