Guided tour at the La Paz, Museum
During our Mexican travels, it was often said to us by veteran travelers to Mexico that one travels to the Baja for the "beaches" and that one goes to mainland Mexico for the "culture". That may be jus...
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Walking the walk, talking the talk - a dream in Baja
On a surf-pounded beach in Baja Sur, I sat with my family of five, in a circle of campers around a crackling bonfire. The flickering flames cast each storyteller’s face in turn with a ruddy glow. The...
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Manana at the lighthouse
Mañana is a Mexican word that I struggle to understand. I continue to learn more about this word every time that I travel in Mexico. One of my earliest lessons was learned at the lighthouse that prote...
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Life goes on in Todos Santos despite the changes
Down narrow, winding, desert Highway 19, an hour past the last golf course in Cabo San Lucas, lies quiet Todos Santos, a Mexican hamlet with just over 3,400 residents, on the Pacific side of southern B...
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The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
Back in 1940, just before Pearl Harbour, John Steinbeck and his marine biologist friend, Ed Rickets, chartered a fishing boat, the Western Flyer, in Monterey, California, and sailed down the coast around the Baja into the Sea of Cortez. Their six-week mission was to collect specimens of marine life in the area. They jointly wrote a book about the voyage, largely about marine biology, which was published in 1941. A decade later, Steinbeck himself wrote this more personal book. The result is a mixture of travel writing, journalism, diary-keeping, philosophy, meditation and, yes, there's a lot of stuff about the marine life of the area. After all, the author was something of an authority in that field.
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Miraculous Air: A Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico by C. M. Mayo
Most of us think of the Baja Peninsula as a vast, sprawling, empty, underpopulated space on the Pacific Coast with hundreds of miles of desolate beaches. To a great extent, that's what it is. What Ms. Mayo gives us in Miraculous Air is a beautifully researched account of the history, geography, ecology, oceanography, the folklore, the wildlife and the incredible fishing in this vast area. We read of cave paintings of people who lived in the area some 10,800 years ago. And along the way, we meet a few quite interesting and memorable people.
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Almost an Island: Travels in Baja California by Bruce Berger
Bruce Berger is an excellent guide to the Baja. He’s been going there since the mid '60s, having driven the length of the peninsula at least three times when that meant travelling more than 1,000 kilometers of single lane dirt road. One could drive for a day and meet only one other car. And you would never dream of leaving without taking plenty of food, water and gasoline plus whatever extras and spare parts you might need to fix auto problems along the way.
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Introducing Rick Gage: Murder in La Paz and Death Mask of the Jaguar by Murdoch Hughes
With these two thrillers we find ourselves in the world of hard-boiled private eyes - a la Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler - but with a difference. Both stories are squarely set in Mexico. Murdoch Hughes has created a private eye, Rick Gage, who has given up his former career as a detective in Los Angeles to get away from the stress and violence he experienced there and moved to La Paz. However, with these two books, Rick encounters enough stress and violence to fill any number of careers. But he's a tough guy. He can take it.
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La Paz, Baja California Sur
La Paz is a pleasant, tranquil Mexican city that happens to be on the water. Although tourism is an important local industry, it is not a resort.
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La Paz, Baja California Sur
For a city named Peace, it has a rather grim history. A Spanish expedition sailed into the bay in 1533; the leader and several of his soldiers were killed by the indigenous residents soon after, by som...
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Oases on the Sea of Cortez
The rugged Baja California peninsula and the Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California, have been bewitching hardy visitors for decades. Some of the early fans were John Steinbeck and Earl Stanley Gardner, ...
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Cabo To Cabo
On my last visit to Cabo San Lucas in 1997, the city had installed its second traffic light four months ago. It stands on the northwestern outskirts of town, where Mexico Hwy. 19 begins its winding jou...
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Cabo!
It all began last Christmas when my husband and I had a delightful dinner out with his two sisters. One sister lives near us in Southern California and the other was visiting from Seattle. The conversa...
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Baja California Sur - Overview
LOCATION: The state of Baja California Sur is located in northeastern Mexico, on the peninsula of Baja California. It is bordered to the north by the state of Baja California Norte, to the west by the ...
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Oasis of Stone: Visions of California Sur
Although the Baja coast has attracted thousands of visitors, among them some fine photographers, few have really journeyed to the interior
This exquisite coffee table book is a collaboration between two friends, both of whom are award-winning artists: photographer Miguel Angel de la Cueva and essayist (and poet and musician) Bruce Berger.
read moreNorth of Loreto: Mulegé and Santa Rosalía, sun, beaches, hotels and history
Mulegé
North of Loreto, the highway leaves the coast until about half way to Mulegé, at which point the Bahía de Concepción (Conception Bay) suddenly comes into view. This next stretch of coastlin...
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Part one - La Paz and El Triunfo: from beaches and baskets to mines, music and marine park
Part 2
La Paz
La Paz was almost unrecognizable. I'd enjoyed the small town atmosphere when I first visited it in 1980 but it now has the big city pretensions that I find far less appealing. Despite...
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Cabo Pulmo: from beaches and baskets to mines, music and marine park, part two
Part 1
Cabo Pulmo
We arrive in Cabo Pulmo as the sun is setting, relieved to finally find the end of the initially paved, then dirt access road, which has been bounded by barbed wire ever since ...
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Clickable interactive map of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Clickable interactive Map of the Baja California Peninsula - Baja California, Baja California Sur, Mexico, including Tijuana, Loreto, Ensenada, La Paz, Cabo San Lucas.
read moreLoreto and San Javier: From Sun, Sand and Snorkeling to Museums, Missions and Mountains.
These three towns in Baja California Sur, offer a relaxing alternative to the frenetic pace of life in the pricier and more touristy Los Cabos area. Loreto, Mulegé and Santa Rosalía are very differen...
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Loreto Bay: The greenest place in Baja, and quite possibly in all of Mexico!
Loreto Bay, a 3-billion-dollar, 6,000-home development in Baja California Sur, may be the most eco- and socially-aware resort project anywhere in the country.
Interactive map of Baja California & ...
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Clickable interactive map of Baja California Sur state, Mexico - La Paz, Loreto, Santa Rosalia, Los Cabos
Clickable interactive map of Baja California Sur state, Mexico: La Paz, Loreto, Santa Rosalia, Los Cabos
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PUERTO VALLARTA VERSUS CABO BEACHES
Mexico Connect Forum Discussion Threads
Posted by Tim Bowen on July 12, 1999
I am going on my honeymoon in 30 days, and I was told by someone who just returned that the beaches at Puerto Vallarta w...
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