Where In The World Is Nellie?

Driving from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas. They are paving the road from La Paz to Cabo and making 4 lanes. This will make the entire area more appealing and I would expect to see a lot of development between these two areas in the next few years. These are some of the opportunities I am exploring and it’s very exciting. My favorite spot is Todo Santos, which is between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific side. It’s a little town with a population of 2000 inhabitants, art galleries and crafts, the famous Hotel California, and the very best restaurant in all of the Baja according to travel magazines. People drive from all over to visit the Santa Fe Restaurant in Todo Santos with Italian cuisine. Go figure?! This little town has an amazing amount to offer for a weekend get-a-way out of the big city of Loreto. On the drive back from Cabo to La Paz I had lots of time and decided to explore Hwy 1 on the East Cape. Although on a map the distance looks shorted than taking the Paci...

Beware Animal Crossing! Today I drove from Loreto to Cabo to explore business development. It’s a good 6 hour drive and today was especially slow with all the animals grazing at the side of the road. I didn’t mind at all because two weeks ago when I made this trip, it almost broke my heart to see how starved the cattle were. There was just skin hanging off the carcass and I prayed for rain to give them food. We have only had a few inches in the last week, but what a difference it has made. The mountains are full of greenery and the cows, donkeys, horses and goats are happily eating, roaming and lazing about as we all should. Driving on the Baja you learn many new things. When a truck puts on their left signal, it could be signaling you to pass, or if in a small town, it could mean they are actually turning left. It’s a gamble, but using common sense normally prevails. Hazard lights are regularly used to warn oncoming traffic of animals on the road and you learn to respect the sp...

It’s Saturday flea market in Loreto and we struck Vegetable Gold! We were thrilled to see romaine lettuce, green beans, broccoli, and the mangos, papayas, peaches, bananas and nectarines. They were like sugarplums dancing in our heads. We stocked up as much as we could carry. Meanwhile, I was planning all the delicious healthy meals that I could make to share with my friends in the next few days. We met Lynn and Sharon, more Founders who arrived a few days ago to move into their new home. Unfortunately, their furniture is still in transit and could take 2 or 3 weeks more because of customs. Their spirits are high and they are happy to be in Loreto camping out in their finished home. Every week someone is arriving to take up permanent residence in this construction zone. It seems exciting to us, but I’m sure the Mexicans think we are crazy to be living in such conditions. I know my mother certainly believes I am, and she is always right. Sunday was Janet’s birthday, so Mick, Joyce and I...

Furniture Shopping Trip! Deedrie and I met up with Jan, Charlee and Terry, in Guadalajara for a crazy shopping trip. We arrived and were met by Luis, our personal driver and translator for the 5 days. Luis works exclusively for Casa de las Flores clients, and my favorite place B&B place to stay in Tlaquepaque. The B&B is an oasis escape among the dusty streets, stores and galleries. You can get more information at www.casadelasflores.com or email them at info@casadelasflores.com Ask for the “Friends of Nellie Rate” when booking. Our arrival on Sunday night was an unexpected treat as we were able to partake in the town square festivities. All the families were out strolling, eating snacks from the street vendors and browsing through all the kiosks set up. We had a “corn cocktail” which was a cup of grilled white corn, shaved into a cup mixed with cheese, lime, salt. There were fresh made potato chips in bags topped with a variety of picantes and spices. We were espec...

We have had a very busy 2 days visiting the new furniture store in town; the Earth block center; Puerto Escondido; the local stores; and Saturday flea market; as well as enjoying the local restaurants. Deedrie’s highlight was visiting the Agricultural Farm of Ecoscapes. They have come such a long way and it was surprising to see the large expanse of green grass being mowed in the middle of the desert. The rows and rows of lush plants and trees was exciting to see, and we got to thinking of all the different pots that we would need for our rooftop patio. We spent several lazy afternoons at the beach cooling off from the 100 degree temperatures. While I was happy relaxing under a palaypa, Deedrie came up with the great idea of taking her lounge chair into the water and we whiled away many hours immersed at the shore's edge. Peter Spillette from Victoria joined us for a while, and experienced the flying fish jumping literally all around us. Peter thought they were under him, an...

My friends are starting to arrive and I’m very excited to see familiar faces. Janet Rubenstein is a sales associate with Loreto Bay and now living here full time. We went for dinner last night and had a few margaritas at the Posada. Still the best in town! On our way home, we’re going down the highway in the usual fast pace and a Mama Horse and baby just galloped across the highway in front of us. Luckily we saw movement and hit the breaks fast enough to avoid any collision. It would have been heartbreaking to have hit them, and not so good for us either! They were beautiful animals, not the typical skinny lazy cows that come too close to the highway to graze. It is true that everyday something happens here a little out of the ordinary. I was very happy to see my good friend Glen Mickowski arrive to inspect Lot 300. He is one of the very lucky few that have a commercial space in the bottom of his Casa Alta, since he was a very early buyer. We had coffee and he told me about ...

We sustained 10 hours of shopping and 2 hours of driving from La Paz to Cabo, on one Costco hot dog! Having Zero Expectations is really the way to go!! I walked into Dorian’s store which is similar to Sears on a smaller scale and I was absolutely shell shocked. There were fluorescent lights, air conditioning, racks and racks of clothing and accessories … even Perfume and Cosmetic counters. Where was I??? Certainly not in Loreto! Arriving in Cabo, we decided to case out Home Depot. This is where Donella was speechless! Everything that you would expect is there, with lots of variety and comparable pricing to the USA. I wanted to build a house just to have an excuse to keep coming back. Then off to the Plaza Pariso mall and it was heaven. There were marble floors, high ceilings, window displays in glass retail units, food fair, cinemas, good wine store, Harley Davidson shop, Hard Rock café, Sushi, Italian coffee, and a variety of art galleries and jewelry. We spent 3 hours jus...