On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Beaches, sunsets, water. I’m in heaven. ~WaterGirl
P.S. Omnes, beware of clown below.
way2blue
Friends invited us to join them at their time-share near Cabos San Lucas in July 2017. I hadn’t been to Baja since the early 1980s and was disheartened by how much Cabo had been overdeveloped in the meantime. Alas. After our week there, my husband & I headed north to Todos Santos, a place I’d long wanted to visit.
The beach below our lodging had a penned area for turtle hatchlings that was deserted in July. I was determined to return during the winter months when they are released. View looking northward.
So we returned earlier the following year, and got to participate in a release. Which wasn’t at all as I’d imagined. I hope some of the little guys made it…
Same beach. Looking southward.
A favorite hike to the south includes a steep, hot climb, but the views from the bluff are spectacular. We haven’t yet ventured down to this cove which was once a local fishing port. View looking southward.
Same bluff looking northward.
Abandoned building at the start of the hike, made of stone and brick, once covered in concrete.
We returned again in 2019 and noticed bits of Mexican humor here & there.
The sunsets were amazing from our lodging. In fact, we saw the green flash several times. And I’d thought—from my time looking for it in vain while sailing on research ships—that it was a myth…
Wag
Cute baby turtles, green flash sunsets, and anti-trump child’s playthings! What’s not to love?
JanieM
On a rainy autumn day in northern New England, with everything that’s going on, those pictures are a balm.
I spent a week at a workshop in Todos Santos in 1995. We spent much more time in the town than on the water, but I remember good food, welcoming people…and how sick I was on the last day and after I got home. Sigh. There was one really ill spouse camping with one of the workshop attendees, and it spread around by week’s end. (Too bad we didn’t think of masks!) There was a suspicion of hantavirus, but who knows. I was flat on my back for three weeks when I got home…but I still treasure the memories
ETA: a quick google suggests nah, not hantavirus. I guess the bottom line is I’m still here, either way. :-)
Betty
Beautiful place. Looks like a relaxing spot.
dmbeaster
Luv Baja away from the border zones. There are great places up and down the peninsula. One of my favorites has been a motel on the beach in Gonzaga Bay, a backwater on the Gulf of California side about 300 miles down. Cheap, fresh fish at the motel restaurant, beautiful bay as well as estuary. 20 foot tides at their maximum. Great beachcombing. Fine weather in the Winter or Spring. I used to have a lot of fun going to San Felipe, but it has become crowded and overdeveloped. Also nice is Bahia de Los Angeles even further down. The Vizcaino desert starting around Catavina and south is very interesting — numerous wild varieties of plants, the most famous being the Cirios, 20 foot tall upside down carrot-like succulents, which bloom nicely in the Spring (called boojum trees by gringos). Cabo San Lucas is just too far to drive, but have rented cars and driven north to a lot of nice places. La Paz is great — skindiving with whale sharks, sea kayaking the offshore islands.
J R in WV
@dmbeaster:
We flew into Baja Sur, spent the night in Cabo, then departed on a Lindblad small ship (95 folks IIRC) to watch whales. Which really meant have whales put their face in your lap riding in one of the Zodiak boats.
The pics ran in OtR not long after we got back. Amazing scenery, great people, had a great time. I’ll submit some again some time. Not interested in giant cruise liners, 95 folks seemed about right.
bertintx
I’ve had so many wonderful trips to Mexico since the mid 1980’s. Way2blue’s pictures recall a trip in 1993 with planes, trains, automobiles, and buses, from El Paso to Chihuahua, to Creel on the Barranca del Cobre train, Los Mochis, La Paz, and San Jose del Cabo. Our return trip took us through Todos Santos. The whole thing was a blast. In La Paz we stayed at Hotel Yeneka where there was a resident spider monkey living in the courtyard. The hotel is still in business. The Copper Canyon train was amazing and a major feat of engineering.
randy khan
That cactus looks lonely.
Mike S
My mother lived full time in Todos Santos from 2004 until about 6 years ago when her alzheimers made me bring her home. It had been their winter home until GWB was reelected. It has built up a lot since she first went there but its still a great town. A lot of great expat artists live there.
I’ve been going to Cabo since 88 and have a time share that is very different from the rest. Instead of giant hotel like buildings it is a bunch of 3 story buildings with each floor being separate units. Our view is the sunrise over the sea of Cortez. I prefer that side because it is a swimmable beach. The continental shelf drops off on the pacific side so what looks like flat water turns into 6 foot waves breaking on the shore. I love all of Baj Sur though. The locals are all amazing people except for the cartels who are at war to take over El Chapos territory. They’re not all that nice.
way2blue
@JanieM: Ugh. I drank some tainted water my last day in Todos Santos and had a miserable flight home. Otherwise had great fun in town—poking around in the shops & galleries, happy hour on rooftop terraces…
way2blue
@dmbeaster: My first visit to Baja since I was 5 years old was a geology field trip in 1981. Our professor insisted on driving the van the whole way. Drove from SF Bay Area to San Diego the first evening, then we worked our way south to Cabo with several side trips to look at amazing geology. The same deal driving back. We crossed the border at 8PM, and he dropped me off at my house at 6AM. I loaned him my walkman to listen to jazz to keep him awake…
way2blue
@Mike S: Todos Santos is deemed a magical village which protects it from rampant development. At least for now. Lots of pressure from developers to install mega resorts. Plus a new toll road runs between San Jose del Cabo and the Pacific coast, cutting driving time down significantly from the airport adds to the pressure…
Mike S
@way2blue: A couple of hotel companies considered building in Todos but the beach isn’t swimmable so the bigs decided against it. There was also a pretty large building project that had been planned right before the world financial crisis. I’m not sure what became of that but I can say that the difference in the town with the massive increase in tourism over the last 10 years or so is remarkable. We try to go up from Cabo every January but last year my wife broke er ankle an this year we aren’t going down. We traded over to a place in Puerto Vallarta for next October. Here is where we are going.
This is where we own in Cabo.
This was the home my mother owned down there.
I see now that it is back on the market. She decorated with the local artists which was nicer. I wish we could have kept it because I wold love t retire there, or flee to if the worst happens on Nov 3.
Mike S
@way2blue: One interesting thing that I think will help keep the town smaller is the new bi-pass road. You used to have to drive through town on your way from Cabo to La Paz. Now you don’t.