In fact, those of you who are familiar with this service would have received one such announcement recently, that I was resuming making posts to this Living Loreto Blog. That is when it occurred to me that this would be a helpful Blog topic for those of my readers who are not yet aware that such a service is available, but who are interested in learning more about many aspects of life in the town of Loreto. Before I go any further, it is very easy for you to join this group and start receiving these messages, just log onto: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Loreto_community and join the group of almost 1,000 who are interested in keeping up to date about what is happening in this community.
But back to my story, I arranged to meet with Lynn one afternoon at the beautiful oceanfront property that she shares with her husband Randy, just north of downtown Loreto. We sat in the cool breeze of their second floor Living Room, overlooking the beach and the Sea of Cortez, and I asked her how she came to be the conduit of all the essential information for the ex-pat community here in Loreto.
Six years ago, when Lynn was enrolled in a Spanish class at the local University, the Instructor wanted to spread word about the class among the English speaking community and Lynn volunteered. Not having access to any current email list she created her own copying e-addresses from a phone directory of English speaking locals. Starting with 300 – 400 email addresses she began by sending out a few announcements about the classes and quickly received many replies asking her to spread the word about other events and announcements – and so it began.
As the number of announcements increased and the number of contacts grew, the process of generating hundreds of emails became more tedious and time consuming as Yahoo limited the number of contacts that could be included in each “blast”. When Yahoo later cut that number in half, effectively doubling the time and effort required for each mailing, Lynn had to find a better way. That is when, three and a half years ago, she started the Yahoo Group that I linked to above, stream lining the delivery to what is now a list of over 900 recipients.
As the sole moderator of the Group, Lynn personally screens all incoming messages to maintain the integrity of the information going out over the site, and edit where necessary, for the consistency and quality of the messages. Those messages cover a wide range of topics, some of the most important deal with information about civic utilities such as water and electricity and changes or interruptions in service, or others concerning civic administrative procedures including billings etc. and regulatory changes in areas like Immigration and Fishing Licensing. There is also frequently information about local businesses; restaurant and store openings, closings and special menus or events, meetings of groups, information about local events in town like anniversaries or festivals.
I know from my own experience that this is an important service and a reliable source of information for many people who spend time in and around Loreto and so it occurred to me that there may well be some readers of this Blog who are not yet aware of it – hence the subject of this posting. Joining this Yahoo Group will be of particular interest to the increasing number of Loreto Bay Homeowners who are beginning their adventure of Living Loreto, and are planning to spend more time in their Casa away from Home here in the Baja.
While managing this busy service may sound like a time consuming challenge, there is another important aspect to their lives that keeps Lynn and her husband Randy fully occupied. They are also the Hosts of a very popular boutique lodging, Hamman’s Vacaciones (www.stayinloreto.com). When they were having their home constructed on a choice beachfront lot about 6 years ago they decided to incorporate two self contained one bedroom suites; Mango Deck a free standing casita, and Tequila Sunrise a private condo unit on the ground floor of their residence. They also added a bedroom unit that is available as additional accommodation for larger parties renting one or both of the other suites.
Their Guests enjoy these very comfortable self-contained units with private entrances as well as the oceanfront location with spectacular views and access to great amenities like the beautiful private swimming pool, outdoor fireplace, and even an aviary with a collection of colourful tropical birds. With their years of local experience, Lynn and Randy can fulfill their role as Hosts very well indeed, providing a wealth of information to their Guests so that they can make the most of their time visiting Loreto. A testament to the success of this operation is the large percentage of repeat visitors they have, people who consider this unique property as their “casita away from home”.
In closing, I would like to acknowledge the great contribution Lynn has been making to improving the communication and building stronger bonds within the ex-pat and larger community here in Loreto. As we grow together, this becomes a more and more important link for those of us here and for those who look forward to sharing the experience of “Living Loreto”.
