Christmas in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico

On December 20, 2021, we got a ride to the Phoenix airport from Randy and we flew to Cabo at the bottom tip of Baja California Sur in Mexico. 

The airport is located in San Jose del Cabo.  Al's cousin, Irama and her roommate, Miguel, picked us up and we went back to their apartment to drop off our stuff.  Their apartment wasn't too far from the airport.

 

 

 

and out to get a late lunch. 

Then Miguel and Irama had to finish up some wiring of a scale at a mine so we went with them to assist. 

After the project was finished we went to El Encanto de la laguna to sit on the beach and drink some refrescos.  We got a beautiful sunset sky as our welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we walked around San Jose del Cabo where I bought a hand painted wooden bowl.

Irama, Nancy, and Miguel

Decorated for Christmas

Our hosts were taking us on a road trip starting tomorrow.  Ideally we would have rented a car but due to the pandemic and rental car shortages it was too expensive.  We had a vote and decided to take their bosses old Toyota 4Runner named Squiky (can you guess why?).

12/21/2021 (Tuesday) - we left the house and got gas for our trip. Miguel also got oil and coolant.

 

 

In the back seat one of the seat belt buckles was missing so Al and I improvised by looping my seat belt through his and into the buckle.

Apparently when his vehicle was serviced last week the mechanic didn't do a good job so we went back there for fixes.

Al, Irama, and I found a tortilleria and got some yummy sample corn tortillas while Miguel talked with the mechanic. Instead of leaving at 8am we ended up leaving around 10. 

We took the toll road west to Cabo and then headed north towards LA Paz. Along that route we stopped at a place and bought strawberry yogurt with chia and coconut. It was sooo delicious.

We stopped off at Todos Santos where we visited the Hotel California.  

Apparently there was a lawsuit filed by The Eagles against the hotel.  The hotel was built in 1950 and had numerous names but in 2001 was purchased by a Canadian who restored the Hotel California name and was selling merchandise associated to the song by the Eagles.  The suit was settled with the hotel name remaining but they can't sell any merchandise referencing the song and we did not hear the song played there while we walked around although it was playing in my head.

Tequilla

Sign made from old license plates.  This photo would make a good puzzle.

We drove further north and stopped in El Valle Comondu for a pit stop.  Miguel was tired from so much driving.

Irama took over and drove the rest of the way to Loreto. I thought we would never get there. The road in to town was very windy and only 2 lanes with big trucks to get stuck behind. We finally arrived and stayed at the Santa Fe hotel which was very nice.

Hotel courtyard

We went out for drinks and nachos before going to bed.

Nachos, beer, and Margaritas

12/22/2021 (Wed) - We took a boat to Coronado Island where we saw beautiful clear blue water and diving pelicans. We were on the boat and the beach about 5 hours.

 

Five islands (Catalana, Montserrat, Danzante, del Carmen, and Coronados), ten islets, and the sea form the Loreto Bay National Park.  In 1996 it was decreed as a protected area in the Gulf of California.  Recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 2005 for its exceptional and universal value that must be protected for the benefit of humanity.

 

 

Irama and Miguel worked out the cost for a boat and captain to take us out for the day.

 

Al and I went for a little hike up the hill and got this view.

And then we walked past our beach picnic site and over to the rocks to get this view.
 

After our boat trip we walked around Loreto and found a Thrifty ice cream shop and got ice cream.

 

We left Loreto and drove to Mulege to find a hotel for the night. Irama, Miguel, and Al looked at a hotel room but thought it was dirty so we continued to the next town, Santa Rosalia. (I stayed behind so not to influence the price being an obvious American.)  Along the way we saw RV's parked along the beach in several places.

 

Leaving the territory of Loreto and entering Mulege.

We arrived just before the town of Santa Rosalia and got 2 rooms at the hotel which overlooked the water. We arrived in the dark so hopefully we'll wake to a beautiful view. We went in to town to get dinner. It's a cute town with lots of houses decorated for Christmas.

12/23/2021 (Thur) - We awoke to a beautiful sunrise visible from our bed.

 

 

 

We went in to town to look around.

 

 

 

 

We got some pastries from a panadería that has been around since 1901. 

Alexander Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame) had designed a pre-fabricated metal church in 1884 as a prototype for missionary churches in France's tropical colonies. Built in 1887 to be strong enough to withstand severe tropical weather, the church is made from galvanized iron. In 1889 the church and the Eiffel Tower were put on display at the Paris World's Exposition. Gustave won first prize for the church's design.

Years later, an official for the French Boleo Mining Company learned of the church being stored in a Brussels warehouse. He purchased it and had the church shipped to Santa Rosalía where it was reassembled in 1897. It was given the name 'Iglesia de Santa Bárbara'.

The Eiffel Church Of Santa Rosalia

 

 

I liked seeing all the Christmas pinatas hanging in the streets.

We took our pastries in the car and drove up a hill to get a look over the town.

Back in town we walked up steps to see an old hotel and got talking to a couple with a nice house across from the hotel. Then we took photos with the snowman made from old tires.

My three traveling companions were talking to a couple that were putting up their Christmas decorations at this house on the corner so I went walking around since I couldn't understand the conversation.

I went inside this hotel to check it out.

Plates on the wall like this reminded me of a church camp I used to go to in New York when I was a kid.

Back in the car we started to head south as Santa Rosalia was our northernmost point on this road trip. We turned off to go to Pinturas Rupestres San Borjita. They were cave paintings from 7500 years ago. We drove on an unpaved road for 18 miles with no direction signs. Luckily there were a few houses every half hour or so so if we broke down..... It was a very bumpy and dusty ride.

A couple of times we had to get out and open a farmer's gate to continue on our route

We arrived at a ranch at the end of the road, paid a fee for a guide, Emma, who rode with us to see the paintings. 

It was about 3 more miles on a bumpy road in the car then a 20 minute hike to the cave with the paintings.

Emma

 

 

Information of Cave Painting in San Borjitas

They are located in Rancho San Baltazar in The Sierra of Guadalupe Baja California Sur Mexico, 28 kilometers from the trans peninsular highway, on kilometer 156, between the town of Mulege and Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur.

1. These paintings were first known in the eighteenth century through Jesuits Jose de Rother and Francisco Escalantes.
2. The study of these paintings was started in 1950 with the impulse of writer and explorer Fernando Jordan.
3. They were made or painted 7,500 years ago.  They are 2,000 years older than those of Rio Pecos in Texas, USA.  These are the oldest in the continent.
4. The investigations were conducted by Alan Walehan, Geoscientist of the University of Australia, with experience in 14 countries and colleagues of Argentina and Mexico.  These were made and certified by Rafater Radio Carbon Laboratory of New Zealand.

 
The cave is an open grotto, 100 feet above the canyon floor and measures 100 feet wide by 80 feet deep with an opening height of 20 feet. 

The cave ceiling contains mostly human figures. A majority are pierced by arrows which seem to indicate the depiction of a great battle. This one huge panel is over 50 feet long and 15-20 feet above the cave floor. At least 95 figures are represented and over 70 are of men, women, children, plus what archeologists call ‘scarecrows.’ These are faceless humanoids covered with basket masks, or even alien in origin. Perhaps these are figures of a shaman? The cave art was dated to 7,500 years ago, and called the oldest on the continent.

We stayed there about 30 minutes looking at all the paintings and then hiked back to the car. 

Emma makes goat cheese as part of her job on the ranch so we wanted to taste it but when we returned her boyfriend said they didn't have any more cheese left. Irama and Miguel were really bummed because we were all hungry. We ate snacks in the car for the 70 minute drive back to the highway then continued south. This was at 4:40 pm. We got gas in Mulege and continued south to hotel Santa Fe to spend the night.

Some nice scenery along the way.

We were all hungry so we went to a nice restaurant where Al and I ate sea bass. Then we went back to the hotel to take showers. We were soooo dusty and dirty from the drive to the cave.  That shower felt so good.

After dinner we walked around Loreto to see their Christmas decorations.

Our hotel

12/24/2021 (Fri) - Christmas Eve, we all went in the hotel Jacuzzi then took showers before we left the hotel.

We went to have breakfast where I had a mushroom and cheese quesadilla and yummy limonade.

We got gas and continued south. 

 

 

We stopped off in La Paz.

Alfonso Garcia Robles, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 and the only Mexican with that distinction.  He is the creator of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean.  

 

 

We had to stop off at this ice cream shop.

They even had Bubu Lubu ice cream!

and Miguel had some Tosty Locos

We walked along the water and then watched the sunset.

 

 

What a great way to end our road trip.  We drove back to San Jose del Cabo for Christmas eve dinner at Miguel's parent's house. 

 

12/25/2021 (Sat) Christmas Day - The four of us rode in Irama's VW Bug to the trailhead and then went for a hike up a hill to get good views of the city of San Jose del Cabo.

Irama and Miguel's apartment is in this area.

After the hike we were hungry for lunch where I had a heavy torta!  I was so full!

Irama and Miguel took us to a local beach were we walked and then hung out in the lobby of a fancy hotel to relax and cool off.

 

 

12/26/2021 (Sun) -  We stopped for birria at a little roadside restaurant in Mira Flores.

I like the angel decorations

After eating, we walked across the street and ate a water ice of mango & pitaya (cactus)  

We got back in the car and our next stop was at the Tropic of Cancer. 

Back in the car to our next stop to lookout over the little town of Santiago.

After a few wrong turns on dirt roads, we found the Ranch/Preserve in San Dionisio called Rancho Ecológico El Refugio.  

 

There they grow many different vegetables and fruits including mangos.  Irama's sister, Denis, did her medical residency in this area and cared for a lady at the Ranch so we got the royal treatment.

It was neat to watch this lady make homemade flour tortillas smacking the dough between her hands to thin it out and then cook it on the cook top heated by a wood fire.

Some film crew was visiting and including the tortilla making in their story.

We changed in to our bathing suits and swam in the creek on the property.

We had to climb over these boulders to get to the deeper water.

 

 

 

Irama relaxing

After a little siesta in a hammock where we tried to not flip it over......

It was time to eat!

This puppy was amusing to watch him biting this older dog who put up with him.

 

 

Irama graduated from cooking school so she got in on the action.

Irama's tortilla is not as round as the professionals but a good first try!

We had a fun time at the ranch and ate some yummy food.  We sure did eat a lot on this trip as Irama wanted us to try all of these foods which were traditional to this area and different than food in Mexico City.

At dark we left the ranch and drove to a traditional Temazcal (similar to an Indian sweat lodge) and it was different!  I was afraid to go in because it was pitch black inside. We had to crawl on the cement floor and sit in a circle around the edges.  Then the leader closed some flaps to keep all the heat inside.  It was very uncomfortable.  The leader did some chanting and asked us questions of things we are grateful for.  We did sweat a lot! I was glad when it was over. It lasted about 30-45 minutes.  After we exited the structure we talked with the leader and asked him many questions.

A temazcal is a ceremony steeped in Mexican heritage. It involves participants sitting in a traditional sweat lodge for health and therapeutic benefits. Ceremonies usually last for two or more hours and are typically led by a sort of spiritual leader called a shaman or temazcalero.

It sort of looked like this image I took from Google.

Here is more info on a temazcal:  https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-temazcal-5101237

So what did we do after the temazcal?  Go get something to eat!

12/27/2021 (Mon) - our last full day in the Cabo area.  We went to a lab to get our covid tests which needed to be negative within 24 hours of our flight back to the United States.  Then we drove over to Cabo San Lucas to take a whale watching trip that also went by the famous Arch. We saw several whale fins and blow holes. It was a beautiful day. 

It's not like we could get Covid after the test but before we arrive in the US by being on a boat with a bunch of tourists???

Interesting boat

After viewing the famous arch and beaches, it was time to find some whales.  We were not alone and it was obvious where the whales were because there would be a bunch of boats clustered together.

Whale spotted!

This was my best whale photo.

Headed back to the marina.

We walked around the shops a little bit.

We left Cabo San Lucas and drove back to San Jose del Cabo to the downtown to see the gallery of Ivan Guaderrama. He has amazing interactive art gallery! 

So you download their app and point the camera of your cell phone at one of his paintings and they come alive on your phone.  It was the most amazing thing and we spent a couple of hours pointing our phones at each picture and watching the show which was accompanied with music.  

Here is his website:  https://www.ivanguaderrama.com/

Al playing the piano in this painting.

Before we left Cabo, we had to drive back to get more of that strawberry yogurt which meant going to Todo Santos! 

Then we walked around Todos Santo again to see it in the dark. We had limonada natural drinks on a rooftop bar. 

One last activity before we left Cabo and that was to hit golf balls and eat pizza and nachos.

Back to the apartment so we could check our covid results and check in for our flight.  The results had to be reviewed manually so I was glad I got them uploaded with 12 hours in advance of our flight. 

12/28/2021 (Tue) - We packed up our stuff, ate our strawberry yogurt, and then off to the airport for our flight to Phoenix.

Not a very full flight so we got a whole row to ourselves!

Thank you Irama and Miguel for being such great hosts!  We had a great time......and no Bazinga!