Summer Issue

Posted on June 9, 2013 by janicekinne

The new issue of “Journal del Pacifico” is on the streets in Todos Santos and Pescadero and in select locations in Cabo. We’ll be distributing in La Paz in the coming week. Already we’re getting great feedback on the beautiful cover photo of an air plant by Laurie Pearce Bauer and our Spa and Eco Adventure feature stories–such as Baja Rock Art, Swimming with Sea Lions and Saving Sea Turtles.

The water is warm here in Baja California Sur and there’s a lot to do from eco-adventures to being pampered at a day spa. Those who know me may be more accustomed to seeing me leading a yoga class, out running or riding a horse on the beach, but for a change I tried out the White Sand Massage and Day Spa signature facial for a feature story in this issue. Photographer, Laurie Pearce Bauer, provided the photos for the story. ‘Tiny Town’ also tells the hilarious tale of the author’s decision to get a fresh new look.

ÉTNICA is a new store in the historic district of Todos Santos, across the street from La Copa / The Todos Santos Inn. They have beautiful handmade Mexican blouses, dresses, leather handbags, sandals, belts, shirts and guayaberas for men, unisex hats and espadrilles.

Santo Vino in the Hotel California will only be open for another week, so hurry in to get one of Chef Dany Lamote’s special creations. Citlalli Martinez Cano of Santo Vino wrote an article for this issue on wine pairing.

If you’re looking for some Baja wine, La Bodega de Todos Santos will be open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 2 to 8 pm through June and July. La Licoreria is open all summer with over 400 wine labels from the US, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Germany, France, Italy and Portugal.

Joseph Arthur, one of the very talented artists from this past year’s Todos Santos Music Festival, has a new album out. You can listen here:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2013/06/album-stream-joseph-arthur—the-ballad-of-boogie.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The children’s library at the Palapa Society of Todos Santos, Rincon de Cuentos, will be open at the same time as the adult library–Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm. The children’s library is free and stocked with lots of great books.

There’s a new Mexican restaurant on the otro lado next door to Mercado Pinos, Restaurant Horizonte, serving breakfast and lunch daily from 8 am to 5 pm.

Royal Palm Property Management provides homeowners from Elias Calles to Las Tunas with professional and reliable service along with an exceptional vacation experience for travelers.

If you’re in La Paz, stop in La Encantada to see the beautiful murals painted by young, Paceños artists. Kat Bennett of Allende Books shared her photographs, that show details of the murals, on page 42 of the current issue.

The Cortez Club in La Paz is fully equipped to take you on a variety of adventures in the world’s largest natural aquarium, the Sea of Cortez. Go SCUBA diving, snorkeling, kayaking, water skiing, windsurfing, wave running, sailing, a day of sport fishing or ‘Dancing with Sea Lions’!

Staying in an air conditioned room at Sr. Mañana in the historic district of San José del Cabo is a great way to start or end your visit to Baja Sur. Todos Santos and Pescadero have a variety of accommodations in different price ranges all with swimming pools! Check out Hacienda Todos Los Santos or Hotel Casa Tota in the historic district, Hotelito, just outside “downtown” on La Cachora road or Serendipity and Casa Rancho on the otro lado. In Pescadero you can relax on the beach or spend the day surfing at Rancho Pescadero, or hang out with fellow travelers by the pool at Pescadero Surf Camp. What could be better?

Thanks to our clients, contributors and our readers for making the second season of Journal del Pacifico–La Revista de Baja California Sur such a success! We’ll be back in the fall with more great stories about the best that Baja has to offer. You can follow us through the summer at journaldelpacifico.com and on Facebook at JournaldelPacifico.

If you can’t be in Baja to pick up the latest issue, you can always get the PDF online at: http://journaldelpacifico.com/blog/issues-online/summer-2013/

GASTROVINO 2013

Posted on May 1, 2013 by janicekinne

The second annual GastroVino Festival takes place in Todos Santos this weekend. The main festival will take place in the Plaza Pública Sunday May 5^th, from 2 to 6 pm. This year, there will also be a special pairing dinner at Santo Vino on Friday, May 3^rd, a pre-celebration bubbly tasting at La Bodega de Todos Santos on Saturday, May 4^th, from 2 to 4 pm, and many more related events.

All tickets are available at La Bodega de Todos Santos on Calle Hidalgo. Tickets for the main event on Sunday can be purchased at El Tecolote Bookstore and La Bodega de Todos Santos.

The Festival is dedicated to celebrating the gastronomy and wines of Baja California. Designed for lovers of fresh local cuisine and quality Mexican wine, this is a time to get to know local chefs from the Todos Santos area and their creations and also winemakers and their wines from the North of Baja in a festival atmosphere.

Some of the Peninsula’s best winemakers from Cavas Valmar, Cavas Maciel, Las Bodegas de Santo Tomás, L.A. Cetto, Baron Balch’é, MD, Viña Doña Dolores of Querétaro and Todos Santos’ new Sierra Laguna winery are just a few of the wineries who will be at the festival. Entrance fee is 300 pesos at the door and includes a festival-engraved wine glass to taste wines and also five free samples of any of the restaurant’s specialties. All wineries and restaurants will also sell wine by the glass, by the bottle and food by the plate at special prices. The festival also offers excellent live music and entertainment all afternoon long.

Last year over $6000 USD was raised for the local Internado, an organization dedicated to housing children who come from the surrounding ranches to attend school in Todos Santos. These funds enable big improvements in their facility such as adding a water purification system, new restrooms, newly painted classrooms/dorms, and more. This year 100% of the funds raised by the silent auction will go to the local Bomberos Fire Department which is in great need of new equipment.

Gastrovino Events:

Friday, May 3, 7 pm
Pairing Dinner at Santo Vino of Hotel California with Cava Maciel – (Eclectic regional cuisine of 4 courses from Chef Dany paired with 4 excellent Baja Wines). 30 seats only. 1000 pesos

Saturday, May 4, 2 – 4 pm
Bubbly Time at La Bodega de Todos Santos – Bubbly Tasting with Enologist and Manager of Freixenet Querétaro and Fresh, Organic Tapas with Claudine from Stiletto and Spice. 300 pesos

Saturday, May 4, 7 – 10 pm
Fiesta de Vinos – Exclusive VIP Party at Hotel California featuring 8 select wines and the winemakers from Cavas Valmar, Vinos Shimul, Freixenet, Vinart and special appetizers prepared by Chef Dany Lamote. Live Music and lots of gourmet fun. 800 pesos.

Saturday, May 4, 7 pm –
Movino – Themed Movie and Tasting at The Distillery with local wines from Sierra Laguna Vineyards, L.A. Cetto, Casa Madero, MD Vinos and more! Reception: 7 – 9 pm, Movie: 9 pm; 150 pesos

Sunday, May 5, 2 – 6 pm
GastroVino Festival – in the Plaza Pública of Todos Santos. Includes your very own commemorative wine glass, tastings of numerous Mexican wines, appetizers and special plates from local restaurants at only 60 pesos, special by-the-bottle prices, silent auction to benefit local charities, Live Music and a fashion show. Tickets are 300 Pre-Sale; 350 Day-Of-Event.

Sunday, May 5, 7pm – close
GastroVino After Party – on the SkyDeck of Guaycura to enjoy the sunset and complete a fun, vino-filled weekend!

For more information visit: www.gastrovino.mx

Last weekend in April

Posted on April 23, 2013 by janicekinne

Singer/Songwriter Sara Bernassi

Looking for something to do?

Friday night is Ladies Nights at La Encantada in La Paz with Karoke and a billard tournament on Friday, April 26 and Jello shot and Pink Fluzies specials.

Shut Up Frank’s in Todos Santos is holding their 1st Annual Spring BBQ & Brew Bash Party in the front yard on Saturday, April 27. Big Jesse will be the guest grill master serving pulled pork, ribs, and tri-tip starting at 1 pm. There will be live music all day and a D.J. too! At 7 pm you can watch the UFC Megafight John “Bones” Jones vs. Chael Sonnen live.

Saturday afternoon from 4 to 7 pm, there will be a Benefit for the Joven Ecologistas de Pescadero (Young Ecologists of Pescadero) at the Mariscos Restaurant, Hwy. 19 in Pescadero. The event features presentations by the children, great food, live music and a chance to meet local students and their parents. Sponsored by Amigos de El Pescadero nonprofit. A 50 pesos donation is requested; any amount appreciated. If you want to donate, but cannot attend, stop by the Pescadero Life booth at the Sunday Farmer’s Market at Baja Beans, or email: sharon@aztecbaja.com

Saturday night, starting at 8 pm, join Tim Lang and the Post Surf Crew for their The Speakeasy show at Hotel Casa Tota in Todos Santos. Limited tickets are available.

Also Saturday, starting at 9 pm, the Acoustic Rock Duet of Raul Alejandro Mendoza on guitar and Luis Enrique Leon on vocals and bajo will be at La Encantada in La Paz. No cover and sopa and tapas available.

Sunday morning, enjoy your breakfast with great music by singer/songwriter Sara Benassi at Hotel Casa Tota from 11 am to 1 pm. Sara sang with Ken Stringfellow and The Posies at this year’s Todos Santos Music Festival. She will perform a great mix of original songs plus a good choice of tasty covers in English, Italian and Spanish.

For more information on these events and more, click on “Events” in the menu. To be included in our listing, email your Baja Event information to info@journaldelpacifico.com

Training for the La Paz Half Marathon

Posted on April 21, 2013 by janicekinne

Whew! I just completed a 9 mile run the length of the malecón up over the hill towards Costa Baja and back home through the centro district. This route took in part of the course of this year’s half marathon, which is different from the prior years’ courses.

The Medio Maraton Costero La Paz 2013 will take place Sunday, May 5. There will also be 10k and 5k events. To see the full course map, click here.

The weather has been warm and sunny in La Paz. This morning there was a cool breeze off the water. I love watching the egrets and cormorants fishing on the rocks and people stand up paddle boarding and kayaking in the clear blue green waters of the bay while I’m running by.

This year will be the first time that I haven’t been able to get at least one 10 or 11 mile run in before the race. Instead, I’ve been increasing my weekly miles (21 miles this week) and working on speed work for my 10k runs.

Joining me on the “Journal del Pacifico” running team will be Customer Service Manager Celia Devault and Bruce Bennett of Allende Books.

The Journal del Pacifico running team at La Paz half marathon 2012
Janice Kinne, Bruce Bennett and Celia Devault. Photo by Kat Bennett

Last year the Director of Deportes (Sports) for La Paz municipal surprised me by asking that I help handle out medals to the finalists as a guest presenter.

You can register for the half marathon at the Dirección de Deportes y Recreación located at Bravo #400 between Guillermo Prieto and Serdán in La Paz. You will need a copy of your passport and $100 pesos. All participates receive a commemorative t-shirt, medal and certificate. For more information you can view the Convocan here or email: deporte.lapaz@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing our running friends from La Paz, Todos Santos, Pescadero and Cabo on the big day!