From San Jose, we continued our road trip through Baja California, following the southern coastline (past something we had thankfully been spared of so far – huge hotel complexes, mostly catering for Americans), past Cabo San Lucas up to our next destination, Todo Santos. Todo Santos is supposed to be a bit like the Saint-Paul de Vence of Baja California, a town where a lot of foreign bohemians and artists have settled down. We were staying at a lovely place called Casa Blanca, run by the equally lovely Isabel and Gabriel.
After settling in, we walked down to downtown Todo Santos (a good half an hour walk, it turned out). Todo Santos is a bit of a mixed bag of a place. It’s rather picturesque place – but not overly cutesy (not in the way for example Saint-Paul de Vence on the French Riviera isI). I guess the charm of Todo Santos lies in its general pleasantness and the laid back feel it has to it. It’s pretty touristy, it has to be said, but it’s more of a high-end style of tourism rather than “tourist trap” kind of place (as one might imagine, dare I say, of a place frequented mostly by Americans). And there are plenty of nice restaurants – which of course helps! After having some rather tasty tapas for lunch, we walked around for a bit, soaking in the atmosphere of the place.
Having checked out the town centre, and the local museum, we strolled down to the beach which Isabel had recommended – and did find it eventually (not sure that many people go there by foot – the Mexicans like their big cars like I said before). And what a beautiful beach it was, with hardly a soul in sight (apart from a couple of crazy surfers braving the big waves). And what’s best, the whales that Isabel had promised would arrive around 4 o’clock did make their appearance! OK, we saw them from pretty far away, but still pretty cool.
We then made our way up to the Casa Blanca, to get ready for dinner. We’d had enough walking for a day, so decided to take the car downtown this time. We started with margaritas at a real local institution – the Hotel California. Yes, some claim it is the one the Eagles sing about (the souvenir shop certainly makes the most of this claim), but quite a few reliable sources do refute this rumor. Be that as it may, the Margarita was good, and not even as expensive as one might imagine, considering this is after all the hotel California… We ran into the other two Casa Blanca guests there, a nice Anglo-American couple with quite an interesting background. We had dinner in one of the nice restaurants in the town centre, one that came with high recommendations both from our Casa Blanca hosts and our aperitif companions. We certainly weren’t disappointed, neither by the food, nor by the atmosphere, and definitely not by the setting (we were sat next to a rather picturesque garden - pity it was too dark to appreciate it).
After a good night’s sleep and an amazing breakfast (I would say it definitely rates among the best breakfasts I’ve ever had in a hotel), it was time for our emotional good byes with Isabel and Gabriel. They really are a lovely couple, and their little hotel is a real gem of a place. It was then time to head on to Cabo San Lucas. Cabo San Lucas, a.k.a. Gringoland. Cabo San Lucas could be described as being to West Coast Americans what Cancun is to East Coast Americans. We weren’t really interested in Cabo San Lucas itself – although in its fancy fakeness and tackiness it’s quite a fascinating place in a way, I suppose.
Our reason for being here was to head out the the arch, a famous rock formation located at the very southern tip of Baja California. It’s also the divider between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. After some searching and a bit of haggling, we found a chap willing to take us out for a trip around the arch. And a nice trip it was, the views from the boat are very nice indeed. And we were greeted to the sight of some more sea lions as well (they seem to rather like Baja California). On the whole though, it felt like a bit less privileged an experience than our boat trip on the Sandman, since there were rather a lot of boats around the Arch.
After our boat trip, we had a bit of time on our hands still, so had time to check out the ridiculously tacky, but strangely charming Tequila museum in the shopping mall by the harbor. A few laughs later, we jumped back into our car and made our way towards San Jose, from where we were catching our flight up to Tijuana. We had time to explore the town for a bit before heading up to the airport. San Jose was a pretty nice place, quite touristy, but definitely nicer than Cabo San Lucas. Let’s say it had a bit more of an authentic & Mexican feel to it. And the beaches near town were absolutely fantastic. After chilling out there for an hour or so, it was sadly time for us to head out to the airport and catch our flight to Tijuana, and from there to San Diego…
After settling in, we walked down to downtown Todo Santos (a good half an hour walk, it turned out). Todo Santos is a bit of a mixed bag of a place. It’s rather picturesque place – but not overly cutesy (not in the way for example Saint-Paul de Vence on the French Riviera isI). I guess the charm of Todo Santos lies in its general pleasantness and the laid back feel it has to it. It’s pretty touristy, it has to be said, but it’s more of a high-end style of tourism rather than “tourist trap” kind of place (as one might imagine, dare I say, of a place frequented mostly by Americans). And there are plenty of nice restaurants – which of course helps! After having some rather tasty tapas for lunch, we walked around for a bit, soaking in the atmosphere of the place. 
Having checked out the town centre, and the local museum, we strolled down to the beach which Isabel had recommended – and did find it eventually (not sure that many people go there by foot – the Mexicans like their big cars like I said before). And what a beautiful beach it was, with hardly a soul in sight (apart from a couple of crazy surfers braving the big waves). And what’s best, the whales that Isabel had promised would arrive around 4 o’clock did make their appearance! OK, we saw them from pretty far away, but still pretty cool. 
We then made our way up to the Casa Blanca, to get ready for dinner. We’d had enough walking for a day, so decided to take the car downtown this time. We started with margaritas at a real local institution – the Hotel California. Yes, some claim it is the one the Eagles sing about (the souvenir shop certainly makes the most of this claim), but quite a few reliable sources do refute this rumor. Be that as it may, the Margarita was good, and not even as expensive as one might imagine, considering this is after all the hotel California… We ran into the other two Casa Blanca guests there, a nice Anglo-American couple with quite an interesting background. We had dinner in one of the nice restaurants in the town centre, one that came with high recommendations both from our Casa Blanca hosts and our aperitif companions. We certainly weren’t disappointed, neither by the food, nor by the atmosphere, and definitely not by the setting (we were sat next to a rather picturesque garden - pity it was too dark to appreciate it).
After a good night’s sleep and an amazing breakfast (I would say it definitely rates among the best breakfasts I’ve ever had in a hotel), it was time for our emotional good byes with Isabel and Gabriel. They really are a lovely couple, and their little hotel is a real gem of a place. It was then time to head on to Cabo San Lucas. Cabo San Lucas, a.k.a. Gringoland. Cabo San Lucas could be described as being to West Coast Americans what Cancun is to East Coast Americans. We weren’t really interested in Cabo San Lucas itself – although in its fancy fakeness and tackiness it’s quite a fascinating place in a way, I suppose. 
Our reason for being here was to head out the the arch, a famous rock formation located at the very southern tip of Baja California. It’s also the divider between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. After some searching and a bit of haggling, we found a chap willing to take us out for a trip around the arch. And a nice trip it was, the views from the boat are very nice indeed. And we were greeted to the sight of some more sea lions as well (they seem to rather like Baja California). On the whole though, it felt like a bit less privileged an experience than our boat trip on the Sandman, since there were rather a lot of boats around the Arch. 
After our boat trip, we had a bit of time on our hands still, so had time to check out the ridiculously tacky, but strangely charming Tequila museum in the shopping mall by the harbor. A few laughs later, we jumped back into our car and made our way towards San Jose, from where we were catching our flight up to Tijuana. We had time to explore the town for a bit before heading up to the airport. San Jose was a pretty nice place, quite touristy, but definitely nicer than Cabo San Lucas. Let’s say it had a bit more of an authentic & Mexican feel to it. And the beaches near town were absolutely fantastic. After chilling out there for an hour or so, it was sadly time for us to head out to the airport and catch our flight to Tijuana, and from there to San Diego…
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