Sunday, January 25, 2015

New Businesses in Agua Viva enhance Loreto Bay!

There have been several recent additions to the amenities and services available within Loreto Bay this Season, all of them located in Agua Viva, the second phase of the Development which is on the north side of the Founder’s Neighborhood.  These businesses are a welcome addition to the lifestyle we enjoy here and I, like most Homeowners, want to encourage and support them as their success will bring others to our community as we continue to grow.

Although many people are attracted to Loreto Bay for the healthy lifestyle; planned as a walking community, with an open Beach running the length of the Development, surrounded by a reasonably priced Golf Course, and connected with miles of landscaped flagstone pathways ideal for leisurely walks or cycling.  But for some Residents and Visitors something has been missing – an indoor cardio and fitness center.

Introducing The Roadrunner Gym a new private Fitness Center that has just opened in the Agua Viva Neighborhood of Loreto Bay.  Operated by Erick and Alfredo, who also operate other businesses from their location in AV68, the bright attractive space is equipped with several pieces of Life Fitness exercise machines including a couple of treadmills, a recumbent cycle, an elliptical trainer, a Nordic Track and free weights.

This provides a new fitness alternative for those of us who may prefer to get our workout indoors, with programmable equipment in controlled conditions, when it may be too hot, humid or windy for outdoor exercise.  They are also offering a variety of payment options for daily, weekly or monthly use of the facility as well as a discounted monthly rate for couples and a long term three month rate (with additional months available) for single members and couples.













Those of you who know Loreto (and long term regular readers of this Blog) may be familiar with Dali Delicatessen a gourmet food specialty shop that operated in town for a number of years.  I wrote about it in these pages less than two years ago (http://livingloreto.blogspot.mx/2013/05/a-farewell-to-dali.html) when the couple who were the original proprietors decided to move their business to La Paz. 

By the following Fall a similar store was re-opened in the same location by another local entrepreneur, Pedro, who has operated a store and restaurants in and around Loreto for many years, including the main restaurant at the Airport.  Late last year Pedro rented a small storefront in Agua Viva and opened a satellite store to his larger one in town, which he has now packed with an amazing selection (considering the limited space available) of delicious foods and ingredients, many of which are imported and can’t be found in even the largest stores in Loreto.

 With a couple of freezers stocking perishables, like individually frozen portions of prime meats, as well as refrigerated dairy products and drinks, a good selection of wines and liquors, as well as dry and packaged goods, and even a sampling of fresh produce, Pedro with his assistant Pamela have managed to bring most of the best-selling items from his store in town so here in Loreto Bay we have a convenient source of entrees to build a fine meal around, and the special ingredients that make it memorable!

It seems that almost anywhere one travels in the developed world now there is a local version of
Pizza available, making this one of the most popular dishes everywhere.  That is true here in Loreto as well, with a number of Pizza restaurants in town competing for both the local Mexican clientele as well as the ex-pats and visitors who are looking for a familiar and favorite “comfort food”.  One of the most successful of these Loreto Pizzerias is Pepeginas, with a couple of locations in town, and, as of this Fall, a new branch here in Loreto Bay, opening in a location where another restaurant had operated last year. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I fancy myself as somewhat of a Pizza Connoisseur, having worked in a Pizza joint in Calgary as a part-time job in High School, and so I was anxious to try our local version when  it opened after I returned to Loreto Bay this Fall – and the verdict, two sticky thumbs UP!  This is a seriously good pie, nice thin crust, good cheese and ingredients – and best of all, IT’S HERE!  Although I had “hankered” for pizza often in past years, the logistics of driving 30 km round trip into town to pick one up never made much sense in the past.  But now I am able to order by phone and wander over to pick it up fresh and hot from the oven – yumm!  And if that’s not easy enough – they deliver, better yet, by bicycle (what else would you expect in a “sustainable” community!

When I dropped in to take some pictures for this post I met Sebastien and Cesar, who introduced themselves as the new management of the restaurant.  Sebastien, who will be taking over as the new Chef, said there would be some changes made to the Menu, offering a wider selection of options for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, while continuing to specialize in Pizzas.  They also pointed out that work was beginning to develop the vacant lot next door for a new extension to the limited space they currently have.

These three new businesses, all started in the past few months, are each offering products and services that are contribute to enhancing our lifestyle here in Loreto Bay; a fitness center with state of the art equipment that will help its members to keep in shape while providing a new social center, a food store that brings a sampling of gourmet foods and ingredients to our community along with convenience and another step towards independence, and another restaurant providing more variety and service to our growing population so we can dine and socialize here without having to always make the drive into town for a night out.


In conclusion, I can’t help thinking that it was only a few years ago that the idea of having these sort of businesses here in our community would have seemed highly unlikely, when access to a private fitness center, a gourmet food store and a delicious Pizza place was beyond the expectations of the small numbers of people starting a new life here in a new development.  Now, we welcome three new businesses, joining the growing commercial sector, and adding to the independence and options we enjoy as we are “Living Loreto”. 
 
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