Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort

LA BUENA VIDA EN

BUENA VISTA

"The good life in Buena Vista........."

October Newsletter

Our newsletter catch-up project has hit more bumps than a Mexican highway, but we’re giving it a solid try. Hopefully, and with a little suerte, we’ll do November in the next few weeks and then finish up the year. But for now, join us as we re-visit October and all its fall fishing magic.

In general, we had magnificent weather with the exception of a few days of unusual north winds and some grumpy seas when Hurricane Paul reared its ugly head. The hurricane was a Category I and got near us, it roiled the water enough so that a few anglers cancelled their fishing and opted for one of our tours. A day of seeing the sights and scenery of La Paz on a loop down to Cabo isn’t a bad way to spend the day. Remember that in case you ever get weathered out of comfortable fishing – or you’d just like a change of pace – we offer lots of alternatives!

How are your vacation plans for 2007 coming??

Believe it or not, some 2007 weekends are already filled. But as a special thank-you to our returning guests, families and reunion groups, we’re offering our usual “Return Guest Special”. If you reserve and pay in full by Jan. 31, you will receive 20% off rooms, and 10% off boats. For additional information and to clear available dates, call us toll-free at 800-752-3555.

Fishin’ Friends

We started October with my dad tournament, we had a blast. You can read more about it in the Fish Story section.

In addition to Chuy’s Catch & Release Tournament, we either hosted or participated in a number of tournaments in October including:

The Lynn Rose Tours East Cape Classic. The tournament headquartered at a competitor hotel, but we provided three boats and our Vagabundo did exceptionally well.

The ALMA Tournament raises funds for animal humane work and they raised a couple thousand dollars this year. Congratulations on some fine fishing and a great charity.

And, finally, television host Dan Hernandez’s event featured prizes for everyone, more fun than a team of Chinese acrobats and plenty of memories to share. Dan definitely knows how to find the fish and have fun doing it.

The Groups Keep Coming

Groups of friends, employees and fishing fanatics continue to make our resort their home away from home. In October, we hosted our good friend Stan Baucum with a group of 10; Fiesta Sportfishing from Phoenix, Ariz., with 16; Norm Jacobson and his top 24 Lance RV sales people from around the country; the Mark Garcia party of 12; and Greg Lecea from the northeastern Mexican city of Ciudad Victoria with 17 guests.

Our Convention Center played host to a group of 100 ladies from the Jafra Cosmetics empire. Jafra has been providing quality cosmetics for over 50 years and these high-flying saleswomen were a pure delight. Our staff loved them!

They’re Ba-a-a-a-ck!

The number of return guests we welcome each month never ceases to amaze us. As guests check-out, they often make their next reservations. October returnees included –

John Echeverria, Togo Hazard (there’s hardly a month when good friend Togo doesn’t return), Lance Peterson, Bob Ralston, Ken and Nelson Goodsell, Ron Carroll, Howard Henry and Erin Hurlbut.

Others were Dave Foster, Josh Dickinson, David Hardy, Ken Alt, Eric Lauritzen, Tim Ketcham, Debra Carlson, Michael Carpenter, Lou Duchane, Mark Garcia, Lynn Marcoux, Dennis Noble, John Fox, Andrew Tersteeg, Carlos Soto, Ed Nakamura, Steve Wilberg, Susan McBrien, Susan Colyer and Daniel Winter.

We also welcomed back Bryan Chapman, who took the opportunity of his visit to propose to his girlfriend; Maria and Jose Muriello, Aureliano Hernandez, David Rocha, and Peter Webber. If we missed any returnees, our sincere apologies and we promise to catch you next time.

I almost forgot to mentioned this returned guests, they normally don't come every year, but once every few years they visit us.

Thank you for your participation and continued support. May God Bless you as we head into the fall months, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. Look for the November Newsletter soon. We promise!

Click Here for October 2006 Fish Total

In the News

This month in the news section is an article written by our good friend Steve Carson, and it is a great story as it shows how small the world is. It was published in the Chico Enterprise Record, but it could well be published somewhere else, but with different origen of our guests.

Click here to read it

Special Deals and Events You Won't Want to Miss!

january

"RETURN GUEST SPECIAL"

You have been our guest in the past, don't forget to call in and ask for your special discount. Don't take too long as it will only go until January 31st, 2007

january, february and March

WINTER SPECIALS!!!

Stay 3 Nights and get the 4th free! Or Stay 5 Nights and get the 6th and 7th nights free. Book Now and Save Big!

click here to book your reservation on line

Did You Know?

Little known tidbits of Hotel Buena Vista's History

The Question of the Month was, for many years, it was customary for resorts in the area and in Cabo to close during the hurricane season. What was the period that we formerly closed? When did we begin opening that during that time period?

And the answer is we were closed August 1st to September 30th. We began opening 12 months a year in 1988 because of the satellite TV Weather Channel which gave us up-to-the-minute forecasts, allowing our staff to hunker down and button up for a bad storm.

Throughout these years we have had several storms close, far away and actually hitting our area. There is definitely a learning curve to understand such natural phenomenon or at least understand up to what extend we can be safe. It is a learning process that we still continue to try to decipher, but one thing has helped us thrive on learning as much as possible, and it is that we can provide more information and it is helpful for the whole community.

Once again there were no correct answer to this month trivia questions. We'll do an easier question in order to see if we can get a winner.

Contest of the Month!

October Question of the Month:

There is a distinct relationship between the area of Santiago, about 15 minutes away, and the resort hotel? What is the relationship and how are we joined forever?

First person in with the correct answer will receive a special tour to Santiago and its surrounding areas.

Send your answer to: info @hotelbuenavista.com

Fish Stories & Adventure Stories

10th Annual

Chuy's Catch and Release

What many consider to be the Best of All Worlds – a fishing tournament, fiesta and reunion all wrapped into one event – was held Oct. 7-11. This was the 10^th anniversary of the tournament that honors my father, Chuy Valdez, and we all had a great time!

The winner was Henry Howard and Henry Howard Sr. from Los Angeles, Calif. It is always a pleasure to have Henry and his dad back visiting us, it was very nice to see Henry doing very well. Here’s a little bit of “Enrique’s” letter to us about the event:

“Thanks again to you and the Valdez family for another memorable – TRULY memorable – weekend! That was one of the most fun fishing experiences I have ever had, although my success breaks down to about 40% dumb luck of being in the right place at the right time, 50% because of the expertise of Jesus and Mauricio, and maybe 10% my fishing skill.”

Chuy’s Final count:

First Place

The Eclipse with 2,400 points. First day: 5 striped marlin released; Second day: 1 striper released by the team of Henry (Enrique) Howard and his dad. Note: This was Henry’s Howard’s Fourth Win in a Chuy’s Tournament. His previous wins were a few years ago, but he was hurt in a tragic auto accident three years ago and this was his first opportunity to defend his title. Henry donated his winning prize to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Here in the picture Henry shows the Chuy's C&R trophy. Several of those silver names are his from past years.

Second Place

The Bill Collector with 1,650 points. First day: 3 striped marlin released and 1 dorado; Second day: 1 striper released. The runner-up was our neighbors Barb and Rod Albright, who always participate in the tournament.

Third Place

The Dottie B II with 1,500 points. First day: 1 blue marlin and 1 42-pound dorado (which won the dorado jackpot); Second day: 3 sailfish released and 1 dorado. Team members were Togo Hazard, Gary Mingo, Bob Casey and Bob Angelo.

The Tuna Jackpot was won be Erin Hurlbut on the 3 Hermanos with a 36-pounder.

Final fish count: One blue marlin released; 10 striped marlin released; seven sailfish released; 39 dorado; and five tuna.

It was so good to see The Goodsell Family and all our returning visitors and tournament competitors. Just remember the first weekend in October, 2007. See you then!

Nuestra Cocina

SUZANNA’S JALAPEÑO BROWNIES

I met Suzanna Colyer at the Hotel Buena Vista’s 25^th anniversary party in 2001. Since she’s been traveling Baja her entire adult life, we share many passions. She immediately bonded with my family, and has spent every Thanksgiving and my dad’s birthday with us in Buena Vista since then. In 2003 we all took a wildlife cruise from La Paz to Loreto and saw every kind of whale imaginable (including Orcas!). We spend a few days with her in Nevada on our way to and from Idaho every summer. So … yeah …we’re family. This is Suzanna’s favorite oddball Mexican recipe. It’s spicy, sweet and of course, chocolaty. It’s definitely unique and a crowd pleaser. Makes about a dozen brownies.

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup butter
4 large eggs
½ tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
8 large canned jalapeño peppers, minced
¾ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

¼ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly oil a 9 x 13 inch pan. Melt butter and chocolate chips together in a double boiler. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat eggs with salt until foamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until well blended. Add the chocolate butter mixture and stir until just barely combined. Add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until almost blended. Fold in jalapeños and nuts.

Transfer batter to the prepared pan and bake until the top forms a cracked crust and the inside looks slightly moist, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool, then cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar.

This recipe (along with all your favorites from the resort) is from Ann Hazard's new book, Cooking With Baja Magic Dos. Available online or at our gift shop, this book offers up the best in Baja cuisine. With 250 recipes, 80 colored illustrations and travel and adventure stories spanning four generations, this is a must-have for everyone who loves Baja!