Summer 2023

Journal del Pacifico Spring 2023 cover by Wendy FitzHappy Summer! Thank you for all the compliments on our Spring issue with its La Poza cover by photographer and musician Wendy Fitz. You can see her photography biography on our blog.

Kaia Thomson recently visited the Cactus Sanctuary in El Rosario and has shared her story and photographs in this issue, as well as the photo on our summer front cover.

Bryan Jáuregui, Todos Santos Eco Adventures, tells us a condensed history of Todos Santos with photos by photographers Kenny Viese and Keenan Shoal.

The Palapa Society of Todos Santos provided us with photos of Todos Santos’ historic sugar cane mills. You can see those in our “How You Can Help” feature listing how we can all give back to the community.

One way to give back is The Palapa Society’s Annual Scholarship Drive. Your contribution supports students in need of financial assistance to pursue their academic goals.

Even more “Hotels with a Heart” have teamed with Padrinos Children’s Foundation. Your stay with any of the hotels listed in their ad also helps the foundation provide important health services to local children.

Our feature story on Sharon Katz tells how she has brought her music and humanitarian work known as “The Peace Train” to Baja California Sur and Todos Santos.

White Rose by Doug West for Art Talk

White Rose by Doug West for Art Talk

This issue’s Art Talk tells a deeply personal story of Jill Logan’s recent “Wake Up Call” on the highway south of town and how it has affected her look on life and her art.

Congratulations to Pura Vida Health Food and Deli. They are celebrating 13 years of serving our community with delicious meals and healthy groceries and produce.

Chill n Grill will be serving up the best breakfast in Todos Santos on Sundays 10 am until 2 pm. Stop in for Eggs Benedict, biscuits and gravy, omelets, pancakes, burritos, hash browns, fresh orange juice, coffee, and 2×1 bloody marys and mimosas.

Doce Cuarenta Café / Bar is open every day from 7 am to 9 pm. The adjacent El Mercado, open every day except Mondays, is the perfect place to explore a variety of interesting shops and galleries. You can see more works by photographer Kenny Viese there as well.

Mini Super Munchies, on the road to Rancho Pescadero, is an artisan boutique, has craft beer, wine, ice cream, chocolate and more!

Protect Todos Santos shares information in this issue on proposed changes to the Todos Santos PDU.

We would like to welcome our newest advertisers: architect Gabriel Peri (Mar de Sol Villas), Los Torotes, Ronival Real Estate, Diamante Realtors, and Sarah Jean Mucha, el Pescadero and Todos Santos real estate advisor with The Agency.

If you’re going away this summer, Todos Los Perros Bed and Biscuit is a great choice for boarding your dog. I recently boarded my newest pup while away for the weekend. She had a great time, and I had the comfort of knowing that my pet was safe and received the best care.

Have a great summer! We’ll be back with our Fall 2023 issue in mid-October. The deadline is September 15.

Winter 2023

Journal del Pacifico Holiday 2022/2023 cover by Ezra KatzThank you for all your compliments on our Holiday / Navidad 2022/2023 issue with cover by artist Ezra Katz. Local photographer Liz Icedo shared her beautiful Baja sunset photo for our Winter / Invierno 2023 cover.

In this issue, Bryan Jáuregui of Todos Santos Eco Adventures tells of the new Cowboy Museum in El Triunfo, that chronicles the 300-year-old story of the families, traditions, skills, and tools that bind the Californias of Mexico and the United States.

Bryan also shares with us how Zero Waste Hotels, like Hotel Desierto Azul in the Las Tunas Journal del Pacifico Winter 2023 cover by Liz Icedoarea of Todos Santos, are working to make a minimum impact on our precious environment.

Nancy Naigle informs us of the impressive gains that the Padrinos Children’s Foundation has made over the past seven years and their exciting plans for the future.

Ivonne Benítez, of Hablando Mexicano, tells the inspirational story of how owner Alan Becerril has created his restaurant and now Hotel Gallo Azul businesses. Alan has been a well-known figure in the Todos Santos community since 2005, and Gallo Azul Pizza Bar has been a popular spot since it first opened in 2014.

Have you tried the gourmet tacos at Tacoteca in Plaza Amigos in Todos Santos yet? Their fresh, daily specials include duck confit, top sirloin, pork carnitas, portabella mushroom, and more. Every Thursday is Taco Thursday with live music in the evening.

Happy 10th year anniversary to Étnica in Todos Santos! Their two locations, Étnica and Étnica Dos, have the finest Mexican handmade women’s and men’s fashions, leather goods, and home furnishings.

Amanda Reta tells the tale of Practical Magic: how this pueblo mágico is magical in the enchanted sense of the word. This tiny international melting pot has residents from all over the world, and yet you don’t just end up here. And how three women––a tarot card reader, a ritual teacher, and a breathwork practitioner––help us mortals tune into something bigger than ourselves while remaining in the awe-inspiring now.

Galería Logan is hosting a reception for artist Lee Mothes on February 11th. View his newest paintings and drawings of ocean surf, meet the artist, and enjoy wine and snacks.

The luck of the Irish is with you on March 17th. Shut Up Frank’s in Todos Santos will be celebrating their 28th annual Lucky St. Paty’s Day with Frank’s special homemade corned beef. And Shaka’s in Cerritos will be hosting their Shamrock Shindig benefiting the Pescadero Food Bank and Grupo Madre Teresa.

Galería Enrique Guerrero represents a group of young artists who are part of the emerging scene and explore all the visual arts disciplines such as painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation and digital media, with a contemporary vision and self-sustainable proposals. The gallery offers them a space of freedom in which they can exhibit their artistic creation, in addition to spreading their work nationally and internationally. Their newest location is on the otro lado of Todos Santos, next to Pinos Mercado and Pacifica Fish Market.

Contigo Cerritos is the perfect balance of home and hospitality. The intimate community of boutique casitas was designed by international award-winning Sanzpont Arquitectura based in Barcelona, Cancun, and Chicago, and features an international design aesthetic with an authentic local touch. As much as possible all materials and craftsmen are sourced in Mexico, as are the interior design touches. With a passion for sustainability, the layout of the casitas was based on a solar study to minimize direct sun exposure to interiors, to maximize efficiencies, and to preserve the view from the road above, so that hikers and bikers can continue to enjoy the ocean views. The casitas are built with sustainable features such as grey water recycling, partial green roofs, and renewable backup power.

In addition to their popular Las Tunas location, Shakti Bowl has a new healthy restaurant at El Merkado in San José del Cabo.

New World Organics Baja produces non-toxic and organic pest control, cleaners, sanitizer, mosquito repellant, and plant fertilizers. Their products are available in various locations in Todos Santos, Pescadero, Cabo San Lucas, La Paz and now on Mercado Libre.

The Palapa Society of Todos Santos is holding a masquerade ball on April 1st. Masquerade masks are encouraged, costumes are optional. Dinner included and beverages are available. See their website for more information.

We will see you with more exciting stories in our next issue, Spring / Primavera 2023. The deadline is March 10.

Summer 2022 issue deadline

Summer 2022 Journal del Pacifico cover by Jill Logan

Summer 2022 Journal del Pacifico cover by Jill Logan

We received so many compliments on our Spring / Primavera 2022 issue with the stunning cover by artist Jill Logan.

Baja California Sur continues to open up, welcome visitors, and proceed with a thoughtful plan for supporting our tourism economy. We look forward to returning popular events and many changes in Todos Santos, el Pescadero, La Paz, Los Cabos, Loreto, and all of BCS.

We at Journal del Pacifico, in our eleventh season, continue in our mission to support local businesses and promote our beautiful peninsula.

 Don’t wait! Contact us today to participate in the upcoming Summer / Verano 2022 issue that covers June through September 2022. Contact us for ad space availability, prices, and sizes. We’ll have more beautiful artwork, stunning photography, exclusive stories, profiles, and, as always, the features that make each issue a valuable resource to guide visitors and residents to the special qualities that make Baja California Sur a great place to live and a magical place to visit.

Summer / Verano 2022 June through September 2022
Issue closing date: May 10, 2022

Every issue of Journal del Pacifico, la Revista de Baja California Sur, reaches 50,000 new and returning clients. 10,000 copies are distributed in La Paz, Todos Santos, San José del Cabo, the corridor, Loreto, El Triunfo and Los Barriles. Locals and visitors look for every issue to take home, share with friends, and visit online.

Our Readers: Print Readership: 50,000 (based on 5 readers per copy)
Male/Female: 41%/59%, ages 25 to 65+
American, Canadian, and International visitors and residents.
Upper-middle-class Mexican residents in La Paz, Todos Santos, and Los Cabos.

Our website/blog journaldelpacifico.com features area information, events, articles, and maps, plus downloadable PDF versions of every issue for your clients, friends and family to read wherever they are in the world.

Reserve your space, share your business news, events and send your ads to: info@journaldelpacifico.com

Art Talk – The Ghost Ranch

“Ghost Ranch - Homage to Georgia O’Keeffe” 24” x 36” oil/canvas by Jill Logan, Galeria Logan, Todos Santos, Baja, Mexico

“Ghost Ranch – Homage to Georgia O’Keeffe” 24” x 36” oil/canvas by Jill Logan

The Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
by Jill Logan, Galeria Logan

The wind was whipping up in gusts as I drove up the road to Abiquiu, New Mexico. Bold clouds parted to drop sunlight on white cliffs, backed against purple mountains. It had rained the night before and the air was clean and pure. Deep cobalt-blue skies were the backdrop to the layers of color that draped over the mountain crests.

Although I had been to Santa Fe many times over the last 30 years, I had yet to visit Georgia O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu and the Ghost Ranch where she spent the summers in her later life. The trip for me was monumental. The high desert of Northern New Mexico is breathtaking. I particularly love the chamiso sage-like plant, decorated with clusters of yellow flowers in Van Gogh like dancing forms. Great cottonwood trees, pines, sage—every level of elegance and tones of green—from the darkest to the bare touch of a dusty green decorate the vistas.

“In the evening with the sun at your back, that high, sage-covered plain looks like an ocean.” Georgia is quoted as saying, and, “The color up there—the blue-green of the sage, and the mountains, the wildflowers—is a different kind of color from anything I have seen. There is nothing like it in Texas, or even Colorado.”

O’Keeffe had a love affair with New Mexico from the first time she went in 1917 and always wanted to return, which she did in 1929. “I climbed way up on a pale green hill and in the evening light—the sun under clouds—the color effect was very strange—standing high on a pale-green hill where I could look all round at the red, yellow, purple formations—miles all around-the color intensified by the pale grey-green
I was standing on.” O’Keeffe,1935 letter to a friend.

Abstraction was in the wind in 1930. O’Keeffe played with visuals in a simplified pared down realism. Semi-abstractions with modeled forms and deep intense colors. Her flower series is perhaps some of her most famous renditions. Closeups with undulating forms and sensual visuals. Although she is quoted as saying it was not her intention to be sexual but rather that you slowed down to see deeply into the image as she had.
The land is raw and vibrant to this day. The views full with shapes and colors unique to this area of the world. O’Keeffe bought her home in 1945 in Abiquiu, where she mostly lived until her death in 1986. Summers she spent at the Ghost Ranch, some 13 miles from Abiquiu surrounded by majestic rock formations and peaks.

“Black Rock with Blue” is one of her stunning landscapes paintings. The smooth, rounded rock forms fill the canvas nearly touching the edges at either side. Black rock, white ground, blue sky—three simple colored shapes. The painting hangs on the end wall of her studio in Abiquiu. She is quoted as saying, “I felt that I had done what I wanted to do in it. I don’t always get what I try for you know.”

I returned from my trip this year with the intent to pay homage to her in some way. To use my photographs and her work as inspiration for a body of work in the gallery. I am sure I have not done justice to her creativity. I know her work from the museum in Santa Fe and the lines are clean and painterly. My work often has layer upon layer, and soft fuzzy edges.

I often work with dry brush as if it was chalk. So, in many ways we do not compare. But, perhaps the fact that I came to Todos Santos alone twenty-one years ago and felt this was the next Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was one of those making the art scene in town happen, I may be compared in a small way, to her. My artistic independence. Perhaps my desire to paint out of the box of realism and more into abstraction with bold colors and forms as well as brush strokes. I strive for a loose playful approach while casting light and shadow in a dance on the canvas. “Not always,” as O’Keeffe was quoted, “am I sure to hit the mark.” I am always working to develop more painterly skills while letting a spontaneous flow emerge. Now as a small body of work emerges from me with a homage to her, Georgia O’Keeffe, I hope to touch something of her soul.