David and I recently had a great experience visiting an old colonial village/town in the Mountains of Jalisco, called San Sebastian del Oeste, a quaint little village. As you know, David and I are from Ontario, Canada. Something immediately came to mind while we ascended up the mountain, driving through the cobble stone streets. It felt like Europe and it looked like Europe. The air was thinner and the temperature a little bit cooler. There was a definite sense of community and you got the feeling that everyone knows everyone. The greeting we received from the townspeople was nothing short of forthcoming and welcoming. It was quite funny as well….when two realtors show up to town….it seemed like everyone was alerted. I mentioned that Dave and I are from Ontario, Canada because an hour and a half north of Toronto there is a place called Muskoka. It houses a mixture of locals and the well to due from the south have bought up most of the land and built cottages on lakes which are usually used for weekend getaways. This is the feeling I got while visiting San Sebastian. These are cottage style houses sitting in a serene location in the Mountains. We came all the way up the mountain to see one property in particular. It had a guest house on the property and there was so much wildlife and greenery around sitting atop of a ravine. To put it simply, it was beautiful. I could really see the appeal this town has.
After Dave did his thing with the drone and pictures, I was finishing up the description of the property. Word had got out about the realtors coming to town and we were off to see another two properties. Dave sat up front of an old red pick up truck with the owner driving. I was back in the box of the truck riding (Mexican) haha. It was a journey to our next destination. This old red truck was rattling through the beaten paths we could call roads, slowly puttering through streams of water and rocks. This owner also owned a hotel right in the heart of the village. I think he will be listing it with us. Im sure 20 years ago the hotel wasn’t valued too high…but given recent booms to values in San Sebastian…Im sure he’s considering on riding the wave of cash that seems to be flowing into Jalisco these days. Listen….it baffles me honestly, but the beach, sand and sun aren’t for everyone. The mountains has a whole different appeal. Cooler temperatures, lush greenery everywhere, fresh water flowing down the mountain on a regular basis, old colonial houses and cobble stone streets…it really is fantastic. I got to thinking…..who would be interested in something like this….and then bang, a light bulb popped into my head. I received a Kijiji lead from an ad I had going in Canada. A nice older East Indian man was looking for something to come and retire too. There was specific things he requested. He told me the ocean wasn’t important to him, him and his wife don’t care for the beach too much, he is used to slightly cooler temperatures and ideally would love to live in the mountains. This was the sort of climate and atmosphere he was used to and it suits him because where he was from in India was quite the same.
And like I said, BANG…..sounds like I’m onto something!