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Yes, even Cabo has its refined side
http://www.insidebayarea.com/travel/ci_3598309
By Janelle Brown
3/13/2006
SAN JOSE DEL CABO, Mexico ? IN Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on a typical winter weekend night, the neon-lighted streets are packed with American tourists
buying cheap knickknacks en route to the Hard Rock Cafe. Groaning pedicabs haul college kids to nightclubs such as Body Shot and Cabo Wabo ( where the
land ends and the party begins ), where they imbibe two-for-one tequila shots. With its wall-to-wall beach scene, high-rise time-share condos and
American chain restaurants, Cabo San Lucas is a 24-hour spring break nirvana.
In San Jose del Cabo ? the sister city to Cabo San Lucas, just 20 miles down the road ? the hottest action on a weekend night is in the town square,
in front of the adobe church, where local families congregate for their evening constitutionals. Little girls on pink tricycles ride circles around
balloon vendors and menudo stands while musicians trumpet traditional Mexican banda from the bandstand. During the day, the town s beaches have more
cranes than Corona-drinking college students.
And that, for fans of San Jose del Cabo, is a blessing.
"We like to say that Cabo San Lucas is hysterical, but San Jose del Cabo is historical," said Alan Baumann, proprietor of the Amigos Smokeshop &
Cigar Bar in San Jose del Cabo. "I think neon lights are even forbidden on the front of buildings here. It's not a flashy kind of place."
San Jose del Cabo is often lumped in with Cabo San Lucas ? together, the two towns are known as Los Cabos (in English, the capes). They anchor the
southern tip of Baja California, connected by a strip of white sand beaches and high-end resorts referred to as the corridor. And yet, the average
visitor to Cabo San Lucas generally has no idea that San Jose del Cabo even exists. Despite possessing the charm that its sister city does not, San
Jose del Cabo has been spared the tourist onslaught by its location: a short, but crucial, half-mile inland from the beach.
As a result, while Cabo San Lucas has spent the last 20 years evolving into a package-deal destination, San Jose del Cabo has remained tranquil, and
(at least somewhat) authentic: a colonial town with tree-lined boulevards, boutiques operated by local artisans and renowned restaurants. And thanks
to its proximity to the area's most exclusive resorts, it's quietly emerging as a hangout for the well-heeled, famous and discreet, who want to enjoy
the Cabo sun while avoiding the Cabo Wabo way of life.
"Most of my guests go and spend one day in Cabo, and then they come back and say 'Thank God, we didn't stay there!'" said Nathalie Tenoux, 38, an
owner of the chic Casa Natalia hotel in San Jose del Cabo, where actors such as Gael Garcia Bernal stay. "I don't even know when spring break is."
Although Cabo San Lucas has since stolen most of the thunder, it is San Jose del Cabo that was the original town on the cape. When Hernando Cortes
first landed, in 1535, it was a village of Pericu Indians, surrounded by a scrubby desert. Not long afterward, pirates turned the town's peaceful
estuary ? a palm-lined lagoon ? into a hiding place from which to pick off treasure from the galleons en route to Asia.
Spanish Jesuits were commissioned to build a mission in San Jose del Cabo in 1730, but the Indians weren't very enthusiastic about conversion. By
1734, they had revolted, killed the missionaries and returned to their own way of life. Three hundred years later, the town still carries the stamp of
its colonial past. Surrounding el Centro, the town square, with its pink church (the original mission is long gone; this one is only 65 years old) and
modest municipal palace are hilly side streets with gracious old adobe homes. These have been turned mostly into courtyard restaurants and boutiques
selling silver, antiques and women's clothes, with charming hand-painted signs.
The estuary, which runs parallel to the town's tree-lined main street, Boulevard Mijares, is now a serene watering hole for egrets, herons, pelicans
and an errant steer or two, who placidly ignore the joggers and horseback riders on the adjacent footpath.
On the opposite side of San Jose del Cabo, in the middle of a highway traffic circle, stands an abstract yellow sculptural interpretation of a flower,
two stories high. It is the symbol for Fonatur, the Mexican tourist development agency, which has invested heavily in Los Cabos for the last two
decades. Thanks to the agency's efforts ? as well as the expansion of the region's international airport in 1985 and heavy development by American
corporations along the coast ? the Cabos area has become one of the fastest-growing (and most expensive) tourist destinations in Mexico.
Although San Jose del Cabo has avoided the heaviest development, it has benefited by its proximity to some of the region's most upscale resorts. The
One & Only Palmilla, which falls within San Jose del Cabo's borders, recently finished a $75 million refurbishment. The project has quickly turned
the resort, which is on a rocky promontory overlooking the sea, into a playground for the rich, complete with acres of vanishing pools, a spa and a
Charlie Trotter restaurant. Las Ventanas al Paraiso, the famous luxury resort, is just up the road.
When the guests of these resorts feel the need to venture out, they head straight into San Jose del Cabo. Javier Piza, 40, an artist and
man-about-town who not only owns the chic jewelry boutique Calli with his wife, Laura, but also works as sommelier at two of the town's best
restaurants, Tequila and Morgan's, can rattle off a long list of celebrities he has met. "Spiderman: Tobey Maguire. Jessica Simpson ? I didn't know
who she was, but my 12-year-old was like, 'Wow!'" he said. "Bill Gates. Lance Armstrong. Oprah. They look here for a place that's simple, where no one
is going to be bothering them."
The otherwise modest town has happily catered to its stiletto-heeled clientele,bending its Mexican culture to fit a more urban (and pricey) aesthetic.
San Jose del Cabo has become the de facto culinary capital of Los Cabos. Near the town square are almost a dozen fine restaurants serving the town's
distinctive cuisine ? a kind of Mediterranean-Mexican (think lobster in tequila sauce) ? at prices comparable to Manhattan's. The town even has a
perfect Mexican-European patisserie: French Riviera, which serves flaky croissants and chocolate confections alongside jalapeno-filled crepes.
Transactions are conducted as frequently in dollars as in as pesos.
The town's boom, said Baumann, the smokeshop owner, began about five years ago, five years after he gave up his dental practice in Minnesota and,
drawn by the peaceful life, opened his cigar shop in San Jose del Cabo. Now, at night, Baumann's shop fills with locals and travelers alike, who
congregate in the lounge to smoke Cuban cigars, drink Cognac and talk sports while his enormous brown chow, Oso, sleeps at their feet.
But perhaps the best sign of San Jose del Cabo's evolution from authentic Mexican village to discreet luxe getaway is the presence of Casa Natalia.
The hotel, a sleekly contemporary enclave of palm trees, bougainvillea and chaise-lined pools, is just off the main square; or, in other words,
nowhere near the beach. In the five years since it was built, by the expatriate European husband-and-wife team of Nathalie and Loic Tenoux, it has
gained a reputation as one of the loveliest hotels in Mexico.
Its Mediterranean-Mexican restaurant, Mi Cocina, is considered the best in town, thanks in no small part to its romantic, fire-lit setting in the
hotel courtyard.
The hotel and restaurant, in turn, have spurred yet more development.
"Since we've opened, businesses have opened all around us," Nathalie Tenoux said. "It's become nicer and more cosmopolitan. It's this competition. The
more that's going on, the more everything grows."
Meanwhile, life in San Jose del Cabo continues undisturbed. Old school buses ? recommissioned as public transportation ? chug through town, and young
Mexican women try on frilly wedding dresses right next door to pricey restaurants. Although the main street, Boulevard Hidalgo, is increasingly filled
with shops selling serapes and cheap silver to tourists, the proprietors shun the hard sell. Most shopowners simply sit in their doorways, taking in
the sun and watching well-fed stray dogs wander the streets; and siesta, between 2 and 4 p.m., is strictly observed, tourists be damned.
The only reminder of what lies 20 minutes to the west, in Cabo San Lucas, comes when you head down to the sea. At Santa Maria Beach, just east of
town, local teenagers serve as snorkeling guides through the coral reefs, pointing out the resident pufferfish and sea urchins. Pelicans drift on the
tides, and all is peaceful until a party boat from Cabo San Lucas, packed with tourists in bikinis, chugs into the secluded bay, blasting "Super
Freak" over its loudspeakers.
"Thirty minutes to swim, and we're moving on!" a guide yells through a microphone.
Maybe 20 miles isn't quite far enough.
----------------------
If you go:
San Jose del Cabo is seven miles south of Los Cabos International Airport on Highway 1, and 20 miles northeast of Cabo San Lucas. Major carriers,
including Delta Airlines and United Airlines, offer regular flights.
Casa Natalia, the most stylish of the lodging options downtown, is a cozy boutique hotel right by the main plaza. Rooms are $250 a night and include
in-room breakfasts and shuttles to the hotel's beach club. Telephone: (888) 277-3814.
For the luxury resort experience, there's the One & Only Palmilla, a five-minute drive from downtown. The resort, perched over the sea, has two
restaurants and bars, swimming pools and spa services. Rooms start at $475 in high season. Telephone: (52-624) 146-7000.
San Jose del Cabo's budget option is El Encanto Inn, which has 26 rooms in a charming old yellow hacienda. Rooms are $75 a night and up. Telephone:
(52-624) 142-0388.
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Marinero
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Registered: 11-4-2003
Location: Los Barriles, BCS
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That is a great piece. Thanks for the time to put up such a work. I first came to Baja when there were three hotels, Hacienda, Hotel Cabo San Lucas
and Palmilla. While they were all inexpensive, Palmilla was even then pricey. And so far from anything. My first trip to Hotel Cabo San Lucas was
Mexicana Airlines to La Paz and then Servicios Pacificos (Genuine DC-3 or C-47 to you flyers) to the dirt strip in back of the hotel.
I think sometimes the biggest problem with Baja is not what it is, but what is was. Many of us have migrated away from Cabo to find what it was, only
to find what it is chasing us. Small consolation, but even though the rate of growth and change seems to be increasing, I think that I, personally,
can outrun it for my lifetime. If all else fails, go inland. Hard to do on a narrow penninsula, but possible. Take Ray Cannon's original "Sea of
Cortez" with you and put it on your nightstand.
Enough!
Bill Barbour
Si estás buscando la person que cambiará su vida, échale una mirada en el espejo.
Fish logo from www.usafishing.com, used w/permission.
But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have..... |
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capt. mike
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8085
Registered: 11-26-2002
Location: Bat Cave
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Mood: Sling time!
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at one time in the long past.......baja was great.
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Sorry but Baja is still great.
Different but still great
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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I'm with you Judy, even if I'm sitting here inhaling Loreto Bay's stirred up dirt.
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bajalera
Super Nomad
Posts: 1875
Registered: 10-15-2003
Location: Santa Maria CA
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I'm with you too, Judy.
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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JESSE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3370
Registered: 11-5-2002
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Is Baja changing or are we simply missing the particular times and people we met while we where down here a few years back?
I was in cabo a few weeks back, its a lot diferent than the cabo i left almost 10 years ago, you can blame development, you can blame the money
people, but in reality, we miss the faces that made us feel comfortable and that brought happy times to our lives, my advice is, don't turn your back
on those places that gave you great times, stay, meet people, and build another time with different people, just like you did before.
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comitan
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 3-27-2004
Location: La Paz
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Mood: mellow
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I don't know who I agree with more Judy or Jesse I guess just have to go with both.
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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