JDP Fall 2017 news

Posted on October 21, 2017 by janicekinne

Journal del Pacifico Fall 2017 cover by Bruce Herman

We at Journal del Pacifico are excited to be back for our 7th season promoting Baja Sur and informing visitors and residents about its rich history, environment, and unique qualities. We look forward to sharing area and business information, events, enlightening stories, exciting adventures, and stunning photography with you this season!

Once again, Luz Gallery has supplied us with this issue’s fabulous cover and interior photographs by Bruce Herman. Bruce was our “On the Cover” artist for the Holiday 2016/2017 issue. You will find his biography online in that issue and see more of his recent works at the Luz Gallery in Todos Santos. Luz Gallery also has more prints of vintage maps like those in Geography of Hope, Bryan Jáuregui of Todos Santos Eco Adventures’ fascinating tale of Jesuits, Indians, and El Camino Real in Baja California Sur.

This time of year with the heat and rains, the desert is alive and green, and our resident lizards can be seen scurrying about. This issue, Kaia Thomson of Todos Caballos, gives us a glimpse into their lives and their survival adaptations, sharing with us her marvelous photographs and knowledge.

The first annual Fiesta Día de Muertos Todos Santos takes place in the historic district, November 1st through 4th, with a parade of Catrinas, Day of the Dead altars, live music, gastronomic fair, a fashion show, a photography contest, and a special performance by Tania Libertad. For more information visit: https://fiestatodossantos.com/ or Facebook: Fiesta.TodosSantos

This November, The Palapa of Todos Santos celebrates the grand opening of The Palapa Learning Center and Elena Poniatowska Community Library. You can read how after three years, this dream became a reality in our article this issue. You can also help the dream continue by donating to their scholarship fund for local children.

You can now see artist Brian McGuffey’s light-hearted and thought-provoking works at Bésame Mucho Bazaar in Todos Santos and Pez Gordo in San José del Cabo.

The successful Women Awakening conference is back at Cuatro Vientos this December 1st to 3rd. This year’s theme is Reclaiming Your Power. See our article for more information.

The 5th annual Todos Santos Writers’ Workshop (TSWW) will take place January 27 through February 3, 2018 at Casa Dracula on the otro lado of Todos Santos. This year, they’ve added a poetry workshop. Christopher Merrill, director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, will be returning to TSWW as its inaugural instructor. Chris’s latest book, Self-Portrait with Dogwood, is being widely well received. You can read more about the workshop and one of Christopher’s poems in this issue.

Attention Foodies: the Garden Restaurant at Rancho Pescadero is now open to the public Sunday afternoons with a full menu and their Sunday specials—Mole de Rancho and Barbacoa. Thursday through Sunday, you can also enjoy sunset cocktails with farm fresh tapas on their patio. For reservations, email: Rancho1@ranchopescadero.com

La Bohemia Hotel Pequeño, in downtown Todos Santos, has daily a happy hour, a local market, and lots of fun events this November and December. See events for more details. Ask about their pool pass!

Ana Delora’s Hair Salon is now located at the Whitesands Spa in Todos Santos. With over 18 years’ experience, Ana is bilingual and provides men’s and women’s haircuts, dyeing, shaves, and pedicures.

Mini Super Munchies, well known for its famous ice cream sandwiches, micro brews, and Tuesday night Open Mic music jams has a new exciting addition to the shop this season, DoTerra Essential Oils—therapeutic-grade essential oils, natural skin care products, and supplements. They will be offering free classes to learn how to use essential oils in your everyday life. Check the Facebook page: Mini Super Munchies for events and Baja Essential Oils class schedules.

Slow Down Pescadero is a community effort looking to save lives through the placement of speed limit signs, education, and enforcement. For more information, visit their Facebook page: Slow Down Pescadero

Want to get away for a few days? The four-room bed and breakfast Casa Kootenay in La Paz is only a few steps from the Sea of Cortez. Enjoy the waters with a standup paddleboard or kayak that come as part of the package and turn your vacation into an adventure!

MaxiHome Nursing Services are now available in our area. They provide long- or short-term homecare, help with the elderly, IVs, injections, and more. See their ad for contact information.

You won’t want to miss Dr. Esmé F. Hennessy’s talk at the Centro Cultural in Todos Santos on December 1st. Her paintings of Baja plants serve as the centerpiece and chapter headings for Todos Santos Eco Adventures’ latest book, Baja Blooms: The Gardens of Los Colibris Casitas, which also features the extraordinary photos of Kaia Thomson and book design and production of this latest book by Janice Kinne of Journal del Pacifico.

We’ll see you with our next issue, Holiday 2017/2018 with more of everything you love! Deadline is November 10th.

GastroVino Baja Food & Wine Festival

Posted on April 27, 2017 by janicekinne

by McCandless K. Sutton

The gastronomical paradise of Todos Santos encompasses the abundance of the Baja California peninsula in every way possible. We revel in our beloved backdrop of mountains, beaches, sunsets, and the energizing catalyst they provide for such a vibrant multi-cultural community. And then there’s the food and wine, of course.

The land of the chiles, mangoes, avocados, bananas, basil and limes blends with the abundance from the sea—the snapper, shrimp, scallops, oysters, clams, sierras, tuna and more. Combine this bounty with Mexico’s best wines and you have a perfect pairing in paradise. Crisp bubblies, refreshing whites, versatile rosés and a diverse range of structured reds all will be on display for your palate’s pleasure at the 6th annual GastroVino, Baja Food and Wine Festival!

On Sunday, May 7, in the Todos Santos plaza, Mexico’s best winemakers will be on hand explaining about and showing off their wonderful creations. Some of Baja Sur’s best chefs will be featuring their culinary creations, including Tadd Chapman, Dany Lamote and Javier Plascencia. Five of Todos Santos’ notable artists will paint live in the plaza on Sunday: Jill Logan, Tori Sepulveda, Robert Wood, Brian McGuffey and the one and only Carlos Díaz Castro. The musical entertainment is sure to impress with the rocking soul of the beautiful Samantha Rae Band, of La Voz México fame, coming to town.

It is hoped that thousands of dollars will be raised at the 100% benefit silent auction for the Palapa Society of Todos Santos’ programs and for the restoration of the children’s park, el Parque del Misión de San Juan, which is by the original Jesuit mission in barrio San Juan at the north entrance to Todos Santos. Last year over $8,000 USD was raised and over the past five years, the GastroVino Festival has raised $32,500 USD for a variety of local organizations, including los bomberos, Hogar del Niño, the Internado, DIF and more. This year, a wide variety of artwork, dinner certificates, hotel getaways and more will be auctioned.

GastroVino Champagne Girl by Kate Turning

Friday night’s kick-off event on May 5, the Blanco Ball, will be a wonderfully elegant evening featuring dancing wine nymphs, sexy souvenirs, great music, lots of bubbles, premium wine raffles, a white carpet with fashion photographers, a delicious selection of tapas, and winemakers mingling and discussing their various nectars.

The GastroTour takes place the evening of Saturday, May 6, and allows for a gastronomical adventure around the centro histórico of Todos Santos. A winemaker is paired with the chef of each restaurant to create the best maridaje possible. After receiving your commemorative glass and a map you’re encouraged to follow tour leaders or head out on your own downtown food and wine adventure.

Also during the day on Saturday, the BCS Wine Tasting Challenge takes place and is hosted by the head winemaker of Freixenet México from Querétaro. GastroVino artwork photographer Kate Turning and husband Steve Jacobi will be defending their shared-crown as reigning Blind Tasting champions!

The 6th Annual GastroVino Festival is sure to be the best yet and the gastronomical paradise of Todos Santos will be showcasing why Baja California Sur is an international destination for Baja food and wine lovers. ¡Salud!

See Events in the Spring 2017 issue of Journal del Pacifico for more information. Tickets for all events are available at: La Bodega de Todos Santos and El Tecolote Bookstore in Todos Santos, GotBaja store in La Paz, and Pez Gordo Gallery at The Shoppes at Palmilla. For more information visit: Facebook: Gastrovino Baja Food & Wine Festival / Gastrovino Fest Baja or www.gastrovino.mx

Todos Santos Open Studio Tour

Posted on January 30, 2017 by janicekinne

8th Annual Todos Santos Open Studio Tour

by Jill Mollenhauer

Anne Hebebrand

Every year it’s the talk of the town. The Todos Santos Open Studio Tour draws hundreds of people curious to see working art studios, meet the artists, and perhaps have a personal dialogue with them. Stories are exchanged; laughter flows and smiles glow on the faces of those who find something that seems to have been made especially for them.

At its inception in 2009, the then one-day tour boasted a mere handful of amazing talent. For 2017 the number of participating artists has grown to over 40, necessitating its extension to a two day event.

Benito Ortega

The 8th annual Todos Santos Open Studio Tour will be held on the weekend of February 11 and 12, 2017, from 10 am to 4 pm both days. All proceeds benefit the children’s art programs of The Palapa Society of Todos Santos, A.C. Advance ticket sales begin January 28, 2017. Tickets will be $200 pesos each and can be purchased in Todos Santos at El Tecolote Bookstore on Calle Juárez, or ordered online at ts.studiotour@gmail.com. Tickets can also be purchased at Cafélix in Todos Santos from 9 am to 3 pm both event days. Maps are included with purchase and plenty of signs are posted to streamline the self-guided tour.

Gloria Santoyo Ruenitz

The choices of what to see are practically endless: paint, mixed media, encaustic, wood carving, metal sculpture, stone work, jewelry, fibers, photography and more. The hardest part might be deciding which studios to choose from and if it is possible to get to them all in two days. From the south end of town all the way through the north end of el Otro Lado, there are artist studios tucked away that hold treasures undreamed of.

To help plan your tour, browse the Facebook page Todos Santos Open Studio Tour to see some samples of the different work. Seasoned veterans of the tour often make a list of names to help plan a route, making sure to visit their favorite artists along with some new ones. Others prefer to just wing it, leaving it open to the serendipity of the moment.

Besides spending the day immersed in creativity, the tour is a chance to explore what it is like to be an artist in the beautiful pueblo mágico of Todos Santos. It is the personal interaction with the artists that makes this tour so special. What inspires them? What brought them here and why do they stay? How did they begin and what story do they have to tell?

Sculptor Benito Ortega was drawn to Todos Santos eight years ago by ‘a vibration in the air.’ Nine year resident, encaustic artist Gloria Santoyo Ruenitz stays because life is simple and she can spend the mornings lost in the passion of creativity. The positive energy of the light and the people is just part of what keeps painter/teacher Tori Sepulveda enthralled with Todos Santos, even after 10 years.

As a kid flipping burgers at the foot of the Newport Beach pier Peter Holden probably never imagined himself living and painting in Baja California Sur for over a decade. Did Anne Hebebrand envision herself experimenting with diverse tools such as spatulas, rubber shapers, paint rollers, and palette knives on canvas when as a young girl she was a waitress at a Mexican restaurant?

Susan Doyle says, “My favorite part of painting is the point when you think it is awful and you’re about to give up and then some magical accident happens and it clicks.” For Nanette Hayles she loves all parts of the creative process but “getting ‘lost’ in a piece when time ceases” is her favorite. Steve Thurston says that the best painting is always the one he’s currently working on.

Landscape artist Marsha Dahlquist is entranced with street scenes and the challenge of painting architecture, while Jill Mollenhauer expresses emotions with vibrant colors and mixed media.

Whichever studios you visit, you are sure to find both talent and heart. Between the well-known galleries in town and the numerous hidden gems in the barrios there are delights and surprises waiting just for you.

Here are a few helpful tips to make it even more enjoyable: Some studios are clustered near enough that parking and walking is viable. Perusing the neighborhoods is a wonderful way to get a feel of the community. Or consider carpooling–everything is more fun with friends. Wear comfortable shoes and a hat and don’t forget the sunscreen! Cold drinks and delicious meals can be purchased in town and for even more fun, consider staying the night at one of the area boutique hotels.

For more information: ts.studiotour@gmail.com

Holiday 2016/2017

Posted on December 9, 2016 by janicekinne

Journal del Pacifico Holiday 2016/2017 cover by Bruce Herman

Feliz Fiestas from Journal del Pacifico! In our Holiday issue, we have some great feature stories as well as lots of exciting things happening with our advertisers.

Once again, Bryan Jáuregui of Todos Santos Eco Adventures has provided us with a feature story, this time about the largest animal on Earth, who is also a visitor to our Baja waters. Richard Jackson and Carlos Gajon Bermudez shared their stunning Blue Whale photos, some taken within three miles of Loreto.

Many thanks to Bruce Herman for all the beautiful traditional Mexican photographs that are on our front cover and throughout this issue. If you’d like to see more, be sure to stop in the Luz Gallery on calle Topete in downtown Todos Santos.

Just around the corner, México Gourmet has moved next door to Chocolates La Laguna, behind the El Tecolote bookstore. Now it’s even more convenient to stock up on handmade chocolates from La Laguna and spices, seasoned salts, vanilla, organic coffee and more at Mexico Gourmet!

Discover the true flavors of Mexico at El Refugio Mezcalería, Todos Santos’ first mezcal bar. They serve artisanal agave distillates and cocktails, along with prehispanic foods such as pozole, mole, and traditional dishes from Guerrero and Oaxaca. Visit their Facebook page for happy hour specials and events, or contact them to schedule a private mezcal tasting.

Local, organic fresh veggies and herbs are now available from Sueño Tropical Farm at Pura Vida Health Food Store in Todos Santos.

Rumi Garden, the popular Asian cuisine restaurant in Todos Santos is now open again for the season. Stop in for their daily lunch specials, vegetarian, vegan and organic friendly dishes.

Cositas para la Casa has just opened on the otro lado of Todos Santos. It is based on a vision of all locally handmade products for the home, all the way up to but not including furniture. Stop by and see the mastery in knitting, sewing, crocheting, and embroidery.

La Cocina de Cleo is open again on the otro lado serving up Mexican breakfast and lunch and staying open late for dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Looking for a place to stay on the otro lado? Casa Las Tunas has charming cabañas and rooms with full kitchens, in a beautiful garden setting. It’s close to town and the beach too!

Day passes and memberships are now available for the lovely El Faro Beach Club & Spa. For information, please call Boutique Hotel Guaycura at (612) 175-0800.

Sra. Alma, with 15 years’ experience as a pharmacist, has now opened Farmacia San Benito in Todos Santos. She and her husband, Raul also own the Farmacia San Benito in Pescadero. Both locations stock brand name and generic medicines, controlled and oncology prescriptions and an extensive selection of orthopedic, personal and items for babies.

Congratulations to Cerritos Beach Inn on their first year anniversary. They are now offering home delivery on to go orders in the Pescadero and Cerritos area.

The all new, Oasis Bar & Grill on the highway in Pescadero is getting rave reviews on their menu. If you are looking for that classic American meal you need to check this place out–their Reuben sandwich is delicious!

Mini Super Munchies, near Rancho Pescadero and the beach, is a delightful corner market filled with local products, delicious snacks, beautiful crafts, wine, beer, and much more. Make sure to check their Facebook page for special guest chef and music nights!

Dra. Alejandra Peña Salguero has expanded her offices near the Pemex in Todos Santos. Dra. Alejandra is a completely bilingual, community primary care physician, available by appointment. The Padrino Children’s Foundation office is also at the same location. The Foundation and Dra. Alejandra are working to provide medical services for economically disadvantaged children in Todos Santos and the surrounding area.

Two exciting Palapa Society of Todos Santos events are coming up—their Open House for the all new Palapa Learning Center in early January and the return of the Palapa Carreras de Todos Santos 5k/10k in March—It’s bigger and better!

Yes it’s true; there will not be a Todos Santos Music Festival this January. After five years, Peter and Chloe Buck are taking a break this winter. The Journal del Pacifico is proud to have been a founder member of this amazing festival. But don’t worry; there are still a whole lot of live music events happening throughout Todos Santos and Pescadero—at La Esquina, Chill N Grill (check out their new location), Restaurant Mi Pueblito 3 and more! Check out our events listings in our current issue for more information.

Pick up a copy today or view the entire issue online. Make sure to reserve your space early for our next issue, featuring the incredible places to live and stay in Pescadero! Deadline is January 10, 2017.

Journal del Pacifico

La Revista de Baja California Sur

Tag Archives: Mexico

JDP Fall 2017 news

GastroVino Baja Food & Wine Festival

Todos Santos Open Studio Tour

Holiday 2016/2017