Baja Magic

Sunny Days in Todos Santos

By Jamie Martin

March 15^th, 2017

Sunset / Moonset

6:25pm. High on a hill above the Pacific, we watch the sun melt into the sea. Each evening a new spectacle: atomic tangerine, crimson smoke, spun sugar. An ocean's immensity is magnified by the solitude of this shore, shared by less than a dozen people.

11:45pm. The sky is black and the sea is calm. A blood-orange axe of a moon slowly sinks into the dark horizon. An encore performance each night, an hour and four minutes later. Seven nights, seven suns, seven moons.

Todos Santos

About an hour north of Cabo San Lucas, on the Pacific side of Baja California Sur, lies Todos Santos, a town of some 5,000 residents, including many American and Canadian ex-pats and artists. With over 100 restaurants, museums and art galleries, Todos Santos ("all saints") is more like a Mexican Taos than the Jesuit sanctuary it once was. While a few busloads of tourists arrive each morning on shopping excursions, they return to Cabo in the afternoon, leaving the dusty streets quiet at sunset as the locals switch from vendors to customers, filling restaurants that come to life under string lights and hanging plants. Just beyond the town center lie miles of virgin coastline: a dozen houses perched atop cliffs survey sandy beaches and a rumbling surf that deters swimmers.

A typically tropical courtyard hidden behind a nondescript façade at Pura Vida, cafè and grocer.

Sunset from the Guaycura Boutique Hotel's rooftop pool

In every other direction are an endless army of monster cacti and dirt trails that wind into the hissing scrub of the Sierra de la Laguna range. Snakes, scorpions, stinging nettles. Beauty in hard edges.

La Paz

At dawn, we crossed the peninsula to La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, to swim with whale sharks. With a population of 250,000 people, La Paz lies on a protected bay off the Gulf of California, a popular springtime sanctuary for whales and their calves. Six of us boarded a small, modified fishing boat that spotted these gentle giants and deposited us just ahead of a six-foot-wide gaping mouth, busy filtering plankton. Swimming alongside a 30' shark requires speed and stamina. The only risk is being swallowed: whale sharks are no threat to humans, but they can't see directly ahead. Afterwards, we motored to a deserted stretch of Playa Balandra for a picnic of ceviche and tostadas.

The Chicalera with our skipper and guide, who facilitated our swim with whale sharks

Muy Delicioso

In Atlanta, I often assumed I could eat Mexican food pretty much non-stop. Turns out I was totally right. Baja cuisine emphasizes fresh fish and locally-grown produce, as well as the staples you find at your local gringo joint back home: beans, rice, tortillas, avocado. On top of a wonderful range of Mexican options, Todos Santos is blessed with many alternatives, from Chez Laura, a candle-lit French restaurant set in a secluded garden that imports foie gras from Guadalajara, to Shut Up Frank's, a blackout-dark dive-bar that shelters ex-pats from the bright sun and serves a mean michelada.

Lettuce-wrapped shrimp banh mi at La Esquina, Todos Santos

Chile Relleno at Alma y Manny's, Todos Santos

Cool breezes and cold cocktails under the giant palapa at El Faro Beach Club

Videos

Wherever I go, I bring my DJI Phantom 4. Here are three videos from Todos Santos and La Paz, featuring grey whales dancing gracefully less than 100 yards from our villa, a lone surfer carving a gentle break at Playa Las Palmas, and our day aboard Chicalera exploring the Bay of La Paz, whale sharks and Playa Balandra.