Once We Had a Friend

We had a friend once who was very active in our community. She and Sharon were involved in local politics and the business community. Our friend had a boyfriend with whom she shared a cabin up north and a delightful little condo in San Jose, Mexico. Since she knew that Sharon and I loved to travel, she invited us to stay in her small one-bedroom condo over a several year period, from 2004 through 2006. Then it suddenly all went away.

Our friend’s perfect plans of spending half a year in Mexico and half a year in her cabin up north dissolved with the first snowfall and departure of her significant other for reasons unexplained. Then she encountered family issues. It was drama and trauma she couldn’t or wouldn’t share with anyone outside of her immediate family, even Sharon. One day, she left our community and never returned. We haven’t heard from her since.

This all came to mind recently when one of my C & C compatriots mentioned that he and his family were going to Los Cabo this winter. It was fun to share with him with some of our adventures and our take on the two cities; San Jose and Los Cabos and the 17-mile drive along the peninsula between them. San Jose was a small local village back then while Los Cabos was a booming tourism destination. Old pictures brought back a lot of memories.

Our initial interest in the area was prompted by the thought that a second home on the ocean might be an attractive winter get-away. Back then, fractional ownership was all the rage. SECTUR, The Mexican Secretary of Tourism, was the government department in charge of the nation’s tourism promotion and development. One of their largest targets for development centered around San Jose, Los Cabos and the seventeen-mile corridor between the two cities.

The San Jose web site gives a wonderful backdrop to the city’s history: “An ancient culture of agile runners and tireless walkers called the Pericues had lived in the Los Cabos region long before tourism started. They were gatherers, fishermen and hunters who lived under palm trees, surrounded by birds in the San Jose del Cabo estuary.”

“San Jose del Cabo's downtown main plaza with its warm architecture, has become an Art District where you can find art from all over the world, but mainly Mexican traditional art and local creations, which makes it a great place for shopping and dining. Its picturesque world-class marina which faces the Sea of Cortez and stunning gold-sand beaches, home of some famous surf spots and wildlife like marine birds, gray whales, and turtle hatchlings that go to the sea for the first time ever.”

Los Cabos, its distant neighbor, has another tale to tell. Their web site also tells an interesting tale of growth and development.

“Cabo San Lucas is a city located at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula which has not only beautiful desert landscapes & beaches, it is also known worldwide for being one of the most popular vacation destinations, the Marlin Capital and home of The Arch, also called "Land’s End", where the Sea of Cortez & the Pacific Ocean meet.”

“Nowadays, Cabo San Lucas has some of the most luxurious resorts, world-class Marina and the biggest fishing tournament in the world. It is not only popular with celebrities but with thousands of people from all over the world who can enjoy the nightlife, best deep-sea fishing in the world and a wide variety of activities.”

Scattered along the shoreline in and around San Jose, down the seventeen-mile coastline and surrounding Los Cabos were numerous condominium projects. They came in all sizes, shapes and amenities but their sales pitch was always the same.

All of these projects were essentially selling the same image; golden sands, blue seas, luxury homes and high prices. All of this for a fractional piece of the action. Most came in incremental packages of two to four weeks each. High Season cost more, summer time much less. Sub-leasing wasn’t allowed and the HOAs were usually so high it could be considered as a second mortgage on the place. Yet, they seemed to be selling like hot cakes.

Unlike other countries like Singapore, the government didn’t have a lot of oversight on these developers. Several development projects remain half-completed during the three years we visited the place. Early investors and those who had a down payment on the project were probably out of luck. Abandoned projects could be seen up and down the peninsula.

Our friend had paid something like one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars for her condo back in 2003. It wasn’t large; just one bedroom and a lot of open space. The outdoor patio was spacious and fantastic for taking in the expanse of the coastline.

It was the perfect place to write, read, and just plain chill-out. Each morning the sunrise greeted us with another beautiful day and sunsets end-capped another day in paradise. It was all good for several years. Then it disappeared as quickly as it had begun.

Our friend has disappeared now into that vacuum called past memories. San Jose and Los Cabos have grown and changed with the times. But thankfully, through these digital images, Sharon and I still have the memories of time well spent in that warm Mexican sun.

The Affair

It started out like an illicit affair, begun innocently enough and ending in confusion and finality. It was a gift of travel to an exotic location that hadn’t been on our vacation radar at all. Once there, the experience was adventurous, exciting, glamorous, and worldly. But it was doomed to failure right from the start.

Our host was impulsive, quick to judge and could turn her feelings around on a dime. Not surprisingly, the arrangement lasted only a couple of years. Then as quickly as it unfolded, it evaporated in confusion, finger pointing, and separation.

Our host was single, a shrewd and successful businesswoman who was always looking at the angles. She had just purchased a small condo in San Jose, Mexico on the tip of the Cabo peninsula near the town of San Jose. Since she was still working, she wanted folks down there at her place when she wasn’t around to watch over it and make their presence known. We certainly didn’t mind house-sitting a beautiful home on the cliffs overlooking the Bay of Mexico.

The small town of San Jose is located on the opposite end of the town of Cabo. It wasn’t as commercial as Cabo, its sister city sixteen miles away. The whole Los Cabos Peninsula was booming in real estate and commercial development. Sectur, the Mexican Department of Tourism, had picked the Cabo Peninsula for commercial development on a massive scale.

San Jose was small enough to reflect the charm of Mexican culture before it got corrupted by crass commercialism. Part of the rush to build included a number of unfinished condo projects scattered along the beach. Hidden among the commercial enclaves were small coves inhabited by Gidget look-a-likes and surfer dudes.

Los Cabos is a tourist town wrapped in wealth and poverty at the same time. For visitors and tourists it hosts a wonderful variety of attractions. Multi-million dollars yachts fill the harbor while erstwhile mansions climbed up the hillsides.

There is a famous landmark in the harbor called simply the Arch. Up the coast, the small town of Toto Santos is a step back in time, except for the Hotel California situated prominently on Main Street.

Over several years, we went to Cabo three times. Each was more enjoyable than the last. We even contemplated buying our own condo for retirement. Why not, what could go wrong with this perfect arrangement?

For one thing, our host and her boyfriend had never discussed her plans to spend six months in northern Minnesota at his cabin on a lake and then six months at her condo by the sea. This lack of communication blew up one day, extended on for several weeks, and eventually ended their ten-year relationship. Along with that severance came our welcome mat to her home down south. She decided to spend more time down there and wanted her privacy when she entertained other ex-pats at her place. It was completely understandable but unfortunate…for us.

We haven’t been back since. Cabo is a wonderful place to visit but I fear that the crass commercialization, overdevelopment, and fractional real estate world of that utopia can’t last forever. It was great while it lasted but time moves on.

If I had the chance again, we’d probably go back again. I’ve got my favorite haunts in both towns - seaside strolls, Cliffside harbors, and a never-ending curiosity of their real estate scene. It brings back many happy memories of a time before grandkids, winters out west, an intense writing career, and an assortment of other distractions from relaxation. Cabo was an escape from my reality and it might be fun to escape once again, if only for a short period of time.

Los Cabos Sunset

A long time ago at a different time and place in our lives, Sharon and I had a friend with a second home in Los Cabos, Mexico. It was a wonderful hilltop condo perched among the crags and fissures of man-make lots carved out of stone and gravel. The location caught the grand sweep of ocean and endless expanse of sky. It looked down on the lessor fortunate who toiled up and down the winding highway between San Jose and Los Cabos. It was the good life for our friend six months out of the year and provided us several trips down there between seasons.

But like the changing tides of life, our friend’s world changed and evolved with personal relationships gone badly and a family crisis loaming. Over time our relationship withered and eventually we were no longer friends. But for a brief period in the early-2000’s she was kind enough to let us use her second home several times.

Cabo was another world back then. Fonatur, the Mexican Department of Tourism, was pushing heavily into developing the whole Baja peninsula and focused its effort on select towns such as San Jose and Los Cabos. Fractional ownership of condominium units was the rage and a lot of Americans were snapping them up as second homes. Two hundred and fifty thousand for three months and they were selling like hot cakes. Go figure.

I got caught up in the frenzy just enough to collect information and run the numbers. It didn’t make sense for us back then. I’m not sure if that was a credible investment or not but my gut said otherwise.  Nevertheless, the area still brings back fond memories of incredible sunsets, warm ocean waves and friendly people. Unfortunately, that seems to have changed.

Perusing the media, I have a sad feeling that recurring hurricanes and increasing drug wars have diminished the luster of that place over the past couple of years. Recently the United State Department warned its citizens about traveling to Cancun and Los Cabos after a surge of violence in those regions. The travel warning could deliver a major blow to Mexico’s twenty-billion-a-year tourism industry which represents seven percent of the country’s gross domestic product. I guess only time will tell if the tourists and the buyers come back or find another place to call paradise.

But there was a time when the Baja Peninsula and Los Cabos held a lot of interest for us. It was the good life back then. The people were very friendly. Meals were relatively cheap. There was a Costco in Los Cabos and the ocean was warm. It was a fun, relaxing moment in time now relegated to several photo albums.

Our friend’s condo sat high on a sloping hillside just outside of San Jose. It was a one bedroom unit with a huge outdoor patio. It was small enough to be comfortable for two and a bit crowded for guests. Just the way she liked it.

The condo was a quick five-minute ride into town and away from the tourist traps and huge crowds spilling out of the cruise ships in the harbor of Los Cabos twenty miles away.

The town of San Jose lies at the opposite end of the Cabo peninsula and a slow twenty miles away from the glitz and glamor of Los Cabos. The San Jose lifestyle was busy but relaxed.

The peninsula highway that linked both towns skirted dozens and dozens of condominium projects in various stages of completion. New condos under construction hugged the coastline and dotted the surrounding hillsides. There was a major golf course under construction and California-priced homes hugging every fairway.

Unlike San Jose, the city of Los Cabos is a densely packed, excitement driven town built for and catering mainly to the tourist trade. It was every cliché and then some. But it wasn’t ashamed to be everything the tourists expected of it. Harbor cruses, deep-sea fishing, and water tours up to Todos Santos and other nearby fishing villages were all part of the appeal.

It was a fun experience while it lasted. Los Cabos was never really us. It could never have sustained any long term draw like we feel in the desert or North Shore. It was a fantasy world, fun to explore and great in short bursts. I wish them well. If things settle down it would be fun to return to those warm seas and clear blue skies.