The Cape for the Holidays!

The southern tip of the Baja Peninsula is where the action happens. Approximately 1400 kilometers from the border with Estados Unidos, it all comes together in a series of cute towns, wild beaches, organized tours, naive tourists, expat hangouts, windsurfers and the last of the hippies.

We had made it. All the way to the end of the road, ready to soak up the highlight of the region before sailing for the ‘mainland’ in a week. After hitting the main stops, I can affirm that the are does contain some of the best of Baja. This is mixed with an affluence and gringo presence that makes it seem like an altogether different place. There are things to like and things to wrinkle your brow at. Much has been written of Los Cabos [there are two cities, close to each other, but distinct: Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo], so I will only touch in it lightly here. As most of the visitors are flying in with money to spend, our experience is somewhat different.

Coming from La Paz on the eastern side of the peninsula, the plan was to do a big loop to quickly absorb all the main sites before returning to capital in 5 days. The highway crossing to Todos Santos is fast and relatively straight. Basically since Loreto, all the highways have stepped up their game with shoulders, merge lanes, sometimes dividers and additional lanes, even over passes – it’s wild. There was no time to stay over in Todos Santos and in retrospect that was a fine choice. This cute little town was an introduction to what was coming…

Suddenly we were surrounded by tourists. My guess is that they were all daytrippers from Los Cabos, here to take in the charms of what is very nice, compact place full of interesting eateries, art galleries, boutique shops and other ways to part you with your money. I found it hard to switch gears and become a different kind of tourist. I felt a bit out of place. So we did a quick lap, took a stop in a very good craft brewery (wide selection, actually get what these styles of beers should taste like, not afraid to up the alcohol %…) and carried on. As an aside, the weather here was much hotter. Instead of it being windier on the Pacific side, there was none, and we felt the full weight of the midday sun. Could also be because Todos Santos isn’t quite on the water. If you are coming to stay here, that’s a good-to-know. The beaches are a little ways off.

Our stay for the next three nights was San Jose del Cabos. Somewhat accidentally we completely bi-passed Cabo San Lucas by taking a (rather expensive) toll road that cut it out completely. So while some travellers on this route may have gone through this second city, we can’t comment on it or the popular corridor that connects the two.

Some comments on our lodging: it was loud (both from trucks that sped up after slowing for a tope, literally shaking the foundations, and from the apartment block going up next door); the room was small (especially the bathroom which provided zero privacy); the shared kitchen in need of care; and the whole place feeling a bit tired, the owners falling behind on its upkeep. It was also friendly with a very funky design of crisscrossing overhead walkways and dusty lounge areas. More than anything else, it was central, right in the historic center, the central plaza a hundred feet up a narrow street.

There is a hotel area along the beach, perhaps half a kilometer from where we were based. Sarah and I ran by there, impressed by the massive expanse of empty sand but little else. The real draw, as we saw it, was the historic heart of San Jose del Cabo. Here at last was a colonial jumble of streets that felt more like Europe than Latin America. The blocks were full of dozens of fancy looking restaurants, galleries and a minimal number of repetitive souvenir shops. It was also insanely expensive. Not just, ‘Oh I’ve been in Mexico for awhile and have lost touch with what things cost, but a ‘My goodness, I wouldn’t pay this much at home’ kind of pricing.

Again, we stuck to our own cooking aside from our big splurge, a food tour focusing on various tacos styles and fillings. It was a really fun way to spend an evening (tequila tasting was also included and the varieties we tried were excellent and surprising – one of those things that you might not do, thinking it predicable or ‘not worth it’) and it was, of course, really expensive. Still, if you’re trying to keep the costs down, but still want to do something, this is likely your best bet. We also went to Baja Brewing (finally, having seen their products in shops all the way along but not yet sampling their wares). It was fine, but not as good as our other beer stops.

Not surprisingly, Los Cabos was not really for us. I’m not even sure who it would be for. Why would you fly down from California to spend just as much here? What were we missing? It’s not as warm as other Mexican resort areas, the water is too rough for good swimming, all-inclusives seem absent, there are excursions, but nothing amazing… I suppose it feels more accessible. You can rent a car and drive easily, there are a ton of others like you, it’s a shorter flight… Good to check out and good to move on from.

Los Barriles was next on the circuit. It’s a popular stop for snowbirds, part a whole wild region collectively known as the East Cape. You would expect to be able to drive following the coast, but you can’t. You can drive a ways east from Los Cabos as the way turns into sand tracks. Or you can cut the corner to Los Barriles and work your way back south towards Cabo Pulmo and a series of protected beaches as wild as anything you’re likely to find. We didn’t do any of this. Instead, we were happy to have a couple of relaxing days between larger cities to do not much at all. A part of me wishes I had planned more time for exploration, while another part says better to leave more to explore next time.

There isn’t much of a town here, if that’s what you are expecting. There’s a road that runs parallel to the beach with a few very basic services. Another ‘road’ runs along the beach itself as seventy year old men and women cruise along in dune buggies. There are homes lining the beaches, RVs, a couple small hotels and not a whole lot else; several stretches of beach blending into each other. We had a very unique stay here worth mentioning: we stayed in a classic trailer. We were in a secure compound where we could let Gidget out to explore, spread out and get away from the somewhat oppressive feel of hotel rooms. The property keeper was there, too, in his own trailer, but we hardly saw him. We even lit a fire on the second night to enjoy the mild evening. Plus, the stay came with access to a beach complex so we didn’t miss out by being up the hill. Lounge chairs and a chilly pool were ours to enjoy and so we did! In the ocean, Sarah and I sadly got stung by something, but the sensation soon passed.

I would like to think of the southern tip of Baja as a good introduction to the peninsula as a whole, provided you try to get independent and do things a bit differently. For someone with a week, you can easily explore the highlights while still leaving time for the nightlife, comforts, USD pricing, English menus and the like of Los Cabos [my sense is that Cabo San Lucas is even more geared this way, but I could be wrong] if that’s your preferred (or familiar) flavour.

If you want something more… Head to La Paz.