We are pleased to announce that the construction of the portion of the coastal highway, the "Costera", that passes near Santo Tomás was begun on July 5th, 2010.  This construction will bring a major highway within 7 miles of Santo Tomás, running north-south along the eastern edge of the Ejido, Alvaro Obregon (the village you pass through on the way to Santo Tomas).

    The Costera highway runs from San Luis, on the US border south of Yuma, east along the coast to Puerto Peñasco and then south all the way to Guaymas, 240 miles south of Santo Tomás.  It is a two-lane road with wide shoulders, similar to the road from the US border to Rocky Point.  The driving time from San Diego to Puerto Peñasco on this new highway is 5 hours.

    The Costera is being completed in sections:  The sections are:  San Luis to Puerto Peñasco (Finished), Puerto Peñasco to Desemboque (under construction), Desemboque to Puerto Lobos (Finished), Puerto Lobos to Puerto Libertad (60% done), Puerto Libertad to Kino Bay (next), Kino Bay to Guaymas (last).

    The section of the Costera from Puerto Peñasco to Desemboque follows the Puerto Peñasco-Caborca Highway until the Caborca Highway turns inland toward Caborca (6 miles north of Alvaro Obregon).  At this point, the Costera separates from the Caborca Highway and heads due south, passing along the east side of Alvaro Obregon and then continues south until it intersects with the current highway from "Y Griega" to Desemboque.

    Work crews are currently paving from the Ejido south to the Desemboque highway and will finish this 10 mile stretch by mid-October.  They will then begin paving from the Ejido northward, a distance of 6 miles, in order to connect with the Caborca highway.  This new highway will cut 10 miles off of the drive from Puerto Peñasco to Santo Tomás.

    In conjunction with this highway work, we plan to extend the east-west paved road that is south of the ejido so that it passes to the south of the church and provides a straight and clear exit toward Santo Tomás.  We will install a culvert at the current end of the paved road and extend the pavement westward.

    The continuation of this infrastructure project by the Mexican government, even in the midst of a recession, shows just how committed Mexico is to the development of the tourist industry in northern Sonora.  Very soon, travel to Santo Tomás from the United States will be easier than ever.

Read the full text of the Update Letter Regarding the Costera Highway

Grape season starts in June.  The farms around Santo Tomás grow red and green table grapes as well as grapes for raisins and brandy.  Be sure to let the guards know if you would like some local grapes.

Cecy Hernandez has put together a menu for ordering meals and a la carte items such as tortillas and tamales.  A copy of the menu has been left in each of the houses and is also on the website.  Bottled water in various sizes including 5 gallon dispensers can also be ordered so that visitors to Santo Tomás who wish to use purified water don’t have to transport bulky (and heavy) water containers from the US.  If you wish to order water, salsas, tamales or tortillas, let us know ahead of time and they will be waiting for you when you arrive.

The owners of condo A201 moved in at the end of May.  This 2nd story unit has two bedrooms and 2 and ½ baths.  The owners plan to offer it for rental in the coming months.

April and May are a great time for fishing from the beach at Santo Tomás.  During these months, many fish come close to shore.  One of these is the corvina, sometimes described as a “sea trout”.  The fish is similar in structure to a trout or silver salmon.  Sizes range from 14 to 24 inches with some as large as 28 inches.  The fish are caught in areas of the shore with steeper banks starting about one hour before high tide.  Sometimes, there are one or two strikes for every cast.  The best lure is a silver spoon such as a KastMaster.  Many fishermen make an annual trip to Santo Tomás in order to fish for corvina.  This season, several fishermen caught more than 100 corvinas and several 26” and 28” corvinas were caught.

Construction is underway on lots 82 and 103.  An especially striking brick cupola was completed over the great room of lot 103.  The cupola rises from straight walls with 8 angles and through a combination of intertwined arches, finishes as an elliptical dome.  It also has additional brick patterns and a boveda tower in the center.  It was built by an artisan/mason from Guadalajara and is one of the most impressive cupolas in the subdivision.  The availability of these types of architectural features is another reason to build in Mexico.  A dome like this would be very difficult and expensive to incorporate into a US house.

The largest cash crop in the Santo Tomás region is asparagus. Asparagus grows well in maritime climates and is salt tolerant. Many of the fields along the roadways to Santo Tomás are full of bushy, 3 foot high asparagus plants. The plants grow until the frost comes in winter and then they are burned. The sprouts that come up are the asparagus that is cut, graded and packaged for export to the US. Asparagus is a great source of vitamins A, B6, C, E, K, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin plus copper, manganese, potassium and selenium. It also contains the amino acid asparagine. If you stay in Santo Tomás during asparagus season, let us know and we will get you some complimentary asparagus from a local field. The season is generally late December through mid-March.

Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico a charming little beach town with great fishing on the Northern tip of the Sea of Cortez will see the opening of a new International Airport on September 10, 2009. Read more

The lot 96 home was completed and turned over to its owner. The home is the first one located in Las Dunas Seccion II. It is a single story,2,933 square foot home with 4 bedrooms and 4 baths. It has marble floors and is trimmed with cantera, a light weight volcanic stone that is quarried in Mexico.

Staking and surveying was started for the portion of the coastal highway that will run south toward Santo Tomás. This highway follows the eastern coastline of the Sea of Cortez from Tijuana to Rocky Point and on to Puerto Libertad (approximately 100 miles south of Santo Tomás) and finally to Guaymas, 300 miles south of Santo Tomás. The portion between Tijuana and Rocky Point has already been completed and customers from San Diego can drive to Santo Tomás in 6 hours. The segment between Rocky Point and Desemboque follows the current road alignment from Rocky Point to Caborca until the "machudo" curve where the dirt road short cut heads south to the ejido by Santo Tomás (Alvaro Obregon). At this point, the coastal highway will continue due south and pass on the eastern edge of the ejido and continue south to the road to Desemboque. This will bring a major highway within 7 miles of Santo Tomás.

The portion of the coastal highway between the "machudo" curve (the sharp curve that turns east toward Caborca where we have our first billboard sign) and the ejido is scheduled to be paved by December, 2009. By January, 2010, travelers coming from Rocky Point will be able to drive directly to the ejido and shorten the trip on paved road by 10 miles.

Construction was begun on a home on Lot 103, an oversize estate lot in Las Dunas Seccion II. The home is 2,100 square feet and has three bedrooms with three baths. Special features include a large brick cupola and custom made arched wood doors. Additionally, another model home in the Aguila subdivision, the "Palo Fierro" was completed and furnished. The home is 2,188 square feet in size, two stories with upper and lower floor patios.

A new two story home was started on Lot 82 in Las Dunas, Section I. The home features one bedroom on the lower floor along with a great room and kitchen. The second floor has two large bedrooms and a covered patio terrace on the side toward the beach that is 12 feet deep and 40 feet long. The home also has a roof terrace on top of the second story, providing spectacular views in all directions. Lot 82 is one of the highest lots in the Las Dunas Subdivisions and the ground floor of the home is 55 feet above sea level.

One of the more popular architectural features in Santo Tomas is the brick cupola (dome). These domes are built by specialists from Guadalajara, Mexico. The domes are self supporting and do not contain any rebar. Each brick presses downwards and outwards against the bricks below. The bottom of the dome is supported by a concrete steel reinforced collar. The bricks (ladrillo pichuela) are a lightweight, clay brick that is fired in an open bonfire which allows the flames of the fire to pass across the surface of the brick and give it a varied color and texture. In Santo Tomás, all brick cupolas are insulated with Styrofoam in order to provide the same level of insulation as the rest of the roof. In March, brick cupolas were constructed on the second story condo building, the lot 22 stairway tower and the two Aguila models, lots 45 and 46.

A new home was started on lot 57 of the Las Dunas subdivision. This home is two stories high. The lower story consists of a studio bedroom on the lower floor with a covered patio area, a laundry room and a 6 car garage. The top floor has a combined kitchen, dining room, living room and two bedrooms and two and one-half baths.

An 8 yard capacity cement truck has been imported and delivered to Santo Tomás and it is now operational. This cement truck and the associated loading hoppers greatly increase our concrete pouring capacity. They also improve the overall concrete quality by allowing us to make monolithic pours and do a more thorough mixing of the concrete components.

The lot 55 home was completed and turned over to its owners. This home has an area of 1,613 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. The kitchen, dining room and living room are a single combined room. The home is the first to be built on Caracoles street and sits on a cul-de-sac lot at the very north edge of Las Dunas. The home also has a lower level, two car garage with a patio terrace.

Construction started on the first Aguila model home, the “Mesquite, model 1570” on Las Dunas lot 45. The home features three bedrooms, two baths, a combined kitchen /dining room / great room, a street-side covered patio, a two car garage and a large roof-top terrace. The great room will have the optional brick dome. The Aguila Mesquite sells for $171,864 with a one-car garage, lot included.

As the number of Santo Tomás full-time residents and part-time visitors increases, so does the amount of trash and other waste that needs to be processed. In September, a trash incineration program was started. As trash is collected from the Las Dunas subdivision, it is sorted into glass, aluminum, ferrous metal and combustible categories. Glass is crushed for landfill burial. Ferrous metals and aluminum are stored for recycling. Combustibles are burned in a forced-air incinerator. These procedures reduce trash volume by over 99% and preserve our environment for future generations.

A new and important piece of machinery, a Liftall 4WD forklift was delivered to Santo Tomás in August 2007. This forklift has an extending 30 foot boom and can lift 8,000 pounds with the boom fully extended. It weighs 25,000 pounds and is powered by a John Deere diesel engine. It is extremely maneuverable and all four wheels can be steered. It is used to lift building materials onto to upper floors, to hoist a one-yard cement bucket for roof-top pours and to unload building materials as they are delivered to Santo Tomás.

Construction started on lot 86, a beach front lot in Las Dunas. The home is two stories high with an area of 3,156 square feet. There are 4 bedrooms and 4 and 1/2 baths. The home features a large kitchen-great room, a roof top terrace and fireplace, a beach side outside bar and a two over-size one car garages.

Construction was started on Lot 22, a second tier lot located at 1046 Estrella del Mar. The home is two stories high on the west side towards the street and three stories high on the inland side. It has an area of 2,976 square feet with 3,860 square feet under roof. It has a turret stairway, 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths and an oversize one-car garage. The roof terrace is accessed by a cantilevered accordion stairway that circles the stairway turret.

The first section of retaining walls was poured for the Estrella Las Dunas condo building.

Doctor arrives. The clinic in the ejido Alvaro Obregon received its first doctor, Erika Ceballos Cabrera. Doctor Ceballos studied at the University of Baja California and will work for a one year term. The clinic is equipped for emergencies as well as standard medical examinations and treatments. Doctor Ceballos will even make house calls. The doctor is currently working on government certification of the facility which will ensure continued funding by the State of Sonora and provide funding for a nurse to assist the doctor.

The home on lot 42 was completed and turned over to its owners. Total construction time for this one story home was 11 months. Visitors to Santo Tomás are invited to check out the extensive mosaics in the exterior of the home including a large parrot, a gecko and two jumping sail fish. The owners plan to offer the home for rent immediately.

Excavation and forming begun for the first Estrella Las Dunas condo building.

Road improvement- A long term road improvement project was begun utilizing a towable road grader and salt water treatment. Over the next 12 months, the entire length of unpaved road from ejido Alvaro Obregon to Las Dunas will be graded and augmented with salt water and clay, gravel and sand road base materials. This will provide a hard and permanent surface with much less dust. Visitors to the beach club area will note the PVC piping system that is used to extract seawater for this project.

The home on beach lot 87 was turned over to its owners. The two story home was completed within 13 months from start of contstruction.

The paved road leading to the village Alvaro Obregon was completely resurfaced. Previously this pavement was very rough and uneven. The road crew also did a complete regrading of the gravel road from the village to Santo Tomas.

Construction was started on lot 55, the first construction on Caracoles street. This three bedroom, 1,613 ft2 home is located on a large cul-de-sac lot and is designed to allow for future expansion and later construction of an attached garage.

Construction completed of the medical clinic in the nearby village of Alvaro Obregon.

Construction on lot 42, a three bedroom, 1,503 square ft. home was begun. This home features an efficient layout, large patio and roof terraces and five decorative mosaics.

The five level beach home on lot 13 was completed. This home features seven bedrooms, three different roof terraces and is terraced down below road level. The home has two single car garages and is 5,469 sq. ft.

Construction was begun on two lots this month. Lot 67 is a two bedroom, 1,284 ft2 home that has an upstairs covered patio and master bedroom with great views of both the ocean and the desert.

Lot 87 is a beach front home with three bedrooms, 2,525 ft2 and a two car garage. It has a main level and a lower beach level, taking advantage of the slope of the dunes in this area.

Lot 5. This 4 bedroom, 2,541 ft2 beach front home that includes a one car garage, a large central great room and a stairway down to the beach was occupied by its new owners who also intend to place it on the rental market.

The guest house located on beach lot 90 which features two bedrooms, 852 ft2, palapa roofs and sits above a three car garage was completed. The owners are now working on the design of their main home which will be located to the north west of the completed guest house.

On Monday , December 9, 2002, Mexican President Vicente Fox made an historic visit to Caborca, Sonora, Mexico and announced by Presidential Decree that the entire municipality of Caborca would be made part of the Free Trade Zone. The Presidential Decree went into effect as of January 1, 2003.

The implications of this announcement for Santo Tomás are tremendous. The extension of the Free Trade Zone to include Santo Tomas has increased demand for the only fully approved large beach development project within the Municipality of Caborca.

Another benefit is the reduction of IVA (Value Added Tax) from 15% to 10% thereby reducing the taxes paid on new construction materials by 5%.

The most noticeable effect of the Free Trade Zone move for Santo Tomás has been the elimination of the need for car permits and tourist visas when entering Mexico through Lukeville/Sonoyta. This means that for US citizens using the Lukeville/Sonoyta border crossing, traveling to Santo Tomás is just as easy as traveling to Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point).

• Weekly rental rates for the house on Lot 40 are now discounted.   Instead of $1,200 per week the rate will now be $1,050.   A savings of $150, this gives you one weeknight free. 

• The house on Lot 88 has been completed and is available for rent beginning in December of 2002.  The Vacation Rental portion of this website has been expanded to include this lovely beach front home.   Rates start at $175.00  per night.  Weekly rates for this house are also discounted.  Instead of $1500 per week the rate is $1,325.  A savings of $175.