About Us
	Villa del Faro is a small, unique and secluded hotel situated on 12 acres of gardens and desert overlooking miles of private, deserted beach.
	The only access is a long horribly bumpy road that goes from the Los Cabos airport, through the middle of nowhere to the endless desert by the sea of Cortez. ( A map is provided. ) But getting there is well worth the trip.
	It is not a place for everyone. It offers solitude instead of shops, long walks on the only swimmable beach on the east cape, hikes into the deep arroyos instead of golf, watching the whales play from your private balcony instead of TV, and personal care from the friendly family who run and own it.
	A stay in this beautiful place is more like being a guest in someone's fabulous home, which is exactly what the owners intended.  The pool is shared by all the guests .  There are paths to the beach from all the casitas.
	While the hotel sits in lush gardens, the surrounding desert is as pristine and untouched as it can be. Originally a private home for a large extended family, Villa del Faro was built, as much as possible, around the cactus, leaving many trees and natural plants untouched. Always aware of the ecological impact they were making, the family chose to build little houses here and there, rather than one huge imposing structure. The result is a closeness to the desert, a sort of interaction between civilization and the wildness of nature. . .
	There are countless lizards, including the Geckos who live on the ceilings and make the loudest noise for such a tiny creature.  From a window in any of the casitas , you are apt to observe a mother fox and her babies drinking out of a fountain, or the shy bob-cat perched on top of a Cordon cactus early in the morning, looking for rabbits in the brush.  Large iguanas also lie on top of the cactus in the sun, chipmunks are everywhere and occasionally even a rarely seen deer will wander though.  Of course, there are some of the more unsavory residents, rattlesnakes, scorpions, centipedes, tarantulas,( also very shy) and caution is always advised when walking the paths.  But these creatures do their best to stay away from well trod human paths. Some of the most fascinating things are the birds. An immense population, they are seasonal and change with the weather.
	Permanent residents are the several species of hummingbird, some very rare. There are quail, orioles, falcons of various types, kestrels, finch, cardinal, and the hard to see phainopepla, the bold, humorous common raven, whom the neighbors feed and have practically tamed. The great white egret lives in our dunes and the great blue heron number among our sea birds and eagles. Nature abounds!
	The property was purchased in 1989, and building started the next year. The family ran a large construction company in LA and thought the Baja property would become a wonderful vacation place for company members,  being a short flight from LA. A place to get away too. Since the family consists of many artistic and talented people, everyone wanted to contribute, parents, children, friends, and it quickly became a labor of love.
	Molds were made for tile, and balustrades. There was an in-house wood-carver and furniture maker, who made the doors and chests and tables. A shop for cabinetry. A local iron worker fashioned the iron gates and some of the windows. The crew was gathered from one small town in mainland Mexico, and as more were needed, more came. Everyone lived in tents and food was prepared by a local Mexican policeman who loved to cook, out of an outdoor kitchen attached to a camper. ( That same person now owns and runs a little restaurant in a town north of here.) Many of the children "cut their teeth" here, going on to become landscape architects, architects, builders, running construction companies of their own, painters, sculptors, with a real set of experiences to get them started. Hauling in trees, mixing cement in a hole in the ground, nothing but hand tools, everyone learned from the bottom up.
	When the family says "off the grid", it is real! There is no electricity, no phone lines. Everything at the Villa is run on solar power, supplemented by a generator when needed. There are propane hot water heaters, propane refrigerators, stoves. There is no microwave. The water is trucked in and stored in a big tank where it is cleaned and purified. Water conservation is always of the utmost priority as everyone who lives in this area knows. The grounds have been xeric planted. This is definitely a "green" hotel. Because of satellites, there is computer service and TV. There is even a satellite phone, which can be used for emergencies, but it is not very dependable as yet.
	The family members who run and lovingly maintain Villa del Faro, fluctuate somewhat, but there is more or less the same group most of the time. Like the birds, they change seasonally too.
	There are artists, writers (The Eye of the Whale was written here), architects, designers, musicians, still working and playing here on and off all year. The Fort Hill family has survived hard times, bad press, each other, since 1966, when it all began. They learned that living beautifully is an art.
	So if you like good books, great food, music, exquisite surroundings, comfortable ambiance, the sound of the ocean to put you to sleep, the great outdoors . . . a conscious embrace of all living things, then by all means come and enjoy this remarkable place. It is well worth a try.