BajaNomad - A new day dawns in sleepy Loreto

A new day dawns in sleepy Loreto

BajaNews - 12-28-2005 at 06:35 PM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20051228-9999-1n28...

Big development plans in Baja town are raising many questions

By Sandra Dibble
December 28, 2005

LORETO, Mexico ? With its rugged mountains, uninhabited islands and vast marine park, this seaside town of 15,000 people offers some of the most dramatic scenery on Baja California ? above water and below. Yet for years, tourists and developers have largely overlooked Loreto and headed to the peninsula's booming southern end.

Now slow-paced Loreto has been discovered. Flocks of U.S. and Canadian tourists fly down to inspect their future vacation homes. Workers from Mexico's interior arrive in search of jobs. Mexican government planners envision a rapidly increasing population, and academics on both sides of the border question the implications of such growth.

A fierce debate flares over the future of Loreto, located on the Gulf of California and in a desert region with scarce water resources and few job opportunities. The debate is likely to spread as stretches of sparsely populated coastline that were long off-limits to development are increasingly up for sale.

"The things that are going on in Loreto are the same that are going up and down Baja California," said Robert Faris, a development economist from Harvard University who has studied the town. "The demand for housing by North Americans is going to set off a remarkable change in land-use practices in Baja."

In Loreto, many questions loom: Is there enough water to support large-scale growth? How can Loreto grow without destroying its most precious resources ? the wealth of its sea life, its rich cultural and historic legacy, the small-town tranquillity? Who should benefit from growth?

Loreto's residents still wake up to crowing roosters and barking dogs. Afternoon winds blowing in from Loreto Bay rustle through palm trees, and on Saturday nights, couples and young families promenade up and down the small sea wall, or malec?n. But for many here, sweeping vistas and sleepy charms go only so far.

"Loreto is a small town, very pretty, the prettiest in Baja California Sur," said Mayor Rodolfo Davis. "But today, if somebody has a heart problem, they have to pay a fortune to fly to La Paz. Those who can't afford it take a four-hour ambulance ride, and some end up dying before they've gone 100 kilometers."

The future of a community this size rarely resonates much beyond its boundaries, but Loreto's potential as a major tourist destination has brought some unusual attention. Civic and business groups such as Loreto 2025, the Loreto Hotel Owners Association and the Grupo Ecologista Antares are increasingly speaking out as the city government prepares to make some key decisions on the town's future.

The issues have come into sharp focus as Loreto for the first time considers a master plan regulating growth. Since it was incorporated in 1991, the town has not had a such plan or the resources to pay for one. Fonatur, Mexico's tourism development agency, stepped in, hiring a consultant to write a plan that by 2025 envisions 13,000 rooms ? in hotels, time-shares, condominiums and condo-hotels ? and 126,000 full-time residents.

"This would be huge growth," said Paul Ganster, head of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at San Diego State University. The plan "looks very much like Cancun or Los Cabos, which strings out development along the coast."

Victor Castorena, an economist and Loreto native in charge of an advisory committee evaluating the Fonatur-sponsored plan, is a staunch supporter of growth.

"Loreto needs to grow, Mexico needs to grow," he said. "Young people from Loreto leave to study, and they don't come back because there are no jobs."

The committee's final recommendation is expected early next year, but the final decision will be taken by the city council.

To the north, along the U.S. border, the coastal corridor between Tijuana and Ensenada is booming with developments aimed at U.S. tourists. About 300 miles south of Loreto, at Los Cabos, upscale resorts have brought unprecedented economic growth ? but also strings of unplanned shantytowns.

By contrast, Loreto has been relatively untouched, and one common explanation is that the region's typically grayish, rocky beaches cannot compete with Los Cabos' broad stretches of soft white sand. Loreto's appeal in recent years has been more for sport fishermen, divers and snorkelers and eco-tourists drawn by the Loreto Bay National Park, the largest marine protected area in Mexico.

Some would just as soon keep it that way. Among them Rodolfo Palacios, a diver who runs Loreto's Budget Rent-a-Car agency. He moved here from Los Cabos 14 years ago.

"We're all friends, we all know each other, we know our friends' children, that's what I love about Loreto," said Palacios, a member of Loreto 2025, which is seeking to cap growth at 60,000 people. "Tourists and locals share the same beaches. You don't have the servility that you see in Cabo San Lucas, that the beaches are for tourists and no one else."

Magnet for Americans

The catalyst for change has been the arrival three years ago of an Arizona-based developer who is planning 6,000 homes, the Villages of Loreto Bay, south of town in the community of Nopol?. The market base is made up primarily of U.S. and Canadian tourists interested in purchasing second homes. More than 500 have bought, and the units are under construction. Those not ready to live here full time can place their units in a rental pool managed by the developer.

As elsewhere on the peninsula, a major issue in Loreto is water. The last study by Mexico's National Water Commission is almost 20 years old, and new numbers won't be available until the commission undertakes a study next year.

But even with water conservation and steps to channel more rainfall into aquifers, "we are very aware that this quantity of water is not enough for 125,000 residents," said Roberto Senci?n, an official in the water commission's groundwater division in Mexico City. "Desalination will have to be the next option."

A study commissioned by the San Diego-based International Community Foundation echoes that assessment, stating that desalination is "the only apparent option" if the town is to grow beyond 30,000 people.

But desalination could lead to "potential damage to marine ecosystems," and requires large investments in electric power. The potential for power failures make desalination a risky primary source of water, said Thomas Maddock, a hydrologist from the University of Arizona who looked at Loreto's water supply as part of the study.

Released last month, the $321,000 Loreto Alternative Futures Study also considers social and economic questions. The study looks at 25 alternative futures for Loreto, examining five population growth scenarios ? from 30,000 to 240,000 by 2025 under five different planning approaches. The report's authors include scholars from Harvard, University of Arizona, SDSU and the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur.

The study "forces people in a community like Loreto to start asking tough questions about water today, before they run out," said foundation president Richard Kiy. "What plays out in Loreto is going to be the tip of the iceberg."

Founded in 1697 as a Jesuit mission, Loreto served for more than a century as the Spanish colonial capital of the Californias. Through much of the 20th century, it was a sleepy fishing village, emerging as a tourist destination with the opening of the transpeninsular highway in 1973.

Mexico's tourism development agency, Fonatur, began focusing on Loreto during the 1970s. The agency identified Loreto as a potential center with major tourism potential ? along with Cancun, Ixtapa, Huatulco and San Jos? del Cabo.

Beginning in the late 1970s, the agency invested about $200 million in Loreto. It paved roads, built a recreational port, developed drinking water and sewage treatment systems, expanded the airport. But a key private investor went bankrupt, and major developers headed to Los Cabos, leaving ghostly streets and shells of buildings. It wasn't until nearly two decades later, under President Vicente Fox, that Fonatur renewed its interest in Loreto.

Deep involvement

To this day, the agency runs Loreto's main aqueduct, operates the sewage treatment system and owns 12 square kilometers of prime beachfront property. With development now taking off, the agency's involvement is getting stronger.
"If you wanted to know what this would be like without Fonatur, go and look at the small towns up and down the peninsula," said Peter Maxwell, Fonatur's man in Loreto. But critics point to Fonatur projects such as Los Cabos and Cancun, where social and environmental problems have marred the resorts' economic success.

Just south of Loreto at Puerto Escondido, Fonatur is putting the finishing touches on an anchorage and marina that will be the centerpiece of the Proyecto Mar de Cort?s, a plan to draw boaters to the region through 28 linked ports. Maxwell said Fonatur is also negotiating with developers for two projects that could add as many as 14,000 more units.

"I think the whole Baja California peninsula is the new megadestination for Mexico," Maxwell said. "Because of the beauty of the area, the weather. It's so close to the States, and the prices are still very reasonable. Here the whole challenge is how we get the best of tourism without the worst of tourism."

Loreto Bay Co., the Scottsdale, Ariz., developer that signed an agreement with Fonatur three years ago, promises the best of tourism. The company chairman says its walkable beach-side communities at Nopol? will be environmentally friendly. Units range from $225,000 to more than $2 million.

"There is smart growth, and there is dumb growth," said Loreto Bay chairman David Butterfield. "If it's done responsibly, ecologically, with care about social impacts, that's a completely different scenario than if it's done like Los Cabos."

The company has set up the Loreto Bay Foundation, pledging 1 percent of its sales for conservation of the marine park and economic development in Loreto, and have disbursed $64,350. The developers have taken care to restore native habitats, work closely with archaeology authorities and recycle construction waste, and are developing a wind energy project. They have committed $800,000 to help build a hospital in Loreto.

Butterfield said his development's goal is to "provide more potable water than we consume" through desalination or replenishing programs for aquifers. But the company does not yet have a desalination project, and for now is getting water like everybody else ? drawing from the aquifer.

As growing numbers invest in new homes, uncomfortable economic disparities have surfaced: Many workers brought up by contractors from other parts of Mexico to build Loreto Bay are packed into makeshift dormitories with few sanitary facilities. Some have begun complaining publicly that they were lured with false assurances of high pay, only to be disappointed.

"They told us we'd get 3,000 pesos (about $285) a week, but they're paying less than 1,500 ($141)," said Constanto Reyes, who traveled with his two sons from Mexico City. As a skilled laborer, Reyes said he can earn close to $130 a week when he can find work in Mexico City.

Yvo Arias, a Loreto-born architect and member of the master plan advisory committee, says those who oppose growth are wrong ? but he also opposes the current proposal, saying the main beneficiary of the proposed land use changes is Fonatur itself.

"What they've done is design a suit that fits Fonatur and the Villages of Loreto Bay," said Arias. "Why just them? Why don't they give the rest of us a chance to grow?"

Stop some Loreto residents and it's unlikely they have even heard about the master plan. But they will have an opinion about what the town needs. Jobs, said Mario Castro Mart?nez, 24, diving for clams on a Sunday morning. A bigger marina, said Joel Davis Meza, 55, a fisherman. Paved streets and sewers, said housewife Imelda Avila Arce, 27, from the front stoop of her house in Colonia Miramar, a semi-developed shantytown.

On a warm November afternoon, two guests swung from hammocks at the Hotel Oasis, engrossed in their English-language novels. Yards away, owner Pascal Pellegrini, a native of Italy who married a Loretana, sipped coffee and considered the future for his adopted hometown.

"Growth is necessary, we've been blocked for 30 years, and we now have a grand and historic opportunity before us," Pellegrini said. "But this growth has to benefit the people of Loreto."

Loreto

tehag - 12-28-2005 at 07:48 PM

This article was on the front page of San Diego's daily newspaper today. Puff pieces have been in the travel sections of lots of papers for a while now, but this is a step up journalistically, both in where it appeared and how/by whom it is written. There have been similar pieces in the WSJ, the CSM, and America Today. This kind of exposure both reflects and stimulates public interest. The name Loreto is fast becoming VERY well known. The secret's pretty much out. The jig's up. For better or worse, the future is upon us.

The study itself

djh - 12-28-2005 at 08:20 PM

Hi Noman friends,

If you'd like to read the study itself:

http://www.futurosalternativosloreto.org/report/index.htm

Happy New Year ! !

djh.

Bruce R Leech - 12-28-2005 at 09:19 PM

Ok

Skeet/Loreto - 12-29-2005 at 05:18 AM

A very well written Article and study!

Besides Water being a future Problem, the reference to the Lack of medical service is and always has been, due to Politics , a sad state of affairs for Loreto and its People.

Skeet/Loreto.

wilderone - 12-29-2005 at 10:09 AM

This is part of the study that I found compelling. Despite the gringo assumptions that Loretanos are wanting the green grass on the other side of the fence, so to speak, that is not true.

"Loretanos say that they enjoy a relatively high quality of life. Despite the lack of greater employment opportunities and local services such as a hospital, public transportation, and large retail stores, most people in Loreto report satisfaction with the quality of life in the community (Carrilio and Ganster 2006). Loretanos have a sense of their historical past and value it. The strong community feelings are reflected in high rates of political participation. Loretanos share many cultural and social values and the community displays significant internal cohesion.

Loreto?s population grew at an average annual rate of 3.9% (doubling time of 18 years) during the decade of the 1990s and the community was able to retain its traditional social values. In conversations and interviews, people from the community express concerns that this sense of community and shared culture might be lost in the event of rapid population growth associated with high economic growth in the future. Annual growth rates similar to those experienced by Los Cabos in the 1990s (over 9% per year, doubling time of about 6 years) would bring new perspectives and values to Loreto and would likely overwhelm traditional social cohesiveness and sense of community."

Big development plans in Baja town are raising many questions

flyfishinPam - 12-29-2005 at 04:17 PM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20051228-9999-1n28...

Big development plans in Baja town are raising many questions
By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 28, 2005

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
A tranquil evening found Loreto native Juan Rubio Higuera on the town's waterfront. Long a quiet outpost, Loreto is poised for major changes as developers and the Mexican government promote the region as a tourism center.
LORETO, Mexico ? With its rugged mountains, uninhabited islands and vast marine park, this seaside town of 15,000 people offers some of the most dramatic scenery on Baja California ? above water and below. Yet for years, tourists and developers have largely overlooked Loreto and headed to the peninsula's booming southern end.

Now slow-paced Loreto has been discovered. Flocks of U.S. and Canadian tourists fly down to inspect their future vacation homes. Workers from Mexico's interior arrive in search of jobs. Mexican government planners envision a rapidly increasing population, and academics on both sides of the border question the implications of such growth.

A fierce debate flares over the future of Loreto, located on the Gulf of California and in a desert region with scarce water resources and few job opportunities. The debate is likely to spread as stretches of sparsely populated coastline that were long off-limits to development are increasingly up for sale.

"The things that are going on in Loreto are the same that are going up and down Baja California," said Robert Faris, a development economist from Harvard University who has studied the town. "The demand for housing by North Americans is going to set off a remarkable change in land-use practices in Baja."

In Loreto, many questions loom: Is there enough water to support large-scale growth? How can Loreto grow without destroying its most precious resources ? the wealth of its sea life, its rich cultural and historic legacy, the small-town tranquillity? Who should benefit from growth?

Loreto's residents still wake up to crowing roosters and barking dogs. Afternoon winds blowing in from Loreto Bay rustle through palm trees, and on Saturday nights, couples and young families promenade up and down the small sea wall, or malec?n. But for many here, sweeping vistas and sleepy charms go only so far.

"Loreto is a small town, very pretty, the prettiest in Baja California Sur," said Mayor Rodolfo Davis. "But today, if somebody has a heart problem, they have to pay a fortune to fly to La Paz. Those who can't afford it take a four-hour ambulance ride, and some end up dying before they've gone 100 kilometers."

The future of a community this size rarely resonates much beyond its boundaries, but Loreto's potential as a major tourist destination has brought some unusual attention. Civic and business groups such as Loreto 2025, the Loreto Hotel Owners Association and the Grupo Ecologista Antares are increasingly speaking out as the city government prepares to make some key decisions on the town's future.

The issues have come into sharp focus as Loreto for the first time considers a master plan regulating growth. Since it was incorporated in 1991, the town has not had a such plan or the resources to pay for one. Fonatur, Mexico's tourism development agency, stepped in, hiring a consultant to write a plan that by 2025 envisions 13,000 rooms ? in hotels, time-shares, condominiums and condo-hotels ? and 126,000 full-time residents.

"This would be huge growth," said Paul Ganster, head of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at San Diego State University. The plan "looks very much like Cancun or Los Cabos, which strings out development along the coast."

Victor Castorena, an economist and Loreto native in charge of an advisory committee evaluating the Fonatur-sponsored plan, is a staunch supporter of growth.

"Loreto needs to grow, Mexico needs to grow," he said. "Young people from Loreto leave to study, and they don't come back because there are no jobs."

The committee's final recommendation is expected early next year, but the final decision will be taken by the city council.

To the north, along the U.S. border, the coastal corridor between Tijuana and Ensenada is booming with developments aimed at U.S. tourists. About 300 miles south of Loreto, at Los Cabos, upscale resorts have brought unprecedented economic growth ? but also strings of unplanned shantytowns.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
A group of U.S. and Canadian purchasers inspected their future homes during a recent weekend presentation in the Villages of Loreto Bay, a planned community that an Arizona-based developer hopes will eventually grow to 6,000 homes south of town.
By contrast, Loreto has been relatively untouched, and one common explanation is that the region's typically grayish, rocky beaches cannot compete with Los Cabos' broad stretches of soft white sand. Loreto's appeal in recent years has been more for sport fishermen, divers and snorkelers and eco-tourists drawn by the Loreto Bay National Park, the largest marine protected area in Mexico.

Some would just as soon keep it that way. Among them Rodolfo Palacios, a diver who runs Loreto's Budget Rent-a-Car agency. He moved here from Los Cabos 14 years ago.

"We're all friends, we all know each other, we know our friends' children, that's what I love about Loreto," said Palacios, a member of Loreto 2025, which is seeking to cap growth at 60,000 people. "Tourists and locals share the same beaches. You don't have the servility that you see in Cabo San Lucas, that the beaches are for tourists and no one else."

Magnet for Americans
The catalyst for change has been the arrival three years ago of an Arizona-based developer who is planning 6,000 homes, the Villages of Loreto Bay, south of town in the community of Nopol?. The market base is made up primarily of U.S. and Canadian tourists interested in purchasing second homes. More than 500 have bought, and the units are under construction. Those not ready to live here full time can place their units in a rental pool managed by the developer.
As elsewhere on the peninsula, a major issue in Loreto is water. The last study by Mexico's National Water Commission is almost 20 years old, and new numbers won't be available until the commission undertakes a study next year.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
Fishermen unloaded the catch of the day near Loreto's town center. Some experts fear poorly planned growth will strain the region's natural resources, but many residents hope development will bring jobs.
But even with water conservation and steps to channel more rainfall into aquifers, "we are very aware that this quantity of water is not enough for 125,000 residents," said Roberto Senci?n, an official in the water commission's groundwater division in Mexico City. "Desalination will have to be the next option."

A study commissioned by the San Diego-based International Community Foundation echoes that assessment, stating that desalination is "the only apparent option" if the town is to grow beyond 30,000 people.

But desalination could lead to "potential damage to marine ecosystems," and requires large investments in electric power. The potential for power failures make desalination a risky primary source of water, said Thomas Maddock, a hydrologist from the University of Arizona who looked at Loreto's water supply as part of the study.

Released last month, the $321,000 Loreto Alternative Futures Study also considers social and economic questions. The study looks at 25 alternative futures for Loreto, examining five population growth scenarios ? from 30,000 to 240,000 by 2025 under five different planning approaches. The report's authors include scholars from Harvard, University of Arizona, SDSU and the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur.

The study "forces people in a community like Loreto to start asking tough questions about water today, before they run out," said foundation president Richard Kiy. "What plays out in Loreto is going to be the tip of the iceberg."

Founded in 1697 as a Jesuit mission, Loreto served for more than a century as the Spanish colonial capital of the Californias. Through much of the 20th century, it was a sleepy fishing village, emerging as a tourist destination with the opening of the transpeninsular highway in 1973.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
"What we need most is drainage," said Imelda Avila Arce, 27, who lives in Colonia Miramar, a working-class Loreto neighborhood rarely visited by tourists. Her husband earns less than $70 a week at his hotel job.
Mexico's tourism development agency, Fonatur, began focusing on Loreto during the 1970s. The agency identified Loreto as a potential center with major tourism potential ? along with Cancun, Ixtapa, Huatulco and San Jos? del Cabo.

Beginning in the late 1970s, the agency invested about $200 million in Loreto. It paved roads, built a recreational port, developed drinking water and sewage treatment systems, expanded the airport. But a key private investor went bankrupt, and major developers headed to Los Cabos, leaving ghostly streets and shells of buildings. It wasn't until nearly two decades later, under President Vicente Fox, that Fonatur renewed its interest in Loreto.

Deep involvement
To this day, the agency runs Loreto's main aqueduct, operates the sewage treatment system and owns 12 square kilometers of prime beachfront property. With development now taking off, the agency's involvement is getting stronger.
"If you wanted to know what this would be like without Fonatur, go and look at the small towns up and down the peninsula," said Peter Maxwell, Fonatur's man in Loreto. But critics point to Fonatur projects such as Los Cabos and Cancun, where social and environmental problems have marred the resorts' economic success.

Just south of Loreto at Puerto Escondido, Fonatur is putting the finishing touches on an anchorage and marina that will be the centerpiece of the Proyecto Mar de Cort?s, a plan to draw boaters to the region through 28 linked ports. Maxwell said Fonatur is also negotiating with developers for two projects that could add as many as 14,000 more units.

"I think the whole Baja California peninsula is the new megadestination for Mexico," Maxwell said. "Because of the beauty of the area, the weather. It's so close to the States, and the prices are still very reasonable. Here the whole challenge is how we get the best of tourism without the worst of tourism."

Loreto Bay Co., the Scottsdale, Ariz., developer that signed an agreement with Fonatur three years ago, promises the best of tourism. The company chairman says its walkable beach-side communities at Nopol? will be environmentally friendly. Units range from $225,000 to more than $2 million.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
Morgan Hill resident Laura Lundy joins daughter-in-law Cynthia Lundy and grandson Maverick in touring the Villages of Loreto Bay. The project draws its water from a local aquifer, but as the region grows, desalination will become crucial.
"There is smart growth, and there is dumb growth," said Loreto Bay chairman David Butterfield. "If it's done responsibly, ecologically, with care about social impacts, that's a completely different scenario than if it's done like Los Cabos."

The company has set up the Loreto Bay Foundation, pledging 1 percent of its sales for conservation of the marine park and economic development in Loreto, and have disbursed $64,350. The developers have taken care to restore native habitats, work closely with archaeology authorities and recycle construction waste, and are developing a wind energy project. They have committed $800,000 to help build a hospital in Loreto.

Butterfield said his development's goal is to "provide more potable water than we consume" through desalination or replenishing programs for aquifers. But the company does not yet have a desalination project, and for now is getting water like everybody else ? drawing from the aquifer.

As growing numbers invest in new homes, uncomfortable economic disparities have surfaced: Many workers brought up by contractors from other parts of Mexico to build Loreto Bay are packed into makeshift dormitories with few sanitary facilities. Some have begun complaining publicly that they were lured with false assurances of high pay, only to be disappointed.

"They told us we'd get 3,000 pesos (about $285) a week, but they're paying less than 1,500 ($141)," said Constanto Reyes, who traveled with his two sons from Mexico City. As a skilled laborer, Reyes said he can earn close to $130 a week when he can find work in Mexico City.

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Yvo Arias, a Loreto-born architect and member of the master plan advisory committee, says those who oppose growth are wrong ? but he also opposes the current proposal, saying the main beneficiary of the proposed land use changes is Fonatur itself.

"What they've done is design a suit that fits Fonatur and the Villages of Loreto Bay," said Arias. "Why just them? Why don't they give the rest of us a chance to grow?"

Stop some Loreto residents and it's unlikely they have even heard about the master plan. But they will have an opinion about what the town needs. Jobs, said Mario Castro Mart?nez, 24, diving for clams on a Sunday morning. A bigger marina, said Joel Davis Meza, 55, a fisherman. Paved streets and sewers, said housewife Imelda Avila Arce, 27, from the front stoop of her house in Colonia Miramar, a semi-developed shantytown.

On a warm November afternoon, two guests swung from hammocks at the Hotel Oasis, engrossed in their English-language novels. Yards away, owner Pascal Pellegrini, a native of Italy who married a Loretana, sipped coffee and considered the future for his adopted hometown.

"Growth is necessary, we've been blocked for 30 years, and we now have a grand and historic opportunity before us," Pellegrini said. "But this growth has to benefit the people of Loreto."

Sorry I didn't realize this was already posted when I posted this!

flyfishinPam - 12-29-2005 at 04:22 PM

Funny how slow some are

Sharksbaja - 12-29-2005 at 05:40 PM

to catch on. :rolleyes:

The destruction of Loreto will be at the hands of few, whether the natives like it or not. Just ask Skeet. THe ironic part is how all these articles and studies actually fuel the feeding frenzy with their exposure and glorified content . .:moon:

OK, so which is it?

Dave - 12-29-2005 at 08:10 PM

Doesn't it strike you as odd that a politically active, cohesive community would approve this project* yet at the same time appear to oppose it?

Quote:

Originally posted by wilderone
This is part of the study that I found compelling. Despite the gringo assumptions that Loretanos are wanting the green grass on the other side of the fence, so to speak, that is not true.

...The strong community feelings are reflected in high rates of political participation. Loretanos share many cultural and social values and the community displays significant internal cohesion...

...In conversations and interviews, people from the community express concerns that this sense of community and shared culture might be lost in the event of rapid population growth associated with high economic growth in the future.

High rates of political participation traditionally means that elected officials share the will of the electorate.

* Building permits are issued at the local level.

ahhh yes, the water...?

djh - 12-29-2005 at 08:46 PM

http://www.futurosalternativosloreto.org/report/report_water...

If you read only one part of the Futuros Alternativos study, this would be the one to read...

Who is it that's always saying "where is the water going to come from and who is going to pay...?"

Happy New Year!

djh

Anonymous - 12-29-2005 at 09:25 PM

That's alright Pam, this subject justifies many posts, identical or not.
Thus far, according to Loreto Bay, about 5 families have occupied their premises. And about the walking, bicicling , electric cart bull, they all have a vehicle, one a van with a trailer, and they are all parked on our boulevard. So much for a starter.

Skeet/Loreto - 12-30-2005 at 09:43 AM

The only way any of this can be stopped or slowed down is for the People of Loreto to do the same as they did years ago!!

Go in mass to the Highway, stop traffic until such time as the Governor/Presidente meet their Demands-as they did with the water several years ago- and when they demanded that the Mission Bell be returned.

Loreto is a very unique Place! Sure do miss it!

Skeet/Loreto

Phil S - 12-30-2005 at 10:18 AM

Just finished the "report". Thanks djh for posting it. The water part is disturbing for sure. While in Cabo I visited the desal plant operation of the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort, where we spend two weeks every Thanksgiving. Even took digitals for Loreto Bays project manager if wanted. If you haven't seen one yet. Make a point of finding one somewhere and take a look at it. I'm no engineer, and let me tell you, this is something very complicated. I can see why it costs in the neighborhood of $2 mil to build. (And would someone please explain to me how a pipe that sucks water from an "inlet" is going to destroy the ecological balance of the Sea of Cortez?) That amount is only peanuts to LB's profits on this project. When they can commit $800,000.00 for a new hospital to Loreto, building the desal plant will be no obsticle for them. I'm sure Fonatur will have to 'kick in' some money also for this project when the time is ready.
In the past fifteen years I've been coming to Loreto, I've seen many positive changes to the area. More restaurants for one example. Paved streets for another, though they do have a long way to go to get them all paved. I'm sure with the new construction going on all over Loreto, the additional tax revenue will be helping. I just don't see the need for panic here. My fifteen years experience in the area has been anywhere from three months each time to six months at a time. Better than those that come down and spend a week here or two weeks and go back home until "next year". I honestly don't see us becoming a "Cabo" Cabo's problem is the numbers of Resort rooms and the continued building of more "rooms". Cabo is further south. Which equals warmer weather. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out, then that Loreto will always be cooler in the winter than Cabo. So if I were a fisherman, and I was looking for the BIG ONES, I'd still be going to Cabo to do my fishing. BUT. If I were only interested in just sunbathing. I'd still go to CABO. It is warmer there than Loreto. But it does disturb me to hear that the new owners of L.B. are parking on the streets with their cars. That is something that the powers that be of Loreto Bay will have to deal with, because they certainly didn't expect probably this to happen. However. Since these folks are "just moving in" I can see the need to have a car down there maybe temporarily to get initially "moved in". Time will tell for sure on this one. And I wonder how many will be buying "electric golf carts" versus those that will "do without" because of the cost. Be interesting to know the number of buyers paying cash, and the number of buyers that are "financing" their purchase. Also would be interesting to know how many are going to "rent out" their units, versus those that will just "use them" from year to year.
Cinco. Are you a 'user' or a future landlord? IF L.B. isn't able to get your unit rented while it's empty if your a landlord, will this effect your decision to have bought down here?

The people of town will come together

flyfishinPam - 12-30-2005 at 11:26 AM

We cannot block the highway as that is illegal and stupid although it would get attention. What is happening is that the powers that be are hoping that the people who vote and have the voice will be ignorant of what's going on around them. They must be educated then allowed to make their own informed decision collectively. The education part is starting to take place. These things take time but what happens eventually will be of the will of the people.

wilderone - 12-30-2005 at 11:45 AM

I found this interesting as cursory research. Note that there are ownership issues as well as maintenance expenses. Could every Loretano pay their water bill? Also note the ecological consequences - however, as there is little marine life left in Loreto Bay, maybe it won't matter.

TAMPA BAY SEAWATER REVERSE OSMOSIS (SWRO) PLANT
The Tampa Bay seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant was designed to produce an initial 95,000m? (25 million US gallons) of water per day, with planned expansion to add a further 37,000m?/day in the future. Located adjacent to Tampa Electric's Big Bend 2,000MW Power Station, it is currently the largest of its kind in the United States.

The project began in 1997 with the pre-qualification of potential tenderers. Final proposals were received in February 1999 and in July Tampa Bay Water awarded the contract to S&W Water, a Stone and Webster - Poseidon Resources JVC, on a design, build, own, operate and transfer (DBOOT) basis.

24 separate permits were required from various government agencies, requiring detailed investigation of many aspects of the plant's operation and likely effects on the environment. This process began in November 1999 and after thorough evaluation by State and Federal authorities, all necessary approvals were granted by late Spring 2001.

TAMPA BAY PLANT CONSTRUCTION
Construction began in August 2001 and the first 20,000m? of water was produced in March 2003. However, subsequently the plant has run sporadically, producing far short of its intended output. Three of the companies involved in the project have filed for bankruptcy and on 2 December 2003 the dispute over control and ownership went before a Federal Judge. If not resolved in the interim, the pre-trial hearing has been set for 4 February 2004.

The project involved the plant itself, a seawater intake, concentrate discharge system, various chemical storage and dosing facilities and 24km (15 miles) of product water transmission main.

The overall cost was $110 million. Wholesale cost of the product water has been projected at an average $0.659/m? over the next 30 years, dropping to $0.497/m? if the expected agreement is reached on project co-funding.

SEAWATER REVERSE OSMOSIS (SWRO) PLANT DESIGN
The raw water intake is beside the neighbouring power plant's four discharge tunnels, two of which were tapped to divert around 166,000m?/day of the cooling outflow into the intake structure. Since the power plant already screens its 5.3 million m?/day cooling stream inflow to exclude marine life, this arrangement avoided any duplication and overcame potential environmental objections to the SWRO plant's seawater feed. From the intake, the water is pumped to the pre-treatment facility.

Chemical filtration agents and ferric sulphate are added to the inflow, which passes through a two stage sand filter. The medium is continuously backwashed, which further helps to lower the silt density index of the exiting water. There is also provision for dosing the water to adjust pH if required.

The Reverse Osmosis (RO) system has seven independent trains, each comprising a transfer pump, cartridge filters, reverse osmosis membranes, associated high pressure pump and an energy recovery turbine (ERT).

An 800hp vertical turbine transfer pump in each train draws raw water from the pre-treatment wet well to the 5 micron cartridge filter assembly. The water then enters the RO process itself.

Each battery of reverse osmosis membranes is fed with pressurized water by a 2,250hp, horizontal split case high pressure pump equipped with variable frequency drives which allow the feed pressure to be varied between 625psi and 1,050psi. These were fitted to the pumps to accommodate the variation in salinity of the water, which naturally ranges between 18ppt and 32ppt in Tampa Bay, compared with the narrower 28ppt to 35ppt of typical seawater. Being able to vary the input pressure allows the plant to match its operating power requirements to salinity changes.

Each of the plant's seven RO batteries has a minimum rated production of 16,000m?/day and consists of 168 pressure vessels, containing eight SWRO membranes apiece. The permeate produced flows into a 1m diameter header pipe situated below. The high pressure concentrate returns to the ERT for energy recovery and is then mixed with the power station cooling water in a ratio of 70:1 to dilute its high salinity before finally being discharged.

The permeate requires further treatment before distribution and use, leading to the building of a number of chemical storage vessels. A 22.5m? bulk tank and a 4.5m? day tank have been constructed to store the sodium hypochlorite added to chlorinate the water. The calcium hydroxide, used to introduce hardness, is housed in a 50t silo. It is added to the product water as a slurry in two up-flow lime contact chambers, some 12m high. To balance the pH, a solution of carbonic acid is simultaneously diffused into the chamber. The carbon dioxide used to make the solution is stored in another on-site tank. Chemical diffusers fitted to the lime chamber discharge weirs allow for further pH adjustment if necessary.

The finished product water flows into a 20,000m? storage tank and is eventually pumped 15 miles along a 1m pipeline to the Brandon regional distribution facility, crossing two navigable rivers. Directional drilling was used in one case to position 550m of fibreglass pipe18m below the river bed.

PROBLEMS

In 2000, Stone & Webster declared bankruptcy, leaving S&W Water without an engineering and construction partner. Later that year, with performance deadlines looming, Poseidon teamed up with Covanta Energy. A year on, the replacement went the same way as its predecessor. A new company was created to complete the plant, Covanta Tampa Construction.

When, in early 2002, it became clear that Poseidon and Covanta had been unsuccessful in securing long-term financing, Tampa Bay Water decided to buy out Poseidon's interest in the project and push forward. This allowed them to save $1 million a year in financing charges, while retaining Covanta to finish the job.

Several deadlines were missed in 2003, beginning with 31 January and repeated on 4 March and again on 20 May, after a crucial two-week performance test revealed 31 deficiencies in the plant, including excessive membrane silting. This was compounded in September by Asian green mussels clogging the filters and yet another default on the contract followed. In October, with the plant still unable to pass the 14-day performance test required for final acceptance, Covanta Tampa Construction followed its parent company into bankruptcy. The ensuing dispute with Tampa Bay led to December's court hearing. The judge ordered both sides into mediation, setting a 15 January 2004 deadline for Covanta to cure the plant' shortcomings and scheduling the pre-trial hearing for February.

Most Loretanos don't pay their H2O bills now

flyfishinPam - 12-30-2005 at 12:17 PM

and at a whopping $40MN (~4dlls) per month they simply ignore them. A great deal of the water problem currently is likely due to leakages within the existing system and rampant waste.

Skeet/Loreto - 12-30-2005 at 12:54 PM

PhilS
Good Post Phil.
Wildone: I take exception regarding the Marie Life of Loreto Bay;
CHALLENGE;One very Dark night take a Shrimp Trap and drop it to the 750 Mark, come back 24 hours later and Post on this Board the Results!!!

Now as to development: many years ago it was illegal to stop traffic on Hwy1 However it was done twice and would be done again if the people so desire.If if it was so stupid why did it accoumplish what was sought?????
The Bell that now resides in the Mueusm!!!!!
The 9 Water Wells drilled in the Mountains above Loreto!!!!!!!

Do not ever judge the mexicano in American Terms-It will end up 'biting you in the Burro"!

From what I observed on my last trip and to others I have talked with, Loreto Bay has a very good chance of doing what they are saying However

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHEN THEY BREAK GROUND ON THE HOSPITAL

If they are able to break the Political Hold on the "Doctor who contols' and get other Doctors to come to Loreto it will truly be a Miracle!!

The Sewer should not be too much of a problem,as years ago when The black water was coming down to the Malacon, they built a large Holding Pond out North; has anybody done anything about the Black Lake or the residue left in the bottom??.

I think that many of the people buying in todays market do not have much desire to do anything other than enjoy the View.

Skeet/Loreto

wilderone - 12-30-2005 at 01:05 PM

I said in the bay - not the Gulf.

many years ago...

flyfishinPam - 12-30-2005 at 01:37 PM

...there were practically NO means of communication and the people were desperate and for the most part, uneducated. So the only means of getting attention was to make a roadblock. Things have changed a lot since then and now the above is not the case. If the will of the people is to define the changes that take place here, it must be done so by legal means.

Blocking the road is stupid as we live on "an island" so to speak. How would we receive necessary goods if the road were to be blocked, and how would the rest of the Baja, north and south receive goods if the road here were to be blocked for access to them? It is very illegal to do that and just because it was successful in previous times doesn't mean that the same tactic would work today.

vandenberg - 12-30-2005 at 03:58 PM

Phil

Where did you get that 1 to 2 million cost amount to build a plant ? It would be more like you forgot a couple of zeros. :light:

vandenberg - 12-30-2005 at 04:00 PM

And btw it was I who made the comment about the vehicles already parked on the street.

Skeet/Loreto - 12-31-2005 at 03:32 PM

Politics in Loreto:
One time not so far back in the Past, there was Politican running for Presidente of Baja Sur.
He came to Loreto to speak about what he would do for Loreto; Bleachers were set up in front of Hotel Oasis, many people came to hear him speak. But lo and behold as he rose and approached the Mike, all the people turned their backs on Him!!
finally an elderly Women[85] named Rosa turned and ask to speak for the people of Loreto.
The Politicain listened to her, made some promises to the People of Loreto, that she had requested.

Legallities in Baja depend on who is in control at the Time, especially Loreto.
Did you ever wonder why there was limited medical Service in Loreto, Why the Good Samartians are not allowed into Loreto?? Look into it.

If the People of Loreto decided that they were fed up with a given situtation they would take matters into their own Hands and change it.

I beleive that Loreto will Survive as it has in the Past.

Skeet/Loreto

Phil S - 12-31-2005 at 07:33 PM

Vandenberg. I had a feeling it was you, but wanted to protect your privacy since you chose Anon. The two million I was referring to was the cost of the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach system that I visited in November. No shortage of water up here in S.W'ern Oregon & north western Cal. either.
Dams are nice if they don't break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skeet/Loreto - 1-1-2006 at 08:42 AM

Phil S.
What is the present situtation concerning Medicals in Loreto?
Who is the Lead doctor ?
Is there two Clinics?
Did Paulina ever get the Difiblaor{Sp} set up?
Are there Doctors coming over from Constuction
Are all 3 hospitals still operating there?

would appreciate the info.

thank you Skeet/Loreto

Phil S - 1-2-2006 at 09:20 AM

Skeet. I'm the wrong one to ask that, as I'm as healthy as a " buzzard that lives off road kill". I know of Dr. Green, and Dr. Davis, and am acquainted with a doctor that I really liked, whose name escapes me right now. He works out of a little clinic off off one of the side streets near the Big Loreto police station. Speaks excellent English. Walks with a handicap. Last I heard about him, he lost his license due to an addiction to pain pills because of his disability. He fixed me up one year with a nebulizer treatment when I had come down with bronchitis. I got a very thorough examination. He even checked out my brothers lungs & my wifes lungs while he was there. He came all the way to Nopolo and charged me $20.00 u.s. I got over the breathing problem in about four days.
Pam. Would you mind answering Skeets medical question? I just don't know what's happening in that department. Thanks

Phil?

LaTijereta - 1-2-2006 at 11:37 AM

Are you thinking of Dr Collins :?:

Cincodemayo - 1-2-2006 at 02:36 PM

Phil...At the moment we will be in the rental pool and eventually stay longer periods when time allows as niether my wife or I are close to retirement yet...more years to pay off a few goodies.

EL Doctor

flyfishinPam - 1-2-2006 at 03:37 PM

Phil the name of the doctor who's name you had forgotten is doctor Fernando. He perscribed meds for me three weeks ago that kicked my bad flu. I had to go in for a series of shots and saw a defribulator in the room where they give injections, didn't look too new and don't know if it works. I know that few med conditions can be handled in Loreto. No x-ray that's functioning. I know because I had a daughter with a broken arm that had to be brought to Constitucion. Most births take place in constitucion as well. Loreto is seriously lacking in hospital facilities and I'm convinced that any development along those lines that's being backed by LB is to help sell those properties not to help the community, but it will end up helping the community anyway. Last year there was supposed to be a ground breaking of a new hospital but it still has not taken place. I was informed that the funding is enough to cover the land and a portion of the proposed building only, but not the furnishings inside or the medical equipment. Perhaps a better immediate alternative would be to have a medivac plane or helicopter at the airport full time.

Skeet/Loreto - 1-3-2006 at 07:51 AM

Thanks Phil and Pam;
About 4 years ago,a women named paulina, who owned a House out North was working on getting a Dibulator. Even if you wanted the use of it , necessary to get Help in Constitution.
There is very good medical only 90 miles away and in my opinion much better thatn waiting on a Plane from the States!; those guys bid on your Rescue while you await the Low Bidder.

Hope for a hospital soon.

Skeet/Loreto

Phil S - 1-3-2006 at 03:14 PM

Pam. That is good news about Fernando. (a name that is not in my vocabulary very often, so had forgotten it. But not him)
I'm glad to see he is working again. Do you know if the Xray facility that Dr. Collins was putting together (someone contributed an xray machine????) and they were getting donations for building the building next to the hospital. Know anything about that Pam? Thanks for your time on this.

Cincodemayo - 1-3-2006 at 03:45 PM

Is a dibulator one of those little icecream makers that makes dibbs?

vandenberg - 1-3-2006 at 04:06 PM

Cinco,
Don't make fun of our Skeet. His spelling may not be up to par, but his knowledge of ,especially, our region is to be treasured. Little much, but true neverteless.

vandenberg - 1-3-2006 at 04:09 PM

Cinco,
btw, what's your claim to fame in this area. Buying into Loreto Bay , most locals would say " not much ". :lol:

Cincodemayo - 1-3-2006 at 04:14 PM

Vandenburg...
I'm well aware of Skeets knowledge but couldn't pass on that little one!
Knew exactly what he meant....
Hopefully some Doctors who buy into Loreto Bay will step up and see that Loreto starts getting the equipment and supplies a hospital needs. This is only the beginning. Land is always the first step. That's a great point to bring up next trip!

Cincodemayo - 1-3-2006 at 04:15 PM

And yours is? :?:

jerry - 1-3-2006 at 04:20 PM

i dont mean to sound negative but loreto has 3 hospitals now but the care and doctores suck

Skeet/Loreto - 1-3-2006 at 04:28 PM

Mayo/or is it MiracleWhip?

If my spelling or lack of it annoys anyone, Please go to the next Post and disregard!

Many, many years ago a local person brought an X-ray down. I heard that no one had parts to it.

Short Story' How Dr. Gustavo Morallias, Dr. Renee Hibiff saved my wifes's Life.

1992 my wife and just arrived in Loreto from a Trip to the States, It was Feb. 14{ our anniversiy} .Went to dinner at Domingo's_El Nido} had a great Meal and a few Totties. The following morning my Wife awoke with a very bad Belly ache, so took her to the clinic and got to see a Doctor that afternoon. He told us she must of ate too much the psast evening! Gave her a Shot of Morphine which made my wife very happy and stopped all Pain!!!
The following Morning after the Shot wore off whe was very bad, I jumped in my trusty little Toyota and drove as fast as I could to the General Hospital in Villa' The emergency took us in, called a doctor,sent me to the Private Lab for a Blood Test.

The blood work was ready in no time and when I got back to the hospital, they were wheeling her into the Operating Roon--# Doctors , 2 Nurses=
I stopped the action and ask the Doctor if it might be better to go to La Paz?
He replied that she only had about 4 hours to Live!!!

Her Appendi had been leaking for a several Days and that she had "Peranitics".

She was in the Hospital 1 week. I paid the Total Bill--It was $61.00.

Surgery-Doctors- Room== And all on Sunday

Skeet/Loreto

Cincodemayo - 1-3-2006 at 04:34 PM

Skeet...didn't mean to fluster your or vandy's feathers.

jerry - 1-3-2006 at 04:43 PM

the xray worked about 6 yrs ago when i broke ribs and it showed the breaks it just took 3 hospitals 10-15 pharmisys and 4 doctors over 4 days to get anything stronger them advil on the forth day i took the xrays to doc green he said yup broke some ribs and gave me a rx for simple darvan took a half aday but i did find it in loreto it must inprove have a good one jerry

vandenberg - 1-3-2006 at 05:16 PM

Hey Jerry.
Making fun of Skeet after your post almost makes no sense. You got him beat by miles. Btw, when are you getting here to Loreto. As two dumb Dutchmen , we gotta have a cold one together, right. ?? Looking forward to making your acquaintance. Big word, like mountain or elephant

jerry - 1-3-2006 at 05:27 PM

were leavin on the 7th in a big moterhome and tow i expect we will get there on the10th or 11??im in no hurry once i get below the boarder spelling just a awaist of time for me if ya dont know what im talking about you will get over it have a good one jerry

jerry - 1-3-2006 at 05:32 PM

ill be looking you up when i get settelled in
i have known your nabor phil s for about 40 yrs
see ya

Cincodemayo - 1-3-2006 at 05:52 PM

Jerry...
Met Phil and his wife last time we went down to buy. Great folks.

jerry - 1-3-2006 at 06:01 PM

there good ppl phill had a office right around the corner from my first apartment in the big city of oakland oregon

jerry - 1-3-2006 at 06:08 PM

cinco you gonna be in the naborhood in jan first part of feb?? ill try to look u up too i been antsy toget out of here for the last 3 months just a few days now
jerry

Phil S - 1-4-2006 at 09:24 AM

Jerry. You guys have a great time down in the motorhome. Best check with him to see how much brake lining is left before you leave. The Santa Rosalia hill coming down is a killer. And I use the term loosely. I remember "fading" out my brakes in my 96 Dodge pickup in 96 when we brought down our 28' tow trailer. Auto transmission, so didn't have the luxury of being able to "down shift".
Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Historic Oakland Oregon. A lifetime ago!!!!!!Jerry V.D. Danny Thomas. Jugs Gardner. And a few others that "didn't make it"!!!!!
See you guys when I get down there. Surgery has been rescheduled again for the third time. Can't seem to shake this danged chest cold. Supposed to be the 6th now. Hold your breath. Come to think of it. You'll be holding your breath going down S.R. hill toooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jerry - 1-4-2006 at 09:33 AM

i wish you the best on your surgery phill and ill keep one on ice for ya and wendy
and danny tegen rented with me long time ago.
my first trip drivin to loreto was in a 30 ft moterhome loaded to the gills towing a pickup with a boat on top moter in the back it took a hour to cool down the breaks when i slipped down that hill and its still in loreto and i brought one other moterhome down since ill be disconecting the tow and drivin it seperatly have a good one jerry

Somehow, don't sell out. Somehow

Flailer - 1-5-2006 at 02:41 AM

I am new to this site, but am amazed at the community and knowledge here. I'm not someone who posts things and I appologize for the length here, but lets just see what happens.

I am 40, just retired (not rich, just hopefully smart; my moto = wana get rich quick lower your material standards). I am a person that follows my "inner drive" and have been "inner driven" for about 6 months to cruise the baja and see if that is a place I would like to spend my winters with my wife and 10yo son. Buy something?

I then found out through my studies that my thinking obviously is not unique. Loreto was where my homing device is calling, but then I read about this mass development and the obvious inherant issues.

My profession has always been basically a "Solutions Engineer", I belive a true solution is comes from a triange of success. Each coner of the triangle represent the participants (one is always the Earth/Sustainability) and in order for true success to occure, everything needs to remain in balance. That means no one corner trys to pull from the others to increase their share.

So the question that keeps teasing me is this; There must be some way that Gringo's like me could basically buy into property within these desired areas in partnership with the Native owners? Seems many Natives would (are/will) otherwise find them selves working for the people they previously sold out to, and only gaining the one time benefit($) from basically selling the control of Homeland. Ancient histories taken over and rulled by Condo owners within a ten year period seems like suicide. Someting along these lines seems a much more viable option. And since most future residences would not be full time, why could we not occupy more of a slice of what we came for than the pie we are trying to get away from? I envision something like having my accomidations on part of an estate where I have improved the property of the Native owners in exchange.

I know my thinking is different, but it has always paid off for me. Somehow mysteriously, by not looking out for myself first all the time, I have more than I could ever respecfully ask for.

Let me know any opinions on this approach. Take the idea farther. I am willing to try something different, esspecially if it could prove to be a good example. I don't want to ruin a culture, just get out of the rain and suround my family with a "better" pace and community.

As it rains here in Seattle I will be packing up my motorhome. I am thinking of slowly cruising to La Paz and taking the ferry across, then driving up the other side. I have never been to Mexico, really looking forward to this.

Hope you didnt get 2 shaken from the earthquake. How common is that? Very cool forum, thanks for your time and hope it doent come off 2 weird, but oh well.

arren

wilderone - 1-5-2006 at 12:08 PM

You have a lot of good points - which have essentially all been discussed before. A few comments: the "natives" did not sell out for the LB project. The land was FONATUR regulated and it WAS a beautiful, undeveloped beach.
"I envision something like having my accomidations on part of an estate where I have improved the property of the Native owners in exchange." Wouldn't it have been nice if LB did the same thing instead of ruining the very unique landscape it hopes to fill with 6,000 adobe structures. Instead, LB could have been built on the other side of the highway in Loreto. But you are on track and it can be done. And other locales in Mexico offer a lot more than Baja - price-wise and other amenities and ambiance as well. Do some research.