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.