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.