Walmart: Fine Wine, If You Can Get To It

Road-building crews are laboring day and night at the intersection of Calle Valerio Gonzalez Canseco and Boulevard Mauricio Castro, also known as the Transpeninsular Highway, in the heart of San Jose del Cabo. Not sure what they are up to, but the project looks to be an afterthought prompted by the opening this past week of a sprawling Walmart Supermercardo at the intersection. At this late hour, crews won't be able to do much to relieve a bottleneck that any urban planner should have seen coming by just looking at the paperwork and taken a drive.

In a way, it's gratifying to see a corporation like Walmart tackle this sort of in-fill project right in the middle of town rather than building on the outskirts, thereby again contributing to urban sprawl. The lot that the massive structure now occupies previously was an eyesore, which to judge by the stentch that arose from it had been used in large part as a dump for abandoned pets. Any business on the site would have been an improvement, but the scale of the Walmart is laughable, which it is as long as you don't have to put up with the congestion, either as motorist or pedestrian.

Given the size and popularity of Walmart, why couldn't city authorities see this coming, or did they and just not care? Even without Walmart on that corner, traffic congestion had been intensifying. Calle Valerio Gonzalez Canseco long has been one busy street, thus the six topes that try to slow drivers heading up or down the slope. As construction of the Walmart progressed several new businesses joined the numerous schools, restaurants and cafes already lining the street, providing a glimpse of what was coming. San Jose del Cabo residents are grumbling about the placement of the Walmart and the additional traffic it is drawing, but it's pretty late in the game for any kind of effective opposition to develop.

By the time we return to San Jose del Cabo next fall or winter I suspect that Walmart will have wiped out several of the grocery stores, tortillerias, panaderias, viveros and other small businesses that exist in virtually every neighborhood of the town. On the other hand, a large Office Max on the south edge of town so far hasn't seemed to put out of business any of the papelerias alongside virtually every school in the community, so Walmart's impact might not be as severe as anticipated.

As I strolled about the new Walmart I was struck by the caliber and depth of its wine department. I can't recall a Walmart in the United States stocked so extensively, especially with such prized and pricey releases as the House of Morande 2004 Maipo Valley Bordeaux Blend (about $65 in U.S. currency), the De Martino 2004 Maipo Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($43), the Adobe Guadalupe 2006 Miguel ($33) and the Baron de Chivel 2001 Reserva Rioja ($137). Clearly, Walmart is taking on the town's few fine-wine shops, which will be another endangered species in the area. Good luck; we'll be hoping they all are surviving when we return to San Jose del Cabo.

For Our Next Stay, Please Beef Up Your Coverage

An open letter to Fernando Gonzalez Corona (publisher) and Ruben Valdes (editor) of the Los Cabos Daily News:

Since returning to San Jose del Cabo three months ago, we've subscribed to the Daily News, looking forward each morning to its mix of international, financial, lifestyle and sports news, as well as the crossword puzzle.

We're now starting to pack up for our return to Northern California. When we come back to San Jose this fall or winter, I'd like to see some changes in the paper if we are to resume our subscription:

Mostly, I'd like to see more local news. This shouldn't be too difficult. I believe you also publish Spanish-language newspapers with a heavy focus on Baja California Sur generally and Los Cabos specifically. How difficult would it be to translate and include in the Daily News some of those articles? Not difficult at all, I suspect. I believe your ex-pat audience would be more interested in compelling local stories than articles on international events about which they already have been well briefed by CNN and other sources of televised news. By continuing to focus on news out of Washington, D.C., and New York City you are missing an opportunity to close a gap within Los Cabos, and that is the division between the local fulltime native population and the community of residents from elsewhere who live here perhaps only part of the year, but who nonetheless want to be active and positive members of the region. Every time there's a fire or some other incident at the estuary, for example, my wife and I want to know about it, but we never find any sort of report in the Daily News.

If nothing else, add a comprehensive and accurate calendar of local events. Residents who live in Los Cabos just part time but who would like to be a part of the local culture while they are here have no consistent and reliable source that I am aware of to become aware of and to participate in the terrific range of cultural events that occur in and about Los Cabos. Where can I find a schedule of soccer matches at that outstanding stadium in Cabo San Lucas? How do I learn of races at the magnificent velodrome in San Jose del Cabo? That's a goal you should recognize and capitalize on.

OK, I recognize that this sort of additional local coverage can be costly - more expensive than ripping and pasting feeds from The Washington Post and Bloomberg News - but you are missing a potentially lucrative revenue stream by ignoring restaurant news and restaurant advertising. By my experience, when family and friends come to Los Cabos they first want to know about the local culinary scene - where to eat, where to find values, who is doing the most exciting cooking, what's the story behind that cafe or that food stall at the municipal market? You don't have to publish restaurant reviews, just a column of news items about what's new, what you've discovered, and what's inspired this chef or that restaurateur. I'm a longtime journalist, now largely retired, who spent many years reviewing restaurants. I'm not looking for work, just passing on what I consider a valid observation from my experience, and that is that people love to eat out, especially when they are on holiday, and welcome informed and fair guidance.

Finally, I'd like to see more news in the Daily News from the western U.S. I sense that if you were to canvass your readership you would find that it consists mostly of people from California, the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Your current news sources only occasionally cover the issues and personalities of those regions, however. While I admire The Washington Post and the breadth and depth of its coverage, I think you would better serve your readership if you also subscribed to such syndicates as the Los Angeles Times and McClatchy News Service, the latter of which I have had a longterm relationship, though in a modest role.

Please take my suggestions in the spirit in which they are intended: I enjoy the feel of newsprint in my hands each morning, and just want the contents of the paper I'm holding, in this instance the Daily News, to be more compelling, more successful and more influential among local residents, whether they live here fulltime or part-time.

Halfway There, We Hope

I've got it, a solution to the immigration issues poisoning what could be a mutually beneficial relationship between the United States and Mexico. I saw the light almost by accident, and, ironically, in Mexico itself. In short, all United States authorities need to do to resolve today's acrimonious debates over immigration is to adopt the same sort of measures that Mexico imposes on immigrants who want to work in the country, stay longer than six months, take advantage of medical services and own property: Compel them to get an FM2 or FM3 visa.

I'm not sure what FM2 and FM3 means, though wags in Mexico glibly refer to them as Foreign Moron Second Class and Foreign Moron Third Class. Whatever, one or the other is supposed to facilitate ordinary life in Mexico for expats, from getting through the airport to transferring property. We were told this a few years ago by various people who long have lived in Mexico. At that time we were starting to entertain thoughts of residing part-time in Baja California Sur. We bought their advice, and soon after we bought our casa we applied for our FM3 visas. Since getting them, I haven't realized any advantages, but I also haven't tried to find a job.

Instead, our FM3s have become a source of frustration, confusion and anger, but only on the day when we begin the annual renewal process, precisely one month before they are to expire. You have to do this in person in Mexico. The ritual starts with a trek to immigration headquarters in Cabo San Lucas. There, you first stand in line outside, then you and a dozen or so others dash upstairs to queue up again. (You should see the wheelchair ramp in this place. I've never seen anyone in a wheelchair actually attempt to go up or down it, but skateboarders practically droll at the steep, narrow and frightening challenge it offers; I tried to take a photo but the security officer stationed at the foot of the ramp grabbed me as if I were from Sinaloa, packing heat. He pointed to a sign indicating that no cellphones or cameras are to be used in the building. Meanwhile, at the top of the ramp, many of the people waiting to process their papers are on their cellphones.)

But back to renewing our FM3s. Here's what this year's exercise entailed, starting this past Thursday:

- A two-hour wait in the immigration office. There's a TV overhead, but it wasn't on. Every sign in the place is in Spanish. All the clerks speak almost solely Spanish, with little English. That's OK, it's Mexico, where Spanish is the dominant language, and anyone who lives there even part time probably should know enough to get by. Still, it is an immigration office, with most of the clients English speaking.

- After two hours, we're called up. We've been through this before. We know what to expect. We're ready. We've come with everything we've been directed to bring in the past: Copies of our three most recent bank statements to verify that we're more or less solvent and won't become a burden on the state's welfare services; our passports; our FM3s; copies of our most recent electricity bill to confirm that we're property owners. All this paperwork is enclosed in the required vanilla folders. (The people with blue folders are attorneys or agents who expats can hire for a fee of generally around $150 per FM3. They get to line up separately, though I'm not sure the service they get is any faster. A lot of them are Mexican women in tight pants and amazingly high platform shoes with spiked heels. The speed with which they can dash across the room in those shoes when their name is called is about the only entertainment you'll get if you didn't bring a good book.)

- The clerk flips through our paperwork quickly. He sighs, then tells us we don't have the new forms that have been required since late January. One of them has to be completed online. He points to a desk with a computer in the corner. He says if we have any questions about operating the computer ask the person in the information kiosk next to the desk. Neither then nor any time subsequently did we ever see anyone manning the information kiosk. We log on and find that all the questions are in tortured bureaucratic Spanish. A woman in line waiting to use the computer offers to help us maneuver through this minefield so she can get on with her own business. That task finished, we turn to the second form, to be answered by hand. The questions are surprisingly personal and dubiously relevant, but we proceed to fill in the blanks that ask about our race, education, complexion, height, weight, tattoos or scars, children, occupation, monthly income and religion (if I put down "Catholic" might that expedite the process, I wonder).

- Back to the counter, where the clerk notes that our names on the printout from the computer don't precisely match our names on our passports. We point out that the computer form asks for our names as they appear on our passports or on some other official identification. Because we are renewing our FM3s, we figure that our names on the form should be as they appear on the FM3s. We've figured wrong. The clerk insists that our names should be exactly on the form as they are on our passports. He directs us back to the computer to redo and reprint the forms.

- Back to the counter. He asks where our photos are. In the FM3s, we indicate. Nope, we need new ones, in color. By this time it's 1 p.m. We've been in the office four hours. The office is open weekdays only from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (I thought the same thing: Who handles their collective bargaining?) By this time we're thoroughly beaten down. We leave, find a small nearby photo shop whose only business is taking photos for visas. It's fast and relatively cheap - 120 pesos each, about $10. Next, we find a bank where we can pay our annual renewal fee, precisely 1,294 pesos each (about $110), and it must be paid in pesos only, no credit cards, no checks, no Unites States currency.

- We return to the immigration office first thing next morning, again joining the lines. The night before I've reviewed every possible contingency, and made backup copies of even backup copies. Nonetheless, I'm not confident that every base has been covered. The contradictions and delays of the day before were rattling, and I remind myself to adopt the attitude of the woman who'd stepped up to help us. She said she continually tells herself well before she gets to the office that "this is immigration day." She doesn't plan to get anything else done this day; she exercises her upmost patience; and she tries to keep smiling. I kept repeating that mantra, especially when the clerk asks the whereabouts of the two additional copies we were to have of our payment at the bank the day before. Yikes, I hadn't known we were to do that. But just as we were about to head out of the office in search of a copy shop, we ask if he might just make the required copies on the copy machine behind him. I feel uneasy about this, figuring we've already gone through a ream of paper and a printer cartridge, but he agrees, so I get over it.

- With that, he flips through the papers in one folder, then the other, shuffling, stacking, stamping and stappling. He then gives us a "very important paper," basically our receipt, which we are to bring to the office to pick up our new FM3 visas, anticipated in about a month. He points to a website address on the form and says we could go there anytime to check on the progress of our application. I've tried, following the directions over and over, but get a message that the page doesn't exist. We'll wait a week or two, then start calling the immigration office to find if our new FM3s are in.

I know what you're thinking: If only the immigration process in the U.S. were this onerous all those immigrants would beat a hasty retreat home. I'm not suggesting that at all. I've no idea what immigrants in the U.S. face if they hope to stay in the country for an extended time and perhaps find a job, go to school and buy property. The system in the States could be so daunting that it alone explains why some immigrants ignore it, but I doubt that. At the least, every direction will be in Spanish as well as English.

The Mexican bureaucracy is legendary for its finicky and rigid ways. The unprecedented computer station at the immigration office on our most recent visits, however, is an encouraging sign. Maybe the process gradually will become more logical and less irksome. (Oddly, not once on any of the forms we filled out were we asked an email address so immigration officials could keep us abreast of changes in their standards, which seem to happen annually.) Despite the computer, however, we went through more paperwork than usual, and clerks looked to be using no fewer rubber stamps, paper clips and glue sticks than ever. The clerks, incidentally, were never obtuse or mean-spirited, just equally unprepared in the details of the new procedures.

For sure, the Mexican system is inefficient, awkward and costly, yet we feel compelled to abide by it so we can be seen and treated as good neighbors. I wouldn't want to wish it on anyone, but I've a hunch the comparable means to allow immigrants to buy property, pay taxes and the like in the U.S. is more streamlined. Nonetheless, it apparently isn't perceived as being as necessary to live by as the visa procedure in Mexico, or it wouldn't be shrugged off as casually as it is. What I'd like to see is some sort of reciprocity between the two nations, so that immigrants from one country to the other can know beforehand what's expected of them and can comply with minimum hassle.

Given the traditions, history and proximity of Mexico and the United States, you'd think there could be more understanding and cooperation between the two countries. But relations appear to be nearly as strained as ever, with that grim fence snaking along the border a depressing symbol of political and diplomatic ineptitude in both countries. With leadership and imagination, politicians and diplomats should be able to come up with a relatively easy and encouraging way for citizens of both countries to cross the border and pursue their dreams in a manner beneficial to all concerned. That day seems far off, given the acrimony and fear generated  by overheated differences concerning guns, drugs and illegal immigration. Nevertheless, we can hope.

Flat Tire At The Velodrome

When not in San Jose del Cabo, I'm generally in Sacramento, in northern California, variously also known as Alta California, Upper California and Superior California, all of which suggest some sort of inferiority complex. What I'm about to report won't help that, but it also could provide inspiration for Sacramentans to keep the momentum going.

I recently read on The Sacramento Bee's website a feature about the hopes of some city residents to build a velodrome, an oval track with steeply pitched walls on which cyclists can go as fast as they want and are able. In a sense, it's surprising that Sacramento doesn't already have a velodrome, given how many avid cyclists live in and about the city. Then again, there's always the American River Parkway, basically a bikepath that challenges cyclists for its more than 20 miles. But for racing, nothing apparently beats a velodrome, and consequently almost all of the more than 80 comments attached to The Bee feature endorsed the notion of building a velodrome in Sacramento.

The story reminded me that San Jose del Cabo has a stunning velodrome, which I hadn't yet visited during my current stay in the settlement, in large part because while I enjoy some cycling I'm not particularly interested in the sport as either viewer or participant. I saw Lance Armstrong pedal through Sacramento not long ago and found that about as exciting as watching the Daytona 500. Nevertheless, I made my way today up to San Jose's handsome velodrome, perched high on a hillside on the northwestern outskirts of the community. The velodrome is next to a large soccer complex, and flanked by basketball courts, all of which offer striking views of the Sea of Cortez. A cool breeze was blowing across the setting as the sun began to dip behind the mountains to the west. The whole complex represents a substantial monetary investment, even though getting there requires passing a barrio of lean-tos.

I've no idea whether that proximity explains the sorry state of the velodrome, but to judge by the littered grounds and the extent of the graffiti inside and out of the velodrome someone looks to be mightily irked by its presence. The track remains in fine shape, though a guy on hand to help coach the young cycling team in its practice session was reduced to spending a chunk of his time sweeping debris from the track. The velodrome is only around 18 months old, but municipal officials, he indicated, have dropped the ball in maintaining the facility and in providing adequate security. Come back early next month, he said encouragingly, for what promises to be a spirited meet involving several cycling teams.

What's the lesson here for Sacramento? Build a velodrome, but just make sure the money and interest are there to maintain the facility. Actually, from what I've also been reading, the city's NBA franchise, the Kings, may not long be in the community, leaving vacant a basketball pavilion that just maybe could be retrofitted into a velodrome. And with air conditioning, someting the velodrome at San Jose del Cabo doesn't have, though it does have all that sunshine and those caressing marine breezes.

No Menu, Just Delightful Dining

The Wall Street Journal has discovered restaurants without menus. This may be news in New York, but not in San Jose del Cabo, where for five years this month Casiano Reyes has eschewed menus at his intimate Restaurante Casianos.

We returned to the restaurant last night for our Valentine's Day dinner. The restaurant is in a depressed office and commercial complex on the southwest side of town, just above a urine-scented access to the beach. But once through the restaurant's curtained entry you're in a different world, where polished sophistication holds forth. The classy design runs vaguely to French and Spanish traditionalism. Black-clad servers were attentive and smart. For some reason, whenever we visit Casianos I expect to see George Clooney, a not-infrequent visitor to Los Cabos, according to the local press. Last night, however, no George, but there was some guy with the heft and confidence of a professional football player, though I couldn't place him without his jersey.

At any rate, diners are greeted with a parmesan breadstick that would please Biba Caggiano, a tray with a selection of fresh lemon, lime or mint to go in your glasses of water, and a question about whether you have any dietary restrictions. No menu is handed over, just an opportunity to specify whether you want the three-course meal or the five course.

Once that's resolved, a basket with four kinds of warm breads arrive, followed soon after by plate after plate of what Reyes calls "spontaneous cuisine." His intent is to surprise guests and leave them delighted by both their adventurous spirit and his precise cookery, perhaps best classified as New-Wave Mexican. Traditional staples of the Baja diet make their appearance, but in totally original presentations. Sweet scallops were sweetened even more with a concentrated puree of sun-dried tomatoes. The brightness and juiciness of finely diced watermelon contrasted with the crackle of its accompanying fried goat-cheese ravioli. A creamy corn sauce and a puree of beets lit up the lobster medallion with their earthy sweetness. A filet of sea bass covered with lentil scales floated on a sea of pureed green beans.

Filet mignon and New York steak aren't my favorite cuts of beef, but both were handled with imagination and care, the former exceptionally tender and rich, the latter succulent and smoky, its red-wine-and-rosemary sauce the perfect accompaniment.

The most unusual dish was a cylinder of poached potato filled with foie gras and blueberry. The foie gras, said our server, was produced at Guadalajara.

Dessert consisted of two kinds of cake (white chocolate for one, red velvet for the other) accompanied by two kinds of ice cream (rose petal for one, tequila for the other), both paired with pears that had been marinated in orange and thyme, then topped with feta.

Restaurante Casianos isn't inexpensive - 900 pesos per person for the five-course selection (about $75 at the current exchange rate) - but then Valentine's Day comes around just once a year. We stuck to wines by the glass, including a minerally and lemony Chilean chardonnay and a quiet Chilean pinot noir, after finding the restaurant's wine list to be the weak link in the operation. In excitement, the wine selection isn't up to the same level as the food, with most of the choices pedestrian and overpriced. The Bogle chardonnay is a fine take on the varietal, but not at the 700 pesos (nearly $60) that the restaurant expects to get for it. Nevertheless, Restaurante Casianos at five years old is continuing to meet its exacting standards.

OMG (Oh My, Gallo)

To judge by Saturday night's "Ritmos, Colores y Sabores" on the plaza in San Jose del Cabo, food festivals in Mexico don't differ much from food festivals in the United States. The serving starts a little late and progresses slowly, the lines get long fast, and the food disappears quickly; chefs were breaking down their stalls a little after 8 p.m., though the event was billed as lasting until 10 p.m. And in a sense, it almost did, given the range of entertainment that occupied the stage until nearly 10 p.m., long after most of the food was gone.

In that sense, Ritmos, Colores y Sabores - Rhythms, Colors and Flavors - was a step up from the entertainment at food festivals in the U.S., usually limited to some jazz combo nobody can hear because it's stuck in an obscure corner. Here, the entertainment went on and on, and at times was so lively it helped alleviate pressure on the food stands by distracting diners. The show included the large and uniformed glee club of a local elementary school, numerous high-energy vocalists, mariachi, folk dancers, fire dancers and belly dancers.

As in the U.S., participating restaurateurs donated dishes representing their menus in hopes of attracting new customers. It worked for me. I've added to my list of restaurants to visit before heading home Baja Blue Bar & Grill in San Jose del Cabo on the strength of its zesty seafood shots, La Galeria at the marina in Cabo San Lucas for its hearty nopales salad and fresh scallop-and-mango ceviche, Los Deseos Restaurant Bar at the marina in Cabo for its intriguing assortment of salsas, and Mi Cocina in the boutique hotel Casa Natalia in San Jose because of its bracing salad of scallops, octopus and nopales. By and large, the food was intricate and artful, the servings generous.

Sponsored by the Public Relations Association of Los Cabos to benefit a program assisting local women with cancer, the festival was well worth the price of 200 pesos per adult ($20 in U.S. currency). I think if they were to raise the price to $30 per person next year they'd still see the same size crowd, but hopefully they'd also arrange for more food. Aside from small sample shots of tequila and cups of coffee, beverages were an additional charge - 20 pesos per can of beer, 50 pesos per plastic glass of wine. And the only wines being poured, much to our dismay and no doubt much to the mortification of the Mexican wine trade, were by Barefoot Cellars, a California brand owned by E&J Gallo Winery. I've had pleasant Barefoot wines over the years, but the releases being poured Saturday night apparently don't travel well. Neither the cabernet sauvignon nor the pinot noir showed any varietal character, and overall weren't up to the quality of the food being served. That Modelo Light, however, isn't a bad can of beer.

Why They Call It A War

Today's online surfing came up with a couple of gems concerning Mexico's ongoing drug wars. One is a pithy essay that suggests that competing drug cartels be looked upon more as "armies of mercenaries" than criminal families, even though money and not political gain is their objective.

The second is Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2010, a lengthy and disturbing survey of murders, kidnappings and similar mayhem in Mexican states over the past several years. The report was written by Viridiana Ríos, a doctoral candidate at Harvard University and a research associate of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego, and David Shirk, the institute's director. Released today, it looks to be the most timely and reliable canvas of drug-related violence in Mexico yet accumulated. Some highlights from its 28 pages:

- In the first four years of the administration of President Felipe Calderon, 34,550 killings have been linked officially to organized crime in Mexico. During the entire six-year term of Calderon's immediate predecessor, Vicente Fox, just 8,901 killings were attritubed to drug-related crime. Calderon has two years remaining in his term.

- Of the total, 15,273 killings occurred during 2010, a nearly 60-percent increase over the previous year.

- Of the total number of killings last year, 84 percent were in just four of Mexico's 32 states - Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Guerrero and Baja California. (It's important to note here that Baja California, also sometimes called Baja California Norte, is the state to the north of Baja California Sur. Baja California Norte includes Tijuana, where 472 drug-related killings took place last year. In all, 540 drug-related murders occurred in Baja California Norte last year. By comparison, 4,427 were in the state of Chihuahua, which includes the deadly city of Ciudad Juarez. The report notes that Baja California Sur, which includes the popular vacation destinations of La Paz, Todos Santos, Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, is one of five Mexican states virtually untouched by drug-related violence; last year, 10 killings in the entire state were attributed to organized crime, but that compares with just 1 drug-related murder in the state the year before.

- This isn't the best of times to be a public official or a journalist in Mexico. Of last year's deaths, 14 were Mexican mayors (an unprecedented high), and 11 were journalists. (A total 27 Mexican mayors have been killed over the past six years.)

- Killings related to organized crime accounted for about 45 percent of all murders in the country last year.

- Nearly one-quarter of the killings were attributed to conflict between the dominant Sinaloa cartel and the Juarez cartel. Another 17 percent were attributed to conflict between the Sinaloa and Beltran Leyva factions, while 9 percent stemmed from feuds between the Sinaloa and Gulf and Zeta organizations.

- If Mexico in on your list of possible vacation destinations, the safest states look to be Baja California Sur, Campeche, Queretaro, Tlaxcala and Yucatan. Each has averaged no more than 10 drug-related homicides per year since 2007.

The report is longer on statistics than it is on analysis, and shies from predicting whether the conflict will intensify or whether some sort of equilibrium will be reached among the various warring drug factions. For sure, over the past year the drug cartels adopted more aggressive tactics, including explosives and traffic blockades, and became more brazen in boasting of their accomplishments through handwritten banners, viral internet videos and the popular form of ballads called narcocorridos. "In this sense, the tone of violence has become increasingly ominous over recent years," notes the study.

The report, however, is cautiously optimistic about what lies immediately ahead for Mexico in its struggle with drug cartels. It notes that drug-related violence trended down in the second half of 2010. The Merida Initiative, a three-year, $1.4-billion, U.S.-backed assistance package to help Mexico with social services and programs, could help undercut the appeal of drug trafficking as a way of life. Intensified border interdiction of drugs, a drop in demand for drugs in the U.S., smaller potential profits for the cartels, the high-profile arrest or killing of several drug lords, and steps to improve the country's criminal-justice system all could help alleviate the violence, the report suggests.

"It is important to keep Mexico’s recent violence in perspective. In a country of more than 100 million people, the odds of being killed in a drug-related homicide in 2010 were one in 6,667, about the same as the odds of being killed in an automobile accident in the United States (about one in 6,500). The odds of being killed in Mexico’s drug violence decrease dramatically if a person is not a drug trafficker, mayor, or police officer in a disputed trafficking region," notes the report. (It does not mention the odds of being killed in an automobile accident in Mexico.)

On the other hand: "With no sign of surrender on the part of the government or the (drug-trade organizations), Mexico’s drug war is far from over. Nor is it even clear that the worst has passed. Indeed, the start of 2011 seems to herald a continuation or increase in violence in the coming year. In the first three weeks of January 2011, Reforma reported 245 drug-related killings per week, 41 more than during the same period a year ago and 20 more than the average for 2010. At the same time, with the presidential elections looming, the Calderón administration needs to shift to a strategy that will help build political support for his party in 2012. This may lead the federal government to focus on regions that are easily controllable and efforts that will yield high-impact results. However, this may leave the most difficult cases, such as Ciudad Juárez, in turmoil, with violence keeping the same high but steady trend that occurred in 2010," concludes the report, sounding not at all hopeful of peace any time soon.

Home On The Range, However Risky

My walks this week to and from the new San Jose del Cabo branch of Cabo Fitness Club leave me both charmed and perturbed. Who wouldn't like to brush by a couple of docile and handsome horses that seem to have been hired to mow the grassy strip between Punta Sur Golf Course and the Transpeninsular Highway? A concrete path winds through the narrow and lush strip, and the highway is just a few feet to the west. That four-way helps account for my consternation. These are free-range horses, untethered and apparently unattended; no cowboys were in sight, though a crew of groundskeepers from either the city or from Fonatur, the national agency responsible for developing tourism in Mexico, generally isn't far off, though they seem virtually oblivious to the horses.

I'm hoping motorists behave as if they are a bit more aware of the horses, though rarely do any obviously slow. I'm also hoping the horses don't decide the grass is greener on the other side of the road, though that isn't likely, given that the opposite side mostly is a dry arroyo and a stand of brush that looks barely alive. Nonetheless, I've strolled by the calling cards of horses in the neighborhood reaching up into the hills from the west shoulder of the highway. The golf course would be tempting, but a fence keeps out the horses, who appeared at their happiest yesterday, when sprinklers were on and they could amble over for a welcome drink at their leisure.

I have yet to see if anyone drops off the horses in the morning and picks them up at night. They look well cared for, and I'm hoping they continue to look that way as they enjoy their precarious pasturage.

New Ruling Party For Baja California Sur

In San Jose del Cabo, voting booth, left; ballot boxes, right

Today is Constitution Day in Mexico, which is especially fitting for residents of the state of Baja California Sur, who just yesterday elected a new governor. He's Marcos Covarrubias, a former congressman who was the nominee of the National Action Party (PAN), which is headed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Residents of the state also elected new presidentes - or mayors - for five municipalities. In Los Cabos, which includes the cities of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, the new presidente will be Tony Agundez, the candidate of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).

According to various online news sites and blogs, Covarrubias won 40 percent of the vote compared with nearly 34 percent for Ricardo Barroso (the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI) and 21 percent for Luis Amando Diaz (the candidate of the PRD).

The results are being interpreted early on as a repudiation of the PRD, which had run the state for the past 12 years. The PRD, however, remained in charge of the municipalities of Los Cabos and Mulege, while the PRI will run La Paz and Loreto and the PAN will oversee Comondu.

While today's Tribuna de Los Cabos reported the arrest of six persons in Cabo San Lucas for polling-place "intimidation," the voting in San Jose del Cabo went off smoothly.

Nearly 60 percent of the state's electorate reportedly voted.

Growing Pains At Farmers Market

On my drive to the farmers market at San Jose del Cabo this morning, I encountered a small group of pedestrians who judging from the bags they were carrying had just gotten their fill of heirloom tomatoes and dried epazote. You don't often meet people walking into or out of the farmers market, and my immediate thought was that they were adventuresome environmentalists or lost tourists. I admired their spunk, but I also thought that this would be the last time they take in the farmers market on foot, given the dust and the traffic congestion they were enduring.

Musicians at Saturday's farmers market

Sunday is election day in Baja California Sur. That includes the election of a new presidente - or mayor - to oversee a municipality that includes San Jose del Cabo. Maybe the new mayor will recognize something that the current administration appears to have blithely ingored: The Saturday farmers market is a huge success whose popularity looks to be growing each week. Los Cabos is just starting to see its annual surge of winter visitors, and in a week or two the farmers market could be impossible to enjoy, or even reach. With the opening of the new bridge over the arroyo to the south of the market, effectively cutting off access to the market from that direction, the route in and out is inadequate to accommodate the masses who attend. The parking lot, while fairly large, can't handle all the SUVs congregating on the site, despite the efforts of stressed attendants who are quick to spot and then guide drivers to vacant slips.

(An aside: Persons who take advantage of the farmers market could be much better neighbors if only they were a little more conscious of what's going on around them. Today, for example, a party of about four or five clearly had finished their shopping and were about to climb into their rig. As I waited for them to load up and pull out so I could grab their spot, vehicles backed up behind me in a long and growing line. Yet, the dawdlers continued to dawdle, chatting at length over what seemed to be the design or color of the rig, something they could do in the driveway back at their time-share. I was convinced they were a bunch of Canadians (that's a little joke), but when I glanced at their license plate, expecting to find British Columbia, I instead read Wisconsin. Wisconsin! That's home to several of the friendlier and more considerate people I know, even if they aren't related to me. What was so important that they continued to jabber, completely oblivious to the incoming throng? The Super Bowl, maybe? At any rate, I gave up, moved on and eventually was directed to an opening. Those attendants, tip them a few pesos next time you visit the market, OK?)

Artist in residence, San Jose del Cabo farmers market

At any rate, the Saturday farmers market is one of San Jose del Cabo's principal attractions, though it's apt to lose its allure if something isn't done to find a more convenient setting, or somehow enlarge the existing location and make access more user friendly. "Oh, you don't want to eat breakfast before coming here," I overheard one seasoned visitor remark to a newcomer. That's true. The array of food vendors, who are marketing everything from fresh-fruit smoothies to grilled chicken, are numerous, tempting and varied. Nevertheless, organizers may have to rename the market "artisans market." While food remains the primary attraction, the number of artists, jewelers, musicians, furniture makers and the like looks to be gaining, and may indeed already outnumber the people selling wheatgrass shots, tamales and pastries.

Super Bowl Sunday In Baja California Sur

I'm wondering if this is the lull before the storm. The storm will be Sunday, and I'm talking neither weather nor Super Bowl, but election day in Baja California Sur. At that time, the state's voters will elect a new governor. As I understand Mexican electoral laws, campaigning was to end yesterday. No more fireworks, no more rallies, no more handing out of leaflets, no more small cars with huge loudspeakers roaming about the neighborhoods, setting off the dogs that occupy virtually every yard. It's a cool and breezy morning, but blessedly quiet.

Since returning three weeks ago to San Jose del Cabo, one of the principal cities of Baja California Sur, the campaigning has been loud, brisk and curious. Tourists who stick to downtown, where the art district, restaurants and curio shops are concentrated, could be totally unaware that a highly competitive gubernatorial contest is under way. As I've heard it, campaign posters and the like are prohibited in the tourist area because visitors might take offense at the clutter. During the past week, this ban apparently was extended to the transpeninsular highway just to the west of downtown, the main route for tourists and residents alike to and from the airport, among other destinations.

As I strolled back from the sports complex the other day I came upon a crew of municipal workers tearing from utility poles every candidate poster along the highway, and there are a lot of them in San Jose del Cabo. In residential areas the placards gleam from virtually every utility pole, just like Christmas decorations. When I asked one of the workers what was going on, he said, "Basura" - "trash." And down they came. Oddly, with one exception huge campaign advertisements remain painted on walls, buildings and billboards along the highway. The three shown here, all for the PRD slate that includes gubernatorial candidate Luis Armando Diaz and Los Cabos mayoral candidate Antonio Agundez, can be seen from one spot along the transpeninsular highway. The exception was another sign for the PRD candidates. We watched for two days as a painter meticulously painted the sign on a long and curving retaining wall along the highway; not more than a week later it was completely whitewashed over, and the job looked professional, not the result of vandalism.

I've no idea who is going to win this gubernatorial campaign or what the election will mean for Baja California Sur. Elections currently are proceeding from one Mexican state to another, with the results being interpreted as an indication of how voters feel on the eve of next year's presidential election. This past weekend, Angel Aguirre, the candidate of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), was elected governor in what often is described as "violence plagued" Guerrero. The PRD candidate in Baja California Sur is Luis Armando Diaz. When I asked Mexican neighbors which candidate was expected to be elected governor of Baja California Sur, they replied without a moment's hesitation that it would be Diaz, a former mayor of Los Cabos.

Based on the number of his campaign posters, the popularity of his t-shirts, and the volume of his music at rallies, I'd have to agree. But then I took a bus ride into the barrios north of San Jose del Cabo, and there ran into a huge group of campaign workers going door to door on behalf of Ricardo Barroso of La Paz, the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). In the outlying areas, his posters also appeared to outnumber the placards for Diaz. At 31, Barroso would be the youngest candidate ever elected governor of Baja California Sur; one of his campaign slogans is "youth is not synonymous with inexperience." He didn't lift that from Barack Obama, did he? Barroso's platform calls for universal access to health care, better wages for police, 5,000 new jobs in his first year in office, free Internet access in public places, and more use of energy-saving lightbulbs. Another candidate, Leonel Cota Montano, a former governor of the state, now supports Barroso.

According to polls, however, the candidate who stands the best chance of being elected goverenor on Sunday is Marcos Covarrubias, a former congressman who bailed from the PRD and now is running under the banner of the National Action Party (PAN), headed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon. I've been unable to get a picture of what Covarrubias stands for, but his election almost surely would be seen as an endorsement of President Calderon's anti-drug efforts.

As If Someone Pulled The Plug On The Estuary

A fisher casts his net in the estuary Sunday

Saturday, the waterways of San Jose del Cabo's principal natural feature, its lush freshwater estuary, began to gush into the Gulf of California. Sunday, the draining continued, reducing the lagoon's broad and lazy channels to slim and quick-running streams flanked by expanding mudflats. The carcasses of thousands of fish littered the banks. For scores of pelicans, buzzards, egrets and osprey, Thanksgiving had arrived. The easy catch also was welcomed by local fishers, who arrived by the dozen, waded into the receding water and hurled their nets at schools of fish clustered in dwindling eddies. Virtually every cast was successful, though the fishers generally discarded the stout black fish that looked like some kind of bass while keeping a sleek silver variety about as long and fat as a good-sized trout.

This phenomenon of the disappearing water was new to us. As we strolled along estuary paths that had been underwater just a short time ago, a longtime resident of San Jose del Cabo paused to explain what appeared to be happening. As water in the estuary rises from both winter rainfall and discharges from the city's sewage-treatment plant, pressure builds along the high and wide wall of sand separating the estuary from the Gulf of California. That pressure, coupled with a high tide, is enough to breach the barricade, sending surging water from the estuary into the gulf. This happens once a year or so, he indicated.

The estuary is a birdwatcher's paradise, even on ordinary days. But this weekend the number of birds was exceptional. Our acquaintance on the estuary path even pointed out a Belding's Yellowthroat, a tiny and fidgety warbler whose sunny coloring is set off by a dramatic black mask. According to BirdLife International, the marsh at San Jose del Cabo constitutes a rare and prized habitat for the bird, but it's jeopardized by fires, drainage, reed cutting, intrusions of urbanization and the occasional hurricane. I've no idea what impact this weekend's abrupt siphoning will have on the Belding's Yellowthroat, but at least for awhile it will be easier to stroll about the estuary in search of the bird.

No Fog Here, Just Good Eats

A fellow Sacramentan who is helping to coordinate a rendezvous for her family in Los Cabos in February has emailed me some questions about Mexican wine and restaurants and markets in San Jose del Cabo. They will be staying on the “corridor,” the beachside strip of resort hotels and timeshares between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, but they expect to frequent San Jose more than Cabo. I’m guessing that other Northern Californians are planning to escape the area’s chilly temperatures and persistent fog for a few days in Los Cabos, where it’s overcast right now but still edging into the 70s. Thus, in hopes of being helpful I’m posting here my response to her:


- As to your interest in exploring Mexican wine, be aware that quality is wildly uneven and that prices can be stunningly high. I just came from the gourmet shop La Europea across the transpeninsular highway from the landmark Las Palmas hotel in San Jose del Cabo. Their selection of Mexican wine is extensive and varied, but also pricey. They are well stocked with releases from the usually reliable Mexican brands Monte Xanic and L.A. Cetto. But they also carry several Mexican brands new to me, including one with a 2004 zinfandel for 875 pesos (about $75 in U.S. currency) and a 2005 nebbiolo for 1,295 pesos (about $110). When I win the lottery I’ll be able to report on what they’re like. In the meantime, I’ll be sticking pretty much to Chilean, Argentine and Spanish wines, which are the wines most readily available, most attractively priced and most consistently reliable in Los Cabos. However, for a special dinner at which I would like to show off what the Mexican wine trade is capable of achieving, I’d select a wine by Casa de Piedra, Adobe Guadalupe, Vinedos Malagon, Vinisterra or Roganto. Good, solid representations can be found at $40 to $60 for those brands. And I’d stick to warm-climate grape varieties, like petite sirah, tempranillo and especially grenache. Also, you may want to stop by the wine shop La Casa del Vino de Baja California, which stocks only wine made in Baja California. It’s in Plaza del Cabo, along the transpeninsular highway just south of La Europea. Starting at 7 p.m. each Tuesday, the owner oversees a tasting of four Baja wines. The cost is 200 pesos per person.

- As to restaurants, you asked about Casianos. As with your friends, it’s one of our favorites, though we haven’t yet checked it out this visit. It’s in a peculiar location, a lifeless office and shopping complex along Bahia de Palmas east of the transpeninsular highway and just northeast of the Las Mananitas development. Owner/chef Casiano Reyes cooks what he calls “spontaneous cuisine.” The menu, in other words, changes daily, and by our experience includes two prix-fixe options. Stylistically, the food is Nuevo Mexican - duck on a plantain tortilla, lobster and chile peppers in filo pastry, sea bass on a pineapple puree, tenderloin on sweet-potato puree. The setting is smart, the service prideful and precise in explaining dishes, and the wine list captivating, though dear (the 2006 Russian River Valley pinot noir from Clarksburg’s Bogle Vineyards was listed at 750 pesos (about $60 for a wine that generally was selling for around $14 in the Sacramento area). We enjoyed the restaurant immensely, and this year it could be our Valentine’s Day destination.

Our overall favorite fine-dining restaurant, however, remains Restaurant H, a small but exquisitely designed and operated place in the heart of San Jose del Cabo’s art district. The father-and-son team of Luis Herrera Blanc and Luis Herrera oversee a compact menu of what they call “modern rustic” Mexican cookery. It’s the first place we hit when we return to San Jose del Cabo and the last we visit before returning to Sacramento. The food just seems to be getting better and better, and the other night we had our best meal yet there. If it’s still on the menu, be sure to order the heirloom-tomato and roasted-beet salad, sweetened with goat cheese and a fruity vinaigrette. The kitchen even knows how to glorify pan-seared chicken breast, keeping it moist while jazzing it up with smoky chile peppers, asparagus, mushrooms and a sweet-potato puree. In the past, we’ve enjoyed such entrees as pan-fried chicken with a curry of tomatillos and poblano and jalapeno chile peppers, grilled pork chop with a green herb sauce, chorizo and a white-bean puree, and local sea bass crusted with sunflower seeds over a sweet and creamy sauce of corn, potato and peppers. I’m not crazy about Restaurant H’s wine list, but the corkage is a not unreasonable 200 pesos. Book well in advance, and hope you get a table with Daniel as your server.

Other San Jose del Cabo fine-dining restaurants we plan to revisit this stay include the spirited El Matador in the neighborhood Colonia El Chamizal, where the menu ranges from traditional Mexican to contemporary European; Maison del Angel in the art district, not so much for its shaky service but for the appeal of its open courtyard and the force and tradition of its Mexican cooking; and La Dolce Restaurante Italiano on the central plaza, simply because a body can go only so long without sauteed calamari and competently turned out thin-crust pizza.

- As to more casual everyday dining spots, we’ll be meeting friends at Guacamayas in a week for our first visit during this stay. It’s very basic but almost invariably very crowded, thanks to the quality and value of its traditional Mexican cooking. It’s in either the Pescador or El Chamizal neighborhood. It’s an adventure to find, but somehow I always eventually get there. The food court at Mercado Municipal, the traditional central market in San Jose del Cabo, is very reliable for inexpensive Mexican dishes, especially for breakfast and at lunch. Rossy Taqueria where Pescador intersects with the transpeninsular highway long has been a favorite outing for simply prepared but generous fish, shrimp and scallop tacos, but go for lunch, not dinner, when, for some reason, quality slips in everything from service to the assorted add-ons at the salsa bar.

- As to where to buy fresh seafood, I’ve had good luck at the Mercado Municipal, which includes two fish stalls. The snapper and shrimp looked especially appealing today, but the selection at both places was wide. The market also includes a couple of meat purveyors, including one, Marlena, that has excellent Oaxacan mole, as well as other prepared sauces. There are also a couple of produce stands, as well as a shop stocked with school uniforms. From Boulevard Mijares, the main north/south street on the east edge of downtown, head up Doblado and watch for the market just off to your left.

- If your stay here includes a Saturday, make your way to the farmers market on the northern outskirts of downtown. Don’t eat beforehand. It includes an array of vendors selling blended juice drinks, grilled chicken, pastries and the like, as well as fresh produce, though most of the stands deal in arts and crafts. I’ve found produce prices to be surprisingly high there. I paid 20 pesos Saturday for a bunch of Swiss chard no larger or more attractive than a bunch that cost 10 pesos a few days earlier at the new Mercado Organico along the west side of the transpeninsular highway just north of Las Palmas.

- If you will be in San Jose del Cabo on Super Bowl weekend be forewarned that that’s also election weekend in Baja California Sur, which means no sales of alcoholic beverages. Alarmed that this could mean no cerveza during the game, I last night asked a principal of the popular Shooters Sports Bar just off the square downtown if that means no Super Bowl party come Feb. 6. No, she said, business is expected to be as brisk as ever. She said the Super Bowl and the election overlap every few years, and in the past authorities have said they could stay open and pour drinks as long as they don’t serve Mexicans, a tradition they expect to continue next week.

Staying Safe In Baja California Sur

Several representatives of the Consulate General of the United States in Tijuana came to San Jose del Cabo yesterday to assure U.S. citizens who live fulltime or part-time at the southern reaches of Baja California Sur that they have their back. Here is some of what I learned:

- Despite Mexico's continuing brutal drug war, chances of an innocent being killed by narco-related violence in Baja California Sur are fairly remote. During the past calendar year, 1,007 narco murders occurred in Baja California, the state just to the north, which includes Tijuana. In contrast, only nine narco murders occurred in Baja California Sur, which is where we reside during the winter. This comforting word was delivered by Ben Whitaker, special agent with the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service.

- My odds of being traumatized by narco-related crime will increase if I decide to drive back to California from San Jose del Cabo, however. The biggest threat during such a trek is carjacking, said Whitaker. Cartels running drugs up the peninsula apparently need more vehicles, or at least want bigger ones. To get them, they are apt to set up phony checkpoints on the transpeninsular highway, though this has been rare, he was quick to note. By my experience in driving the route, a genuine military blockade pops up on the highway about every 100 miles. So how is a motorist to tell the legitimate checkpoint from the fake? Motorists can feel somewhat secure that they are approaching a real checkpoint, said Whitaker, if signs to alert travelers of an impending mandatory stop have been set up starting about 1,000 meters before the roadblock, if cones to guide motorists into the correct lane have been arranged on the pavement, and if a guy in military fatigues waving a flag and "looking bored" is directing traffic. Motorists can best help assure their well-being by driving only during the daytime, sticking to toll roads whenever possible (which is rare), and remaining alert to whatever is going on around them. If all the drug runners want is your vehicle, give it to them while remaining polite and humble and avoiding eye contact, Whitaker indicated. One final tip: If you have a choice between driving a sedan or an SUV on your trip through the peninsula, go with the sedan; drug cartels love SUVs, which give them more room for hauling contraband. I love our Ford Explorer, but not as much today as yesterday.

- The odds of the northwest peninsula becoming another battleground in Mexico for competing drug cartels is remote, indicated Whitaker. That's because the Sinola narcotics organization has such a strong hold on the area that no other drug cartel is eager to challenge it. "No one has the power or ability to mess with them," said Whitaker. I'm not sure how reassuring that is, but henceforth whenever I arrive at an intersection simultaneously with a car bearing Sinola plates no one will need to remind me who has the right of way.

- Thinking of driving to Baja California from California for spring break? San Ysidro just south of San Diego is the safest border crossing, said Whitaker. It's always open, it's well lit, and U.S. law-enforcement agencies have a high profile at that entry.

- Lynne Skeirik, the deputy counsel general stationed in Tijuana, who conducted Tuesday's gathering, offered no help in resolving a problem that continues to stymie me: How do I get the aforementioned SUV registered without returning it to California for its periodic emission-control checkup? I really didn't expect her to have an answer, given that regulations governing vehicle registration are the responsibility of state officials, not federal authorities, and California representatives of the DMV already have told me I can't get any sort of extension or exemption. Local residents at the meeting suggested some alternatives, including registering the rig in South Dakota, but I don't live there and have no intention to relocate.

- No one knows for sure, but between 13,000 and 15,000 expats from the U.S. are believed to live in Los Cabos, with 5,000 alone scattered along the stunning and remote East Cape, a serene stretch of hills and beaches ranging north beside the Gulf of California from San Jose del Cabo. It's home to prized marlin fishing, as well as the artsy community of Los Barriles and the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, celebrated for sea kayaking and mountain hiking. Water there is in short supply and the roads are unpaved, but the East Cape is the setting for the sort of large and posh homes chosen to illustrate articles about luxury living in Baja California Sur. It's a favorite retreat of several California winemakers. It's also so isolated that consulate officials wish some of its residents would volunteer to join its "warden network," which sounds like something out of "True Grit," and indeed isn't far removed from early frontier telegraph communications. Inspired by World War II "air raid wardens" who were to alert their fellow citizens of potential attack, members of the warden network are to keep consulate authorites up to speed on perceived dangers in outlying areas, whether the problem be hurricane, terrorist threat or spike in crime. You can learn more by reading this State Department document. And anyone interested in signing on should contact Skeirik via email: ACSTijuana@state.gov.

- When U.S. citizens in Baja California Sur are the victims of crime it's usually burglary, officials and residents appeared to concur. Solid wood doors that can be well locked and bars on windows are the starting point in securing a residence. Alarm systems and private patrols look to be rising in popularity. Opinion about whether police should be notified in case of a breakin looked to be divided and uncertain. Investigations aren't necessarily pursued eagerly, and some residents don't trust local police, said participants. On the other hand, a police report is necessary to collect on an insurance policy, noted Skeirik.

La Internacional: Best View Of The Plaza

Not long after our return to San Jose del Cabo we ambled over to our favorite destination for thick and succulent steaks, the handsome restaurant El Vaquero along the east edge of the plaza in the heart of the community's historic district. We found it closed, as in permanently. A sign bearing two of the more common yet depressing words in town - "Se Renta" - hung on the building that had housed the steakhouse for the past few years. We don't have a clue what happened to the place. All we know is that we'll miss the refreshing yet bracing peach martini, the juicy prime rib carved tableside, and a real rarity hereabouts - the truly professional staff, which on our last visit doted over our grandson as he struggled to hang on to and gnaw the bone from a hunk of rib-eye.

 El Vaquero occupied one of the more storied and visible buildings in San Jose del Cabo, a long and low-slung structure directly across the plaza from the municipal hall. Over the decades, the building variously had housed businesses ranging from the first newspaper of Baja California South, Le Voz de Sur, to the busiest Ford dealership outside of Mexico City. A prediction: It won't long remain vacant. I'm tempted to dispatch an email to Kurt Spataro, executive chef of the Sacramento restaurant Centro, devoted to regional Mexican food. While San Jose del Cabo has a wide range of restaurants, not one comes close to Centro in emulating with precision and pride Mexico's intricate, enduring and diverse regional cuisines. Given all the license plates that we see here from Mexican states far removed from Baja California Sur, such a restaurant could be immensely popular.

With El Vaquero closed, we looked about for a nearby alternative. We didn't have to look far. On the second floor of the building directly next door is La Internacional, which opened about six months ago, according to our server. As its name suggests, La Internacional takes a global approach to its menu and wine list. Dishes draw inspiration from Africa, Asia, Europe, Mexico and elsewhere. The wine list is similarly wide ranging, including no fewer that four Champagnes, as well as releases from the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Spain. Both menu and wine list, however, are truncated, as if the people behind La Internacional still are gauging just how receptive local residents and tourists will be to their novel concept before investing more ambitiously in their food and drink. The most appealing dish among the plates we ordered was the fresh and spicy Vietnamese spring roll, fruity with papaya, crunchy with cucumber and herbal with cilantro, basil and mint; its accompanying peanut sauce is what brought the spice to the plate (65 pesos). A Moroccan beet salad was bright and wholesome, but could have been more liberally seasoned with cumin (55 pesos). A glass of the Crin tempranillo from Rioja tasted ripe but tired (60 pesos). Servers were amiable and attentive, and the setting comfortable and relaxing. In design, La Internacional has two fetching features. The long balcony provides the best view in town of the plaza, which during a balmy dusk came alive with all sorts of diverting activity. Directly below, a half-dozen youngsters got involved in a pick-up soccer match, using sneakers they'd taken off to designate the goals. The ever-present balloon man sauntered across the plaza, a chubby kid on a skateboard clattered over the concrete, and a youngster in a bright pink pedal car weaved about other children on trikes and in strollers. As the sun disappeared behind the distant hills, a group of about three dozen people, each bearing a lighted candle, emerged from the east side of the plaza and swayed solemnly toward the silhouette of the mission church across the way, where some sort of service was commencing.

And don't ignore La Internacional's bathrooms. They're large, clean, considerately appointed and artfully decorated, with a large vase of fresh flowers in the women's, an even bigger floral painting in the men's. I almost invariably seek out the banos in a Mexican restaurant because I'm curious to how they are designated. Almost invariably, restaurateurs eschew the standard blue-and-white male and female silhouette signs so common in the United States. Instead, they go in for imaginative artistry. Much of it, to be sure, is politically incorrect, a throwback to traditional and outdated stereotypes of what signifies feminity and masculinity. In that regard, the bathroom signs at La Internacional are rather tame. When looking for the men's room, watch for the uniformed officer on the motorcycle above, and for the women's look for the fashionably attired and coyly poising woman. They're good, but not as clever and lyrical as what was used at El Vaquerro - a fine lacy shawl draped on the door of the women's restroom, a pair of spurs on the men's.

The Cactus Blooms Again

My mistake. Contrary to my remark about the Cactus Mini-Super in the post just below, the neighborhood convenince store, which is at Cactus and Jarilla in San Jose del Cabo, is open following a short closure, apparently for some remodeling. It's spiffed up, with new refrigeration equipment, what looks to be a refinished floor, and freshly stocked racks. Ownership also may have changed, to judge by a bit of uncertainty at the checkout counter. At any rate, glad to see it back in business.

Sleepy San Jose del Cabo Awakens

Moonrise over Punta Gorda, Jan. 19, 2011

We chose San Jose del Cabo for our annual winer retreat in large part because it was smaller, quieter and less congested than Cabo San Lucas, about 20 miles to the southwest. Over the past five years we've convinced ourselves that that's the case and have been pleased by our choice. But from the start, we've learned that San Jose del Cabo isn't the static community it first seemed. It's actually fairly dynamic, and the scale and pace of change here seems to be intensifying. A friend who lives in the area fulltime just remarked that before long residents of San Jose del Cabo won't ever again have to make the trek to Cabo San Lucas; everything they need will be right here, short of a Costco, and who knows, that could be next  Just across the highway from the still relatively relaxed neighborhood in which we have our casa is the fast-rising framework of a monstrous Walmart. Eventually, this proximity will make our life here all the more convenient, provided we survive unscathed our dashes across the highway, already busy and sure to be even more congested when the Walmart opens. Why local officials approved such a huge structure fronting a narrow street (Valerio Gonzalez) with little available parking and awkward access  is a mystery. Selfishly, I'd like to see a pedestrian bridge built over the highway, but if that were to happen it likely would be coupled with a parking lot or garage on "our" side of the road, which isn't something I'd like to see encouraged.

We don't have to stroll far from our residence to find other signs of growth and change. The neighborhood convenience market Cactus Super-Mini has closed, possibly in anticipation of the opening of the Walmart. On the other hand, the well-stocked Mercado Organico has opened, inviting with the finest and most extensive selection of greens and herbs I've found in the area. Nikko Sushi has moved into the neighborhood, and just up the highway the long-vacant building that formerly housed the restaurant Milo's has been razed to make way for a fully automated car wash. New pizza and falafel joints are close by, and during the Thursday night art walk downtown a week ago we found four new galleries.

But some things never seem to change. One is the local ritual that on the night of a full moon you head to the beach to watch it rise over the Gulf of California. We packed the cooler with sandwiches, salsa and beer and made our way up the East Cape to watch the moon rise over Punta Gorda. And as popular as the rite may be, just one other couple was nearby, and they left before the moon was even up. We didn't stay long ourselves, given that it was somewhat breezy and chilly. The final stretch of the road to get to our favorite spot was as rutted and unpaved as ever. But wouldn't you know it, the first stretch of the trek from downtown San Jose del Cabo to the old fishing village of La Playa was on a new two-lane bridge spanning a wide arroyo that frequently floods during the occasional heavy rain.