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.