An unseasonably cold spell hit the states and on a last minute whim we decided to find something warmer over the Veterans Day long weekend.  A phone call to our travel agent got us in and an email to the resort got us our favorite room.

Weather was the biggest news of the trip.  We actually got clouded out one of the days after about noon.  It had been trying to cloud over early and was somewhat windy so most everyone from the CO beach moved to the sheltered hot tub area and made do there.   After it became apparent that there was to be no more sun we gave up and headed back to the room.

But the next day was a return to the Loreto weather that everyone comes for and we put in a half day at the beach before heading for the airport.

Loreto is redoing the airport.  They are upgrading the restrooms, adding some more seating areas outside in the departure area and generally doing an expansion to the area where the old departure seating was.  They even added a car rental booth.  Hope this isn't a sign of too much progress.

Cell phones have come to the Loreto area.  Enough said.

Lots of Canadians at the resort this time.  There has been a new direct evening flight added from Canada and its very popular.  We like the Canadian visitors.   They are generally in groups, or bond with other Canadians quite quickly, are obviously fun loving and they enjoy the CO beach more than the Americans.

The conversion to Solare from Eden seems to have brought some good and some less than good.  It seems to me that they are trying to be more professional, but I'm not sure we go there for the professionalism.  There a certain charm to be had in being more Loreto and less cosmopolitan.

Our favorite performers from the shows have moved on, although there is rumor that Charlie is only on leave and will be back.  The change in activities crew is reflective of the change is staff in general.  Many more new faces on both staffs.

It was clear that the majority of the people at the resort were return visitors this time.  With only 3 visits we were among the less veteraned of the crowd.  And the first timers were all making plans to come back again.

That's about all to report from this sort trip.  Bottom line is it's still a great place and hopefully progress will continue to come slow to Loreto so that we can continue to enjoy the real value of the get away.

This is what may be a continuing series of reports on our trips to Solare Loreto. We visited Solare (then Eden) Loreto in March 2000 and returned for this visit in September 2000.

Let me say that they two visits were entirely different. The major differences being result of the weather.

September is very warm! As a result the number of visitors staying at the resort was low. We heard rumors of less than 50 people on some days.

With so few guests the resort experience is almost a private club atmosphere. Oh OK, maybe more like the Survivors Island without Richard and the Alliance rather than a private club. With so few people we found it much easier to meet people. We experienced a camaraderie among those of us there and as a result met some very nice people. If you're out on a beach in 100+ degree weather, you have to assume a certain common bond exists! Thanks to our new friends Donna, Joyce, Mark, Steve, Susan and Tom.

Downside of the weather and lack of attendance is that Pasqual doesn't open all of the specialty restaurants. I assume it's a cost savings deal. I would have no idea if that's a result of the different ownership, or if that occurred when the resort was under the Eden banner. We arrived on a Saturday and left the following Friday and the Mexican restaurant never did open. We had a beach buffet one night and I understand that a Mexican buffet on another night was supposed to have the same food as the Mexican restaurant, but we did miss the option of being able to visit La Cantina. The Italian restaurant was open about half the time and we did eat there twice.

With the limited options at the resort, we went into Loreto for dinner twice, both times revisiting La Terraza, with the same appreciation of their food and service as when we visited in March.

The change in ownership seems to have not brought any change in the attentiveness of the staff. They remain a joy. Although we will miss Cynthia and Cozme from the activities staff who resigned to move on with their young lives. An interesting note is that when I made the reservation for this trip I contacted the resort directly via email and requested a similar accommodation to the room we had in March. Julia in reservations actually promised us the same room, and unlike many disappointments in US service, she actually performed as promised. We are intrigued however by the end room (387) since it has an extra window in the south wall. That would provide some additional light, probably offset somewhat by additional noise from the hottub and/or the traffic coming up the steps. We may consider asking for that room next time.

Even with so few of us on the beach there was another stingray incident while we were there. The little rays blend into the sand in the cove off of the Clothing Optional beach and another guest got stung as I did in March.

We experienced some wind and rain from a passing hurricane early in our visit. It's clear that this is the rainy season as the terrain has a lot of green. In fact looking eastward toward the mountains you could envision the hills of Hawaii during their rainy season.

With the heat, and maybe since we had done many of the activities in March, we didn't do much of anything except lay on the beach and read. Actually this was perfectly fine with us. If you are embarrassed to return to work without a long list of "fun things we did on vacation" to talk about, then plan your trip to Solare Eden in the milder parts of the year. But if you can suck it up and admit to enjoying doing nothing but laying naked on a beach, hitting the water for some cool down, and sipping drinks while waiting to make the big walk over to the grill for some of Teresa's quesadillas, then you'd do OK in September. The water is so warm that we spent some time swimming around with snorkel and mask. Elaine enjoyed it the ONE time she made it outside the cove to where the fish are. Except for getting too close to the rocks where the fish actually were, and having too many fish around her when we fed them, she’s quite the snorkeler.

We will likely try a later spring or early summer trip next time, but we will be back.

Tom and Elaine

GENERAL COMMENTS

It's a wonderful experience. we would highly recommend you try it yourself. Whereas the resort appears large with its 3 story buildings, it does an excellent job of absorbing guests. We never felt like there was a crowd at any time. The lounge chairs at the beach were always available and only at the Italian restaurant did we ever have to wait at all for food service, and that wait was minimal. We're not sure where everybody goes, but it seems an intimate place even for its size.

All of the staff goes far out of their way to be friendly and helpful. There may at times be a language barrier, but we never found that barrier to be in the way of the staff doing their job. You may try and engage staff in general conversation outside of their duties and at that point you may get into communication problems, but if you stick to the staff person's job we never had a problem. And you will want to try and talk with the staff on a conversational level if only because they are so friendly and you feel like you would like to know them better.

We found that the Adult Only aspect made for a very enjoyable atmosphere. Having no small children or teenagers trying to find ways to entertain themselves is great. Guests ranged from early 20's to 70's with the majority in the 40-60 range. And the guests acted like adults including dressing like adults. Actual resortwear was seen in abundance. Cutoff jeans and holey t-shirts were NOT packed by the guests. A casual "formal" attire was deriguer.

The resort has all levels of involvement for its guests. You could do nothing, or you could do any number of organized activities, the call is yours. We are not by nature "tour" people, so organized activities have no appeal to us and we were fine with that. We didn't take advantage of any of the staff lead aerobics, volleyball, ceramic painting, biggest splash contest, dance lessons, spanish lessons etc etc, but they were there for those who would enjoy them.

I'm sure that the tone of a visit is influenced by the conduct of the other resort guests, but during our stay we found everyone pleasant and friendly. We did get what was likely the first of the college crowd spring breakers on the last few days and they can act pretty immature.

STAFF

It is startling to see how much is expected of and delivered by the staff at Eden Loreto. At check in Adrian helped us with our bags to our room. (There is some claim that there is an elevator at Eden Loreto, but the only evidence we ever found of it was signs claiming to point in its direction) We were on the third floor and we pack heavy! Adrian lifted the heaviest bag to his shoulder and climbed the steps. Later in our stay we would see him carting around bar supplies and at other times he would be found sweeping sidewalks. Adolfo would be cleaning dishes from our table in the restaurant during the dinner hour and then he would be taking our drink orders in the disco that evening. It seemed that there was a large staff, but much of that appearance was because of employees doing double and triple duties.

Those staff who were assigned specific tasks were all found to be excellent. Armando at the Hot Tub bar was always willing to concoct something special if you asked him. When I punctured my foot on something in the beach he was right on top of calling the onsite medic and had him there very quickly.

Francisca of housekeeping trained us immediately. I tend to find a corner to "unpack" shoes into. The first day we came back after Francisca had cleaned our room, every pair of shoes had been moved to the floor of the closet and perfectly arranged. Everything that could be fan-folded was (towels, bath mats, kleenex, t-paper, covers for the drink glasses), our dirty laundry was neatly put away and our robes were folded and placed on the pillows of the bed. She is a marvel.

Theresa at the Oasis grill will cook away whatever hunger you may have. She keeps a steady stream of guest moving through her station, grilling up any number of taco, quesadilla and hamburgesa delectibles.

The Activities Staff is cordial and makes everyone feel that they are a special guest. By the end of our 9-day stay we felt we knew many of them.

ROOMS

We stayed in room 382 and I don't know that there is a better room in the place. It's an ocean view, king-sized bed room on the third floor. Ground level rooms have their patios actually lower than the surrounding land and we're not fond of people walking by. Second floor rooms have a balcony that has a railing that may allow for more breeze during the warmer weather, but the third floor balconies have a solid wall up to railing height. This provides privacy if you want to sit out on the balcony naked to cool off after some strenuous activity.

We found little external noise from either traffic going by the room or from neighbors.

Water pressure was fine and hot water was not a problem during our stay. The resort's water is purified, so that was not a concern.

Each room appears to have a safe, but you need to get the locking mechanism from the front desk. We didn't bother, as we had no fear of theft.

CLOTHING OPTIONAL BEACH

The beach was well used, but not overcrowded. Most of the time the CO beach had more people using it than the prude beach. I assume this is because the folks at that end of the resort were more pool people than beach people.

Nude was the dress code on the CO beach. There were a few ladies (Elaine included) who left their bathing suit bottoms on, but they were in the minority. The only voyeurs seemed to be a group of guys who's wives had let them go fishing and they were there for a few days at the end of the week. They were quite drunk their first day, but seemed to settle down after that.

Average age on the CO beach was likely 45.

RUNNING

I run, so I would head off in the mornings for 3-5 miles. I ran along the highway. There are dirt paths along both sides of the highway that work out fine for running. It's all flat for miles. I competed for the path with cows most mornings and with a small herd of burros one morning. Other than that there was no one else out there.

ACTIVITIES WE DID NOT DO

The boat Harmony that has an arrangement with the resort to provide sailing tours was involved in a paperwork dispute between the resort and the federales, so it was not sailing during our stay.

There are ATV's available for rent. We understand that a popular destination if you rent is Agua Primera, a "spring fed pool" nearby.

Fishing is very popular in Loreto. A number of guests were catching plenty of fish. Yellowtail was in season during our stay. If you fish and plan on bringing back your catch, it apparently is a good idea to bring your cooler with you. Coolers bring a premium price in Loreto, so bring yours if you think you'll be transporting fish home after your stay.

ACTIVITIES WE DID DO

3/25-Saturday-The show put on by the activity staff was the Aloha show. Not very Hawaiian, but the staff works very hard at entertaining. Saturdays are toga night at the disco. They pass out "togas" on the way into the disco and there are prizes for the most original and sexiest toga dancer. The Saturday dj liked the newer synthesized music that is all beat and not recognizable.

3/26-Sunday-Show is a Retro Music number. The disco music got better.

3/27-Monday-Show was a Broadway Hits theme. We had spent some of the day in Loreto doing shopping. It's $11 each way by taxi. C&C travel provided a shuttle into Loreto twice a day (9 a.m. and 5 p.m., returns at 12:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.) On Thursdays because of the influx of Canadian tours they don't make the Loreto trips. There is very little shopping in Loreto. The town is very small.

3/28-Tuesday-We played tennis at the tennis complex. Plenty of room. You can borrow equipment at the Activity Desk. It's still tough playing with 51 year old balls though. It doesn't look like John McEnroe has been by in quite awhile. The beach at Eden is imported and protected by artificial breakwater/coves. The bottom is very rocky and even wearing neoprene surf shoes I managed to have my foot slip off of a rock and puncture the side of my heel. The good news is that it pumped blood for a long time and the medic said that was a good sign.

Show that night was Ideal Couples. Actually it was by far the funniest show of our stay. Don't miss that show.

3/29-Wednesday-Since my foot was still wanting to bleed, I walked the beach in the morning instead of running. I walked south to the golf course and the new hotel that is being built. It seems that the hotel has been under construction for 3 or more years now. But that's to be expected when you build things one wheelbarrow of concrete at a time.

We rode bikes (again there are plenty) down to the new hotel with Cynthia from the Activities Staff.

Show was the Disney version of Alladin. Assistant Activities Director Charlie makes a good genie.

3/30-Thursday-We took out a two person paddleboat and trekked around the anchored Harmony. We went into Loreto for dinner and ate at La Terraza. Meal of lobster, bacon wrapped filet mignon, baked potatoes, couple of wines and beers came to $40US.

3/31-Friday-Headed off to the golf course for a round (9 hole) of golf. Rented clubs ($20US per set) and pull carts ($7US). You can make reservations at the golf course throughout the day and at Eden after 4 p.m. for the next day. We had made a 9:40 reservation and teed off at about, or a little earlier than, that time. The golf course shuttle runs every half hour, although they seem to run when they have people waiting also. There are no green fees, so if you brought clubs and a pull cart you'd be playing for free.

The show was a Latin America theme.

4/1-Saturday-Took out a two person kayak. The show was a Two Worlds (Spain and Mexico) theme.