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| Going out to fish early in Lands End, Cabo San Lucas |
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| Hotel strip in Cabo San Lucas |
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| Drug dog smooching up to handler |
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| Road blockage in Todos Santos |
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| Ezra Katz - still painting in Todos Santos |
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| The trees are gone from downtown Todos Santos, but the small shops are still there... |
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| Typical landscape of Cardones Cacti around Todos Santos |
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| Some of these giants reach over 100 years of age, and sometimes a weight of 15 tons |
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| Blue puffer fish and cigarette butt still life |
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| Haven for the rich and sometimes famous |
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| Parasailing in Los Cabos Bay |
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| Lover's Beach - one side Pacific Ocean, the other the Sea of Cortez |
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| Returning from a day Marlin fishing |
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| Late afternoon at Los Arcos |
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| View from Amsterdam's Seaview Pool during sail away... |
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| Hasta Luego Mexico.... |
Before Bing Crosby, Desi Arnaz and John Wayne descended on Cabo San Lucas, Cape Saint Luke, to enjoy the best Marlin fishing in the world, the tip of Baja California dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Cortez was just an insignificantly small village, only accessible by boat or arduous overland trek down the desert peninsula.
Today, the pristine clean beaches, the rugged scenery and perpetually warm to hot weather remain, but Cabo has developed into one of the fasted growing tourist destination in the world. Instead of offering an escape into untouched nature, it now offers an escape into adventure tourism, fishing charters, wet t-shirt contests and every box store and fast food joint known to man. How it manages to retain some of it's charm is hard to comprehend, but despite invasion of 'civilization' one can find REAL Mexican food and REAL Mexican music, and REAL Mexican under sea life. People flock here in droves.
Access is easier now, San Jose Los Cabos nearby has a well serviced International Airport, a rather well developed highway reaches from the US border to the tip of the Baja Peninsular, and mega cruise ships anchor in the protected bay bringing tourists from all over the world to this formerly quiet little town.
Snow Birds drive down each year to take up residence in their 'winter condos', or they bring their RVs and motor homes to park on some of the most deserted beaches in Mexico, some visitors participate in the BajaHaHa, a sailing flotilla which makes its way from San Diego all the way to Cabo San Lucas and beyond each year.
I headed up to Todos Santos, around 70 km north of Cabo San Lucas, my occasional winter home in previous years, to visit old acquaintances and friends. Instead of dodging cows and wild pigs, as well as daring Mexican drivers on a shoulder less two lane dangerous back country road, we now drove along a brand new four lane highway, which cuts travelling time in half and accident prone-ness by a tenth at least. There is even a fence on either side of the highway, to keep wandering 'ganado' (livestock) from strolling into traffic.
A short stroll down 'main street' Todos Santos and I bumped into quite a number of my friends.
Todos Santos has seen quite a bit of new development, none of which seems to have changed it's character of a Pueblo Magico, except that prices have risen beyond affordability for many of the local Mexican population. Expatriates have discovered this charming hid away oasis at the foot ot the Sierra de Lagunas (mountains up to 2700 meters high) a few years ago, built many homes around Todos Santos, and have changed the cultural and economic landscape of the town. However, the overall influence seems to have been positive, and Todos Santos enjoys the atmosphere of old Mexico village life mixed with an eclectic array of art galleries, restaurants, up scale hotels and shops.
A pleasure to return and touch base with good friends, catch up on the latest happenings back home and here in Todos Santos.
Definitely an incentive to return for a future sojourn in this lovely corner of the world.
Even my old walking companions, Benny and Joe - Baja dogs - recognized me, a rather pleasant canine welcome.
