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Showing posts from 2008
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Christmas for Kids in Loreto, Mexico This has been a difficult year for everyone, everywhere, and yet people pulled together and dug a little deeper to give gifts to the children of Loreto. There were many toy drives and groups that volunteered their time and efforts for the general good of all local families. Jim and Liz of FN383 Villages of Loreto Bay stepped up and raised money at the Golf Course among Nopolo residents for the Loreto Municipal Children’s Party . They drove to La Paz to shop for gifts with the money raised. Jim and Liz, (and Jeanny from BajaBOSS) are shown presenting over 100 small gifts to Yolanda, who now works at DEF which assists families in need. Thanks to all the Loreto Bay homeowners who left toys with me during the last several weeks. All gifts went to Yolanda to wrap and distribute as appropriate. She assured me that all gifts were going to families in need, and there is much need in Loreto this year. We attended the celebration on December 24, 2008,...
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Dorado, Dorado, Dorado! This week on Fishing Ventures , Ronnie Kovach is fishing out of Loreto, Mexico for the Annual Loreto DORADO Tournament . Loreto is considered by many to be the Dorado capital of the world. And it is! But there is a lot more to this quaint, colonial town on the Sea of Cortez. This week’s episode of Fishing Ventures is entitled “Dorado! Dorado! Dorado!.” And you don’t want to miss it. Angler educator, Ronnie Kovach, and friends team up to catch an abundance of huge Sailfish and Dorado!. Awesome fishing and a very exciting episode of Fishing Ventures. It will air Sunday, November 23 at 9:30 A.M. and Tuesday, November 25 at 2:30 P.M. PST on FOX Sports West. Don’t miss this exciting episode of Fishing Ventures on FSN West. For more information visit: http://www.fishingexpeditions.com/html/dorado_dorado_dorado.html
Local News on Loreto, Mexico Perhaps I miss my creative outlet, or perhaps I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends that will be traveling next week. It is nice to have the blog to drop in and say hello when I get a thoughtful moment. The last year has taken its toll on me living la vida loca ; however, in my humble opinion I feel that we have hit bottom … or at least close to it. The global economic crisis has had its major affect on tourism, fishing, restaurants, bars, real estate and all businesses that boom from the domino affect of a thriving destination. There have been many layoffs and sad goodbyes to Mexicans and Americans that came to pioneer this Baja frontier. Real Estate has not been this low since 2005 and list prices have dropped 25% or more with motivated sellers. Since most land owners in Loreto are mortgage free and there is little credit, I do not foresee things going down much more. This means that the next several months will be a premier buy...
Goodbye Hurricane Norbert in Loreto Hurricane Norbert came and went without much ado in Loreto. There was tremendous excitement, some panic and a lot of nonchalance about the upcoming storm. Residents of Loreto prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. There was good probability that the Sierra Giganta Mts. would stop hurricane winds in their tracks and dissipate the torrential rains in their wake. This is exactly what happened in Loreto. We had 4 to 6 inches of rain and strong winds; power went out around 5 pm giving everyone in town enough daylight to prepare and get to safety for the evening. In all honesty it felt like a typical day in the Pacific Northwest … except the rain and wind was wonderfully warm and refreshing. The roads and airports are open and tomorrow will be back to business as usual. Hopefully, this is the last tropical storm of the season. The oppressive humidity levels of 90% in the last couple of weeks have broken with the storm, and it is a refreshi...
A Time of Transition … “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Alexander Graham Bell This is a time of great transition and awakening for many of us. Everyone in the world is watching the USA and how it handles this economic crisis. In recent weeks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship, the federal government bailed out AIG, Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The credit market appeared to be on the verge of collapsing and the presidential race is turning normally apathetic citizens into strong opinionated voters who need to make a difference. Here in Loreto, a small innocuous little town located on the Sea of Cortez, in Baja California life goes on. The Mexicans have a saying that “When the US gets an economic cold, Mexico gets pneumonia”. The peso is strong and stable but we are affected by the d...
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Tropical Depression Lowell has little affect in Loreto Loreto spent much of the week preparing for Storm Lowell which was anticipated to hit Loreto late Wednesday night dumping even more rain than Hurricane Julio, which we have just dried out from. Tuesday Loreto Bay was securing homes, sending out notices to batten down the hatches, stores and offices downtown were protecting their equipment and supplies from leaky ceilings and water seepage. The skies were grey and the barometer felt strangely oppressive for this desert town. Tuesday morning we had some lightening and thunder followed by a few inches of rain in the afternoon. The Port Captain ordered all boats out of the downtown Marina and airports were on standby alert for possible closure. The streets were deserted while everyone huddled at home waiting and watching. Wednesday morning I had Capt. Chino call me at 5 am with a weather report … the storm was a couple of hundred miles away, the water was like glass, there was lit...
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Summer Fun Still Going Strong in Loreto It is 93 degrees with 67% humidity and feels like 110 F. We have now cleaned up from Hurricane Julio which dropped our year’s quota of 8 inches of rain on Loreto. No real damage but a lot of water, dirt and mess to clean up. The hillsides and fields are beautifully lush and the cows are quickly fattening up from the green pastures. My camera has given up after 2 years of blogging … so hopefully I will be able to replace it soon and show you the wonderful sights of this magical place. In the meantime, I will share with you the great times that we had on the water this summer aboard REEL TROUBLE. Capt. Chino and I have worked very hard to make sure this is MORE than a fishing trip and we will organize your day to make it memorable for your whole group experience. These are my friends from Calgary, AB … girls just wanna have fun ! FUN means “ You’re the boss !” Whether it’s to chase the sailfish / marlin, catch your limit of Dorado, swim wi...
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Livin' Large In Loreto Find out more information on Fishing in Loreto, B.C.S., Mexico. Ronnie Kovach's Fishing Expeditions Show this week is Livin' Large in Loreto . It will be telecast on FSN West on Sunday Sept 7 at 9:30 am and Tuesday Sept 9 at 2:30 pm PST. Check Out the First Annual Dorado Tournament put on by the Loreto Hotel Association on the website: http://www.fishingexpeditions.com/html/livin__large_in_loreto.html Join the tournament and meet Ronnie Kovach in Loreto! email info@doradoloreto.com for more information See you in Loreto!
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Happy Labor Day - Back to Business; Back to Reality Labor Day is an annual holiday all over the world to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. The majority of countries, including Mexico, celebrate Labor Day on May 1 and it is popularly known as International Workers’ Day. In the USA and Canada this national holiday is over 100 years old and celebrated on the first Monday in September. Over the years it has evolved from a purely labor union celebration into a general “last fling of summer” festival. What a great summer it has been. I spent 6 weeks in Southern California and Scottsdale doing absolutely nothing. I made no plans, had no agendas or objectives, did not multitask and only checked my messages every few days. I caught up on two years of sleep, read mindless fiction and watched TV for days on end. My only important decisions were what delectable food I would enjoy that is never available in Loreto. Mexican food and tequila never touched my lips. I sp...
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Loreto Nursery School Director and Motorized Kayaks I wanted to share with you the great news of our friend Yolanda. She is now the Director of the only Nursery School in Loreto, and oversees staff responsible for 100 children from babies to 5 year olds. The staff and children love and respect her, and we are so happy for her success. Thank you to all our friends that contributed to her family and gave her the confidence to take on this high level position. Animalandia is a rapidly growing organization in Loreto. Although I do not know first hand much about their activities, Jane Lurie filmed this fundraising video for Animalandia on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E6K6h1TxSY This week we had a traditional clam bake in the sand complete with roaring fire in 90 degree heat at the old Whales Inn site, across the street from the tennis center in Nopolo. Jim Spano and Darryl Jones are major investors in Loreto, along with realtor Javier Mercado and I are toasting great da...
Livin' Large In Loreto - Fishing Ventures Show This week on FOX Sports West , Ronnie Kovach's Fishing Ventures show will be dedicated to Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico. It will be shown on FSN West 9:30 A.M., Sunday, June 29 AND 2:30 P.M., Tuesday July 1. Check out this link for more information: http://www.fishingexpeditions.com/html/viva_loreto.html Don't forget our Dorado Loreto Fishing Tournament September 19 and 20, 2008. $30,000 USD in cash prizes and $10,000 USD in raffle prizes. For more info go to www.GoToLoreto.com or email info@doradoloreto.com Have a great week!
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Life in Loreto, Community Spirt, then and now… In a few months, it will have been five years since I first came to Loreto. It was a regular vacation trip to a sun destination for a few days and I had no expectation that it would be anything more than some fun days of sun, drinking and a lot of laughs. Perhaps it was my subconscious that was seeking something more meaningful, perhaps I wanted to explore and take on a new challenge, and perhaps I was just simply ready for a change. In any event, I went with my gut feeling, listened to my inner child, and took a leap of faith and bought into the vision that Loreto Bay was offering. A promise of community, of truly genuinely nice people, who did not intend to change the world, only to make a difference to where and how they live. The developer was in the business to sell homes, but their hook was to “ tread lightly, live fully ”. This was targeted at the environment, the local town, and our new community. I found the simple pleasure...