Rachel, Ryan, and Daliah – who we are and why “Casa Dar”
We are Rachel, Ryan, and Daliah Balows. We are the family behind Casa Dar and we are thrilled to share our story with you! Falling in love with Baja California Sur, Mexico has been a whirlwind love story. The most important thing to know about us, and Casa Dar, is that we have built this place in the spirit of the word Dar “to give”! We have been given so much – gifts from our parents, greater family, and friends – from the people of Los Cerritos community – this house is about giving forward to YOU! Finding Baja Sur and Cerritos Beach has been one of the most amazing gifts that the universe has given us! We have fallen in love with everything about this amazing corner of the earth and cannot wait to share it with you! Casa Dar is here to give to you – to give you an opportunity to fall in love with this magical place and hopefully feel inspired to continue to give to others! We invite you to further explore our journey below.
Rachel 2002
In March of 2002 Rachel was in college in CO, USA and traveled to Cozumel, Mexico with her college roommate and best friend Ashley. The experience was what you would call a very traditional College Spring Break and left Rachel ambivelent about returning. She loved the language and culture, but struggled with the disconnect she felt between being a tourist and the local people.
Ryan 2002
In September of 2002, Ryan was working as a paramedic in San Francisco, CA, USA and he and some buddies drove down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and had a completely different experience. Ryan vividly remembers surfing the waves all along the west coast of the Baja Peninsula. He loved it – the beauty of the landscape – the food – the people – the entire culture of the area!
December 2021 – Gift 1
Fast forward two decades and we have met, married, had a child, and are living life in Denver, CO, USA. Ryan’s cousin Adele and her husband Steve invited us to their son Jeffery’s wedding in Puerto Vallerta, Mexico. Ryan was excited, Rachel, not so much. Not surprising based upon our past experiences. Well… the trip was magic and was the first gift that set us upon our journey!
February 2022 – Gift 2
Rachel’s dear friend Jennah was the next to enter into this story and provide gift number two. Jennah invited Rachel to head down to Baja California Sur for a quick girls trip to visit another friend (also named Rachel) who lives in Cerritos. Rachel and Alex are the family behind Tu Casa Concierge Property Management and helped make this trip amazing. Rachel was in love – immediately! It was like no other place she had ever been. There was a pull to the place unlike anything she’d ever experienced.
March 2022 – Gift 3
Rachel came home from that trip and we immediately booked another trip for all of us to go down together. Rachel and Alex set us up in an incredible rental unit and just for giggles connected us with a local realator… gift number 3! We found a piece of land that was in our price range, in the Cerritos community, and even had a view to the water! Could we do this? Is this what we wanted? The answer was an easy yes – Ryan’s memories of that 2002 trip came flooding back and Daliah was a natural beach girl! We were all in heaven.
March 2022 – Side Note
Ryan’s dad Syd was living in California, USA and struggling. He had recently gone through a divorce after 40 years of marriage, was living alone for the first time, and dealing with some significant health issues. Ryan was flying back and forth trying to take care of him. It came down to asking him to move out to Colorado so that we could help out in a more useful way. We got him out here and all of us were truly anticipating him not making it more than a few months. That was NOT the case and he started to thrive!
May 2022
We put in an offer for the land – it was accepted! At this point, the plan was to just sit on it. Maybe we would build something small and once our retirement years kicked in take it to the next level. In May we (without the child) travelled back down to sign all the papers and receive the title to the land. It felt a bit like a second honeymoon – we even bought special copper rings for each other and exchanged them over a bottle of sparkling cider while watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean (the sunsets are magic)!
November 2022 – Gift 4
From May to November a lot happened. Most importantly at this exact same time Ryan’s dad Syd provided us the fourth gift in this journey – our inheritance early. He decided that he wanted to travel to Cerritos too and enjoy, alongside of us, what he had saved through his life. We found a contractor (again through the help of Rachel and Alex). From there it was finding an architect and pulling permits. Daliah celebrated her 9th birthday amongst family and friends (new and old) and even learned how to surf!
January 2023 – Gift 5
Frank has been gift number 5! FYI if you need a contractor – Frank is your man and we’ll send you all his info. Construction projects are hard and even thinking about managing all of this from another country made us sweat. However, Frank has made it seemless. We broke ground in January and every Friday he sends us an update with photos, questions, and more. We’ve talked window sizes, bathroom placements, and landscaping. We’ve made edits to stairways, balconies, and roofs. An incredible collaboration!
August 2023
We were able to travel back down (just Rachel and Ryan again) to check on the progress of the construction and start assessing some important next step details. First stop was to the Home Depot in Cabo San Lucas to get a baseline for pricing on appliances. From there it was straight to the land and construction! It was our first time actually seeing our houses in real life and not just through pictures. Again, we were just embraced by the community and enjoyed a sunset BBQ on the beach with new friends!
December 2023
All three of us were able to travel down for a full 12 days over winter break. We started off the trip in La Paz, where we went swimming with Whale Sharks! Then it was across the peninsula to Los Cerritos to soak up the sun and check on the houses. This trip also included a lot of business too! There was SO much shopping and looking at appliances and furniture. We can really envision what Casa Dar is going to look like! It was really hard to come back to snowy Colorado this time around.
May 2024
We are DONE! Pick your dates, pack your bags, and let us know when you want to go! Go to airbnb.
Casa Dar 