25 Top Things to do in the Baja

One’s intent in making a list of the top things to do in the Baja should be to keep it simple and stick to the highlights. The problem is that the Baja itself just won’t want to cooperate with such a limited number.

Los Cabos and its spectacular beaches and its unlikely yet striking golf courses didn’t make it on my list below. And why not you may ask. Because when I made my list, I was thinking of the things I’ve found in my six winters living here in the Baja. And then I asked myself, what I’d like to do if I had only a week to 2 here. So the wave at San Juanico, which is an extra 10 hour drive north of my imagined 2 week circuit, didn’t make it. The Windsufing meccas at “La Ventana” and “Los Bariles” didn’t make it. There just isn’t time.  So I guess I’ll have to write part two of this article and focus, for now, in the first 10 I believe are essential when you are new to The Baja.

List of the first 10 top things to do in the Baja

#1 The Baja California Sur is home to the world’s longest wave. Therefore it is a great place to practice some surfing.

#2 The Baja is home to one of the five most important archeological cave painting regions in the world. Since they are full of history and say lots about Mexican culture, it is a must visit.

#3 It is also the site of a spectacular oceanic rock arch, separating lover’s beach and divorce beach at the top of the peninsula. Exactly where the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez meet the wild waters of the Pacific.

#4  Also further north, the Pacific coast hosts the calving and mating areas of both, the Grey Whale and the Humpback populations.

#5 Nature also provides the anomaly of the Sierra Laguna Biosphere, a section of mountains which shelters high altitude natural aquifers.  These aquifers act like underground pots with tiny holes in the bottom, collecting water in the short rainy season, slowly seeping out in underground and some above ground streams during the year.  This creates a lush mixed pine and tropical forest high above the desert. Check out our blog post Weather in Todos Santos, we talk about normal temperatures and what to expect during winter season.

#6 & #7 Where the underground water comes up we find several tiny oasis that sustain life and tiny communities.  The largest two are known as Los Cabos and La Paz. La Paz is the seaside capital with its small historic colonial area and Malecon (seaside promenade). It is also the setting of John Steinbeck’s novel “The Pearl”, and currently creates a cultural perspective on Los Cabos life. It is an original Mexican alternative.

#8 The more authentic and  historic inhabitants of the Baja live in tiny oasis communities. Some of them are the Magic Village – Historic Site – Artists’ Colony – Agricultural center “Todos Santos”.

#9 The other original inhabitants are the ranching families, that are still hanging on around the outskirts of the mountains where they have lived since their grand, grand, grandparents arrived in the mid-1700s to early 1800s. As a result you will be able to learn deeply about their culture and traditions.

#10 The stone and adobe hamlets of Coroscos, supported by an inland spring and oasis are the classic example of one that very few people will find on their own.

 

Most Recommended: Spectacular

Spend a day in crumbling, adobe, 1850s Coroscos. Two small villages of 160 people set in a completely isolated, mountain oasis. Featuring a stone jail, no restaurants, only 1 person with internet, stone streets, and real spring water. Live a day in the 1800s. Within our top things to do in the Baja: You have to meet the locals with your personal small group guide/translator and a local resident.  Cut sugar cane and make sugar with the antique mill, use a scythe, meet the first winemaker in town and …… This is not a museum. This is real: a real old traditional lifestyle.

Some other top things to do in the Baja

• Get invited to dinner/fiesta by a local family in Todos Santos or in Coroscos.
• Hang out with, and likely even touch a grey whale in their naturally protected mating and calving bays. This habitat is regulated. Open to excursions from January 1^st to March 21^st.
• Meet a ranch family, milk the goats, make cheese and make tortillas by hand on a traditional desert mountain ranch. Finally make quesadillas over the fire.
• Swim with Whale Sharks from 4 to 9 metres in length, docile filter feeders that you won’t forget.

For the purposes of today, I will stop at this point and leave the next top 24 for the next article.

In the next post I will comment on swimming with the whale sharks and sea lions. Being on the boat  with my favourite captain, Juan, and his humorous guide Santos, which is always exciting.

When people swim with the sharks or snorkel with the sea lions, seems like they just keep getting excited. Over and over again!

If you want to learn more Top things to do in the Baja (part2) to go to the continuation of this post.