Villa Valentina

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So I finally looked at a map to figure out where exactly we are, which is directly South of San Diego, California, near the very bottom of the Baja Penninsula. It would take about 20 hours to drive that distance. While we are on the Sea of Cortez here in San Jose del Cabo, if we drive a bit further South to Cabo San Lucas at the very bottom of the peninsula, then it becomes the Pacific Ocean along the West.

It was cloudy again today, 24 C very pleasant, so we went for a fairly long walk, about 4 km in total. For those of you who know the area we went past the Mega and down along the hotel zone past the Barcelo. There was an open house happening in a Villa along the golf course so we strolled in for a tour. It was 16 years old, 6000 sq ft, 2 levels, 4 bedrooms, gigantic great room with 2 dining areas and massive living room, pool, hot tub, double garage - poorly decorated, not very clean and sadly in need of maintenance and updating - all yours for a mere $750,000 USD. I thought Ian was going to punch the aggressive real estate agent, he wouldn't shut up, pointing out 'everything you don't get in a condo' and hounding us over and over to make any offer. Not a chance, what a dump, good luck buddy. Buildings in Mexico might look nice from a distance but once you get up close, they usually aren't that great, poor craftsmanship and low standards. All that aside, we would never invest in Mexican real estate anyway as you can't actually own anything as a foreigner, the way it works is that you appoint a Mexican bank as a trustee / owner. Way too sketchy a set up for our taste.

Along the trek, we found a lovely little restaurant for lunch called Villa Valentina. If you were driving, you'd go right by this little hidden gem as it's down a lane inside a courtyard. Exceptionally well decorated in an authentic theme, clean, open kitchen, terrific service and reasonable prices - this is our type of place and I'm sure we will visit again. Their complementary appetizer was a lentil pate with some very lite and delicious crackers, tasted like a sort of humus, very well seasoned, we liked it. Ian had the fish (Marlin) & chips while I had the eggs benedict, I think mine was the better of the two. It was art on a plate and tasted as good as it looked, I'm not sure how they got the crunch on the outside of those potatoes - olive oil maybe. So much for that long walk actually burning off any calories.

Then it was back to the condo to catch some more movies on HBO, I think we've already seen about ten.

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Comments

[Gerry &betty]

Mon am
Enjoying your blogs Cheryl--like a nice morning visit. Sounds like you getting familiar with the area. Weather is cooler here -8 yesterday, had some snow but still not much. We are going to Puerto Vallarta , neuvo feb I -March 1, going with my brother ken from Edmonton-he knew someone with a timeshare that we can rent. Looks nice on internet.