Slow Baja - Travel Talk With Slow Baja Meet Yolanda Contreras GM Of The Guaycura Boutique Hotel Beach Club And Spa Todos Santos B.C.S.

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

In today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja, we sit down for a quick chat with Yolonda Contreras, General Manager of the Guaycura Boutique Hotel Beach Club and Spa in the heart of Todos Santos, Baja, California Sur. We stayed at the beautiful Guaycura on the 2019 BajaXL Rally and enjoyed the ample accommodations, romantic rooftop deck, and gracious staff. The El Faro Beach Club & Spa is the Guaycura's beach club and swimming pool located two miles south of Todos Santos. Situated on a secluded and pristine beach, the El Faro is the place to spend a relaxing day in the sun. Book a massage or chill poolside enjoying a margarita; the El Faro is a Slow Baja favorite! El Mirador Restaurant is the third piece of the Guaycura trifecta. Locally sourced Mexiterranean farm-to-table cuisine meets fine dining and stunning sunsets. We ate there in July and were blown away by the setting, the scene, and the fare. Open Tuesday thru Sunday, from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Camino al Mirador Restaurant 1, Todos Santos, BCS, 23300. The Guaycura Boutique Hotel, El Faro Beach Club and Spa, and El Mirador Restaurant are Slow Baja approved! You can find the latest promotion and book your room directly at the Guaycura Boutique Hotel website. email: [e-mail] Visit Guaycura Boutique Hotel on Facebook Visit Guaycura Boutique Hotel on Instagram Mexico: Tel. [phone] Toll-Free From US & CAN [phone] Tell them that Slow Baja sent you!

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Hey, I want to tell you about your new must-have accessory for your next Baja trip. Benchmark Maps has released a beautiful, beautiful Baja California Road and Recreation Atlas. 72-page large format book of detailed maps and recreation guides that makes the perfect planning tool for exploring Baja. Pick yours up at benchmarkmaps.com. It's Jolanda and the G& of the Waikuda Group, which is we have three beautiful venues in one boutique hotel in Tos Santos. And we are sitting right now in this moment in a beautiful view in the

route off of the Waikura Hotel, which had a beautiful oasis view. And the town, in the other side, we have a, that tier, the mission from the house, and it's a beautiful spot right here. So, um, we are starting with the Waikura Road, which we're starting in the hotel. The people stay here, enjoy that town, the town. They, you just, stay in a beautiful rooms and then next time they just wake up they had a very good breakfax in our restaurant in the rooftop and then after that they got to El Fado our beautiful beach club and they enjoy all the beautiful spot there with that they can see the Punta lovos there which we had a very very

catch of the day, fish that we provide to our guests there. They have an organic festival. They have a very good cocktail to enjoy, very good tequila, mescal, and all those to really enjoy a beautiful stay in El Faro. So El Faro has... Let me jump in right here. Yolanda loves her work. I just want to say, we're going to start with Slow Baja approved.

The Baja visitor, Ted Donovan, and I stayed here in 2019 when we were on the Baja XL rally. And it's just a beautiful oasis in a beautiful Pueblo Magioco. So can you tell me a little bit about this building and Toto Santos? Oh, yes. This is an 18th century building. is one of the oldest in this town. And this was first, was like the house of the Dominguez family.

And after that, they bring to the Santos of the cane sugar right here that they produce. And then after that, this building come from a school teacher. And then after that was the student house where all the people from around here, all the little ranchers around here, they come and stay here for go to the school, to the junior high or to the elementary because in the ranch, they don't have any school there. So, and then after that was a post office as well. And yeah, that has a lot of... Well, it's a beautifully situated building, and right in the heart of downtown Toto Santos. It's a stunning brick construction, and we're on the rooftop deck, which I've been here in the evening at sunset, and it's a beautiful view. You get to really take a good look around, and the stunning view and great service from the bartenders.

I like this hotel, and I'm going to tell you why I like this hotel. This hotel is beautifully designed in a traditional manner. but the details are right. The sheets are beautiful. The rooms are large. The showers, the bathrooms are spectacular. The tile work. It's very traditional, but it's very, very well executed.

So tell me about the approach of Waikura and your boutique hotels view on hospitality. Well, we are like for us, the more important thing is our guest. we really want to, you know, that our guests, that they, when they come to the hotel, to this boutique hotel, they feel like they're in home, away home. So we really want, I mean, that those, our guests, they really feel like, like very personal service, that they really enjoy, they stay. We try, you know, to be a friend of our guests. They also feel like we are like part of the family. We really like those little details that are more important to make feel to our guests. And how many rooms do you have here? We had 14 rooms. So it's an intimate hotel. It's small. It's a

beautiful, small, intimate hotel, and you can walk to anything here in the downtown of Toto Santos. And if you want to go to El Faro, now, most people come here, they fly in, they drive, they rent a car in Cabo, and they drive here. But do you have a service that will take your guests to El Faro? Well, most of our guests, they have a car, so they are like, feel very free to go at any time. And, um, and, um, and most of the guests, they have a car. So they, they are like, they are like, they're free. And, people also they they just take a taxi they stay in other hotel also El Faro is another the only beach club that we have a very with high standard and how many rooms there no El Faro is just a beach club just a beach club so okay so when I saw it I did

we have a spa we have a restaurant okay that's what I saw yeah a little cabin by the beach area so you say and it's a nice little drive you drive down a dirt road and into some sand and it's beautiful when you get there. Yeah, it's a really nice experience. You go driving to town and then just pass for that very charming town and then just go to the road by Punta Lobos. And then when you get there, you see like El Faro, which is a lighthouse. It's a real lighthouse for the fishing men that they in Punta Lobos.

And then when you get there, you have a very nice spot around there. the middle and nowhere and at the same time you are very close to uh to town it's about 10 minutes beautiful swimming pool beautiful bar beautiful palapa lovely beach spa services okay it's totally in the middle and that you know in the nowhere but at the same time but lovely yeah and then last night i had a spectacular dinner at el mirador so describe el mirador um el mirador is um i can say that is the icon of the Toto Santos is a beautiful spot. I think the most beautiful in, I can say, in the Baja to see and, and. You may be right.

You may be right. See that sunset and enjoy a delicious food there as well. You have a garden there. So is the food, all the food grown there or most of it, some of it, how would you say? Yeah. Most of our vegetables, we have it for our gardens, part of then, and fresh herbs. And also, we have it like, you know, that fish also is literally catch for that day. Yeah, literally maybe caught that day, yes.

So it's farmed-to-table, it's locally sourced, but really what sets it apart is the setting, the location. the location. It's stunning. You're on a bluff, you're overlooking the ocean, and the sun comes down, and it sets right into the water, and then you see, like we saw it last night, you see the green flash. Just as the sun goes into the water, you see that. And then when the stars are out, it's spectacular. Yeah, it's amazing place. Even, I can say, one of the best view for citizens. And currently there are some restrictions with the government and COVID on the number of drinks. So we were moderate in our consumption. We had a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine.

Can you explain to folks who might be coming down soon what's happening with current government restrictions on rooms and eating and drinking and what have you? Well, it's supposed to be in this coming week. is we're going to get the, we're going to increase our percentage of, of the capacity. So I think next week we're going to have a, I hope, good news for this. It's been a very tough year, hasn't it? Uh-huh. Yes, yes. Well, Toto Santos is as beautiful as ever.

Can you talk a little bit about where people can find information and how they should book a room at the Waikura if they want to come? Yes. Yeah, they can go directly to our web page, which is www.wikura.com. Or they can go to our reservation in singular reservation at waikura.com. or they can just call directly to the hotel, which is 612-1750-080-0-0-0. And this will all be on the show notes on Slowbaha.com. Slow-Baha approved, Slow Baja, highly recommended, the rooftop bar, the Mirdador, El Faro for a swim and a cold, cold beer in the afternoon. It's all top shelf, fabulous.

and I say, get down here while you can. So thanks, Yolanda, for making some time for slow Baja, and I hoped our paths cross soon. Thank you, and please come and enjoy Baja and Toto Santis, an amazing town, and a beautiful spot around here. Thank you. Absolutely right. Thank you, Yolanda.

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