todos santos ... pueblo mágico

just across the peninsula from la paz is the pueblo mágico (magic village) of todos santos. this is an official designation of certain towns in mexico that have symbolic, historical, legendary, "magic". it's a tourist thing, but a very cool one. todos santos is the only magic village in baja (there are actually very few in the northwest in general, most are in the center) and it really is a magical place.





the town is near the pacific ocean, but access is pretty limited. there's a little hill in town where we went to see the view. there is a tiny little estuary, with palm trees, a bit of an oasis in the middle of the desert.





we have been over to todos santos, a small quiet mexican town, a few times to escape from la paz for a day. now it's a bit of an artsy USA ex-pat destination and during the summer, the place basically shuts down. so we have wandered through the streets, peeking through windows into closed galleries, and generally laughing about our poor luck.







the mission was established in 1723 (mision de santa rosa de todos santos) to serve the indian tribe in the region and the town originally produced a lot of sugar cane. now, there are mango and avocado trees everywhere (could life be any better? i submit that it can not!). the mission is in front of the samll town plaza and a theatre of the city, which is apparently only open for a film festival sometime in the spring.









as more american's move in, little boutique hotels have appeared all around and one weekend we splurged to stay at one, called casa bentley. we completely 100% lucked out - we were the only people staying there and it had an absolutely gorgeous pool.





so, we spent the weekend lounging, resting, swimming, reading, relaxing. literally nothing else in town was open - even all the restaurants (except for hotel california, yes i think it is the basis for the eagles song, i dunno. not an eagles fan). absolutely glorious and luxurious