Just one of the Hotel California's many inner courtyards.
Metal sculpture mariachi band above the bar.
The rooms in the hotel are very nice. We had a balcony room overlooking the main street next to church (which is mentioned in the song, concidence?) The art fair was focused in the town square outside the church. We had dinner in one of the hotel restaurants and it was fantastic. The chef is from Belgium and he mixes local ingredients with classic dishes to create some incredible food. Cathy was excited to try the Chocolate Clam appetizer. For a New England girl, this is heaven. The clam is about 4 inches around and baked with an herb sauce and cheese. Yum! It was also a good chance to try some Mexican wines. Most of the wine comes from the northern part of Baja. The reds are actually very good, and reasonably priced. Sonoma is in no danger from Mexican imports, but for $8, you can get a good bottle of wine.
Outside the church
Young dancers take the stage
When we first got to town, we of course were looking for a place for lunch. We walked by a fish market where they were just starting to put out tables. We decided to come back later and try whatever they had because it couldn't be any fresher. We walked around the town for awhile on both dirt roads and partially paved.
We got back to the fish market just as they were opening up. There was no menu, but the mother of the owner told us in spanish what the choices for the day were. We didn't even ask the prices and ordered our usual fish and shrimp tacos with a couple of beers. We were very impressed with the free chips and salsa, the coleslaw and condiment platter, and the incredibly fresh and tasty fish and shrimp. The total bill including tip for 4 beers, 2 big fish tacos, and 2 big shrimp tacos was 150 pesos. Thats about $11. While we were eating, everyone walking down the street kept asking us if it was good. Apparently, they had only been open about a week, and all the locals were afraid to go and try it out because it was new. We told so many people, that the second day we went there for lunch, we might have contributed to all the full tables.
Another great fish taco find.
After breakfast on Saturday, we decided to try and find the closest beach. We finally did find it down a three mile long dirt road through a palm grove, where Rich was constantly afraid of being attacked by guard dogs. The road started with a truck load of the military running out of the bushes in front of us with machine guns, jumping in their truck and speeding off. Just another typical day in Mexico!We did actually get attacked by dogs, but they all just wanted to be petted. What we found at the end of the road was a beautiful 15? mile long beach with breaching humpback whales about 50 feet from shore. There was at least two dozen whales right off the beach just having a good time. They were really hard to get a picture of, because once one would surface and you were looking at it, another one would breech nearby and you would look over there. We ended up with many pictures of splashes. We watched them for about an hour before we figured we better get back into town so we could get one of the last busses back to La Paz.
Road to the beach
Beach as far as you can see
A humpback whale taking a look at us
Cathy as Jonah in the La Paz whale museum
The Aztec calander. They aren't predicting the end of the world. Those darn Maya.
Overall, we highly recommend Todos Santos. It would have been nice to spend a little more time there and get over to one of the beautiful surf beaches outside of town. Maybe on our way back south later this year when the weather is warmer.
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