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bajagrouper
Senior Nomad
 
Posts: 964
Registered: 8-28-2003
Location: Rincon de Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico
Member Is Offline
Mood: happy and retired
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I guess the reason I am enjoying the mainland of Mexico vs. Baja is so many changes that have occurred over the years, mostly for the worst.
My first drive in Baja was in 1971, following a rocky and dirt road along the gulf coast, beautiful beaches all to ourselves, meeting Papa Fernandez
and family and sharing turtle steaks for lunch, camping at Gonzaga Bay, sitting around the campfire polishing pieces of turquoise we had traded the
miners for some flour and sugar. Almost getting stuck in Laguna Chapala during a surprise rain storm.. Camping at Playa Coyote with only the birds to
entertain.
A few years later camping and watching Dorado chase flying fish up to the sand at Nopolo Cove south of Loreto, making friends at the Hotel Mission,
aah the Pelican Bar..
At Tecolote Beach the only others there were an old sheep herder and his flock…
One palapa restaurant at Cabo Plumo and that was all.. Fishing off the rocks at lands end by the old cannery…
I haven’t driven the gulf road since 2002 but I read somewhere they were going to pave it…Papas gone and turtles are illegal now…Coyote and the rest
of the bay are so crowded now a days with giant motor homes with Sat dishes…there was a NO CAMPING sign in English at Nopolo one visit and a hotel
the next…The Mission is closed but I bet Vicente is around still making great Margies…Jet wave runners all over Tecolote and a paved road…barbed wire
fences keep you away from beaches around Pulmo with its boutique B&B’s… and then there is Cabo…
I miss Baja the way it was in the good old days, and am enjoying the mainland of Mexico in retirement…Bajagrouper
I hear the whales song
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Lee
Ultra Nomad
   
Posts: 3597
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
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Why Nayarit?
Quote: | Originally posted by bajagrouper
I miss Baja the way it was in the good old days, and am enjoying the mainland of Mexico in retirement…Bajagrouper |
How long have you been in Nayarit and how have the changes effected you?
Assuming that no place is perfect, what do you like and dislike about Nayarit?
Did you seriously consider any other place?
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
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DianaT
Select Nomad
     
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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Ah Oaxaca!
My first trip, (not John's first trip) to the mainland was in 1989 and we were headed for Oaxaca for Christmas night. We crossed the border at
Mexicali and headed for Airport---milk run to Guadalajara, Mexico City and then another flight to Oaxaca.
As we crossed, the official on the Mexican side asked our destination and when we said Oaxaca,with both hands, he grabbed his chest, swooned backward,
and said AHHHHHHHHHH Oaxaca. When we arrived to the central plaza on Christmas night, I understood.
You do have the best. The beautiful beaches of Baja, and the wonderfully rich culture of Oaxaca.
Diane
Quote: | Originally posted by Eli
I have called the East Cape home for 20 years now.
When I retired 5 years ago I started the cycle of heading to Oaxaca for part of the year. This has been my pattern every since; winters in Los
Barriles, summers traveling the mainland and basically spending most of my time away from home in Oaxaca City.
I love the contrast between the quite desert with views of the sea and the incredible sky that I watched last night and the Spanish/Indian cultural
scene that I am about to fall into later this week.
When I leave Baja Wednesday, I will not miss the heat, I am already sick of sweating.
When I come back from Oaxaca, I will not miss the pollution, I already know how good it will feel to get the air rolling off the sea of Cortez deep in
my lungs, and see the stars again.
I Love Baja, but I also Love Oaxaca, I feel very fortunate that I have both. |
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bajagrouper
Senior Nomad
 
Posts: 964
Registered: 8-28-2003
Location: Rincon de Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico
Member Is Offline
Mood: happy and retired
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Hola Lee, I have been traveling through out Mexico most of my life, a year before I was to retire I took 2 months off work ( built up vacation and
sick leave ) to trip around Mexico looking for a good spot to buy a home, I found a beautiful colonial home in the historic district in Merida but it
was March and 94 degrees and it was before the humid / rainy time of the year…
I then visited the area around San Miguel Allende, to many gringos and very expensive and to hilly for these old knees…I checked out Mazatlan and
Tonala then I remembered I had driven to Puerto Vallarta for my honeymoon in 1969 and enjoyed the coastal area to the north, I took a bus from
Guadalajara to PV rented a car and headed north…there was green everywhere, coco palms along the beaches, fruit trees all over, friendly people, both
local and ex-pats alike…it was like the garden of edan…I found a small 2 BR house on a 15 x 35 meter lot in a residential area, the garden has 10
different fruit trees, below ground plunge pool and 5 meter long outdoor kitchen I built…
Everything grows in Nayarit, the state and federal government is in the process of building the second highest dam in the world ( +700 meters high
)along the border of Nayarit and Jalisco, power stations, lakes for recreation lots of water for the future. So those are some of the reasons I picked
the area, plus it is 3 hours away by air from my home in San Francisco, and I drive down in 3 days…Bajagrouper
I hear the whales song
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Eli
Super Nomad
  
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Yes Diane, I am most fortunate. And so are you that you may know both places.
I sometimes reflect on what the dickens I would do if I had to make a choice between Baja and Oaxaca.
I do know that when it is time to come home to Baja, every day for the last week or so I start counting the days; 7 more nights and I will be home in
my own bed, 6 more days and I will be able to take a shower in my own beautiful bathroom, 5 more nights and I will see the stars again, 4 more
mornings and I will see the sun rising off the Sea of Cortez, 3 more days and hopefully Tio Cat will be meowing Grammmms at me, (although my grandson
always puts out food and water for him, my cat pretty much disappears when I leave and is a bit lean when I return, I wonder where he hangs when I am
gone?), anyway, two more afternoons and I will be hugging my family at the airport, just one more day and night I will finally be HOME sweet home!
As much as I Love Oaxaca, I do not feel the anxiousness to go there that I do feel about coming back to Baja.
[Edited on 6-23-2009 by Eli]
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
  
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
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Bajagrouper,
I used to love Puerto Vallarta. I liked the warm and very tropical weather and environment. When I was working in financial business out of Newport
Beach, Ca, we used to take corporate retreats there in the 90's. Second to last time I was there, I stayed at the Garden Krystal for its beauty,
serenity, and proximity. Loved it. Then, when I got married recently, we picked PV for our honeymoon based on my previous experience there.
Well, let me tell you. PV has turned into another Tourist Trap. My wife and I stayed at the Krystal - even that had changed as they put a bunch of
lousy ugly bungalows where gardens and unobstructed walkways had once been. Walking into and thru town was the usual Cabo experience where people
will acost you on the street to come into their restaurant or to strong arm you into buying a resort condo. These people are actually yelling at you
as you walk by. Complete change from 8 years ago and before.
There are three places in Mexico I will not revisit ever again due to their rank commercialism: Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, and now Puerto Vallarta.
Very sad for me. Haven't been back to Acapulco for a while, but I'm skeptical.
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bajagrouper
Senior Nomad
 
Posts: 964
Registered: 8-28-2003
Location: Rincon de Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico
Member Is Offline
Mood: happy and retired
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Hola MitchMan, Your reasons are very valad, you could have added Cancun to your list...that is way I am 40 miles north of the airport in a small beach
town, no timeshare seller on my beach,jajaja...last year I drove from Sparks home in Maleque to PV in less than 3 hours, the 40 miles through PV to
Guayabitos took 2 hours, traffic in PV is horrible...but it does have about 10 good hospitals and an International airport with mucho flights to the
USA every day...
I hear the whales song
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roamingthroughbaja
Nomad

Posts: 143
Registered: 11-16-2007
Location: La Paz, BCS
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Before we bought our lot in Centenario, we drove around on the mainland to make sure that we really wanted to settle in Baja. We drove down the west
coast of the sea of Cortez, inland as far as Guadulajara, came back to the sea south of PV and then across on the ferry back to Baja towing our
trailer all the way. It was a great trip and we did find places we loved.
One in particular, Teacapan, is a small fishing village on an estuary which is part of one of Mexico's largest protected areas. It was lovely, great
fishing, friendly, fun and generous people, very cheap to live, the best bakery ever....we had almost decided that this was the place when the bugs
hit. Mosquitos, no see ums, biting flies. Turns out there are only a few bug free weeks per year and we hit the last of them when we arrived.
That decided us on the La Paz area. We are very happy here in our little house. Relatively few bitey bugs, cooler in the summer, but we often think
of Teacapan when we are fighting the traffic or listening to the trucks on the highway.
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oldlady
Banned
Posts: 1714
Registered: 10-31-2005
Location: BCS
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Fighting the traffic??????????? You crack me up!
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
  
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
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roamingthroughbaja
I like the way and the process that you went thru to decide on where to get a house in Mexico/Baja. I kind of did the same process...went to mainland
and up and down the baja. Decided on Loreto. Bought some lots, but couldn't find anybody to build my house for a reasonable and realistic price.
All the Loreto contractors were so full of themselves because they were getting so much work and because Loreto Bay was attracting (seemingly anyway)
a lot of monied Americans and Canadians to the area. Plus, all the local labor was empolyed in Loreto Bay. So, I went to La Paz. Prices for real
estate were 50% to 75% cheaper! Especially in the Chametla and Centenario area. I got an unbelievable deal on a relatively new house on a great big
lot, three miles from the airport and 10 minutes from the Malecon. Hell, they even built me a Walmart about 7 minutes away from my house.
Finding building materials, hardware, parts and accessories, furniture and fixtures, skilled and unskilled labor to work on my house is absolutely no
problem in La Paz.
La Paz has great fishing just like Loreto, more administrative services and medical care, movie theaters, tons of restaurants, universities, and
possibly the best malecon in Mexico. La Paz has it all!
Having said all this, I still would prefer to be in Loreto.
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k-rico
Super Nomad
  
Posts: 2079
Registered: 7-10-2008
Location: Playas de Tijuana
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Quote: | Originally posted by roamingthroughbaja
One in particular, Teacapan, is a small fishing village ...we had almost decided that this was the place when the bugs hit. Mosquitos, no see ums,
biting flies. Turns out there are only a few bug free weeks per year and we hit the last of them when we arrived. |
Biting bugs are a big drawback to the mainland coast. It's BAD. And, both my dogs got infested with fleas and ticks, my fault tho, I neglected to
treat them with Frontline before we left. But biting bugs of every kind are there, and we went at the end of the dry season when you would think they
would be at a minimum.
Of course tolerance to blood sucking pests with poisonous saliva that lay eggs under you skin and prevent you from having a good night's sleep differs
among us. At least malaria and yellow fever mosquitos have been eradicated and haven't returned, yet.
Teacapan:
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