First of all I never knew that they only showed homes that were either for sale or rent - so you are not seeing the best of the best. You are only seeing the best that's for rent or sale that week. You are paying for the privilege of doing what real estate agents should pay you to do. The money from the tour goes to a good cause but I'd rather have known I was going on a sales pitch before I got on the bus.

Secondly, the tour I went on started on a school bus. Mexican school buses are not comfortable. They are not clean. They have metal seats made for short people. There were 6 or 7 buses altogether and there was a fight amongst the tall people to get the middle seat on the back bench - where there was no seat in front of us to destroy our knee caps. We were then driven 30 minutes out into the countryside to see one of the most unattractive houses ever. The best/worst part of this house was - in the unattractive brick 'gazebo' there was a table covered in the same cheesy plastic tablecloth I got my mother at Target last summer (red with big tropical fruits - she likes that stuff) and then! The flyer about the tour mentioned repeatedly that there was an antique children's carousel on the south lawn. Carousel my eyeball. It was one of those iron things from a city playground with the painted animals (horse, hippo, etc) that goes around in circles if you kick the sand around it. Sort of a large sit and spin and in other words - carousel my eyeball. It was so very bad.

The other two homes on the tour were not impressive in the least & had no gardens. They were smaller and not as well furnished as the house we rented. An extreme dissapointment.

To the tour's credit, if credit there be - everyone was complaining & several people told me that this was the worst tour that they'd ever been on and I should come back the following week.

The hotel La Puertecita supplies a van to the last house on the tour and will drive you to their fantastic Sunday brunch. That was actually the highlight of the house and garden tour for me - I'd have never gone to La Puerticita for a huge fat brunch if I'd not had a terrible time on the tour so I guess I can thank them for that.