Cerritos Beach/Todos Santos (and Cabo)

It's been a minute since I blogged! We have officially traveled as far south as we can go in Baja and are on our way back up... slowly. I wasn't sure how I'd break up Mexico for the blog, but now that we've left Cerritos Beach and Todos Santos I do think they deserve a blog of their own highlight.

While in La Paz (north of Cerritos and Todos Santos- and I will give it it's own blog spot later) we contacted a boutique RV park in Cerritos Beach that came recommended by several travelers we'd met. Casa Caravan only has 13 spots and many are taken with long term travelers. So, getting in isn't easy. We lucked out and there was an opening the day I reached out, so we off we went. Upon arrival we thought, "Ok. We'll stay a few days." Three Weeks Later... We were sad to say goodbye to this amazing little town! It was such a great little beach town to relax, but also convenient to get to Cabo San Lucas and Todos Santos for day or weekend trips.

Cerritos Beach

Cerritos Beach is on the Pacific Ocean and is known for its surfing. This laid back beach just checked all of the boxes for me personally. It's still a little undiscovered surf town where there really aren't any rules or regulations, and for us that means Lucy gets to go everywhere. They don't even have city water, so water is trucked in still! We stopped at the local mini grocery store and didn't have the exact amount, and the owner didn't have change. She took less money and asked that we just give her the rest later. So, of course we did, and bought more.

The Beach: It was about a 30 minute walk from our campsite to the beach. I loved that you could just lay on the beach and relax to the sound of the waves crashing. Or you could play fetch with your furry friend off leash. Or you could rent a surfboard or boogie board and ride waves. Or you could get a massage right on the beach if you wanted.

The Food: We settled into a nice little routine of lunch, beach, dinner, repeat. Our favorite lunch spot was Barracuda's Cantina. On our first day there we had one of each taco (fish, shrimp, sweet potato, and avocado) and we let our server choose grilled or fried. All were amazing, but the fried fish taco was out of this world. It was so good that we got 2 more, one fried and one grilled. Turns out we liked the grilled even better. Leaving there full we were set for a few hours at the beach before our 30 minute walk back home. Luckily on the walk back home we passed a few restaurants, which broke up the walk. Shaka's Delicious Wood Cantina became a staple stop after a long day at the beach. In fact, eventually we got to the point where walking back we didn't even need to put Lucy on a leash. She knew where we were going and headed right in without any guidance from us. This is definitely a gringo bar, but a great place to watch sports and listen to live music. As an added bonus, they have a dog dinner of chicken, rice, and veggies. Lucy always got two helpings.

On days we didn't walk to the beach, we sometimes grabbed brunch at Same Same, But Different. When we first got to Cerritos someone told us it was a strip club, and I'm so glad we asked around further because this place was definitely not a strip club, and the food was amazing. The avocado toast and chunky monkey smoothie were easily some of my favorite eats in Baja.

While talking with our neighbor one day she offered to drive us to Pescadero (only about a 10 minute drive) so we could try Noah Japanese Food. At first I was a little skeptical; sushi in Mexico. But when you think about it, it's all fresh seafood there. What a great break from tacos and bar food!

Todos Santos

Mexico's Secretary of Tourism has "chosen to promote a series of towns around the country that offer visitors a special experience because of the natural beauty, cultural richness, traditions, folklore, historical relevance, cuisine, art crafts, and great hospitality" to increase tourism to more local towns. (Wikipedia) Todos Santos is one of the 132 Pueblo Magicos. I can definitely see why. It was one of the most beautiful, vibrant, colorful, fun cities I've seen. It's an Instagramer's dream city haha. It's known for its art: galleries, jewelry, and murals. There's tons of trendy restaurants, boutiques, and open air markets to easily fill your day. After a day trip (about 20-25 minute drive from Cerritos) we realized that just wasn't enough for us. We got an AirBnb for the weekend. Unfortunately, I spent one of the days out of commission due to either food poisoning or bad water, but even given that, it's still one of my favorite towns.

I can't necessarily recommend that many restaurants since food and I were not seeing eye to eye that weekend, but the beautiful flowers, colorful flags, gorgeous architecture, shops, and art were more than enough reason to recommend visiting here. I think the most obvious touristy places to see are Hotel California and Tequila Sunrise. Even though the Eagles came out and publicly said this was not the inspiration of the song, it still seems to be the place to go for tourists. We never ate there because there were so many other choices. I'd say just check Google Maps reviews for food. It hasn't steered us wrong yet!

I really wanted to watch a turtle release while we were there. Tortugas Las Playitas is working on restoring the critically endangered pacific leatherback population, which is on the verge of extinction. They do a turtle release each night in January. With me being under the weather, we never made it. Hopefully another time I'll make it there and a few more restaurants.

As an added bonus the beach we went to was a little tough to get to, but so worth it. The water was turquoise blue and there was only one other person there.

Bonus: Cabo San Lucas

I can definitely see this area blowing up in the near future because it's an easy 45 minute drive from Cabo San Lucas. I hope it doesn't become a little Cabo, and stays its own unique experience. One thing I've liked so much about Baja is how different each town experience has been. Just in this blog alone I've mentioned 3 very different towns all within an hour of each other: Cerritos- small surf town, Todos Santos- a quaint artsy town, and Cabo- a party city.

Cabo was a great weekend getaway. We celebrated my 40th birthday here. Because there are no RV parks that we could find (supposedly there is one) and we were a little worried about safely parking the RV in a bigger city, we got an AirBnb with private parking. This way we could leave Lucy in an air conditioned house while we were out exploring and eating at fancier restaurants.

One thing I wanted to do was see Lover's Beach. So, in our true fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants-zero-research fashion, I put it in Google Maps and we headed off on foot to check it out. Turns out you CAN walk to it, but it's a bit of a hike across the mini mountain. So, we got as far as we could go in our flippy floppies, and had to turn around. If this is on your bucket list, do some research, and wear your hiking boots or plan to hop on a boat to get there!

Everyone said we had to check out Cabo Wabo, and it was near our AirBnb so we walked that way. It seemed very much like Seacrets, OCMD (iykyk) and not really what we were looking for this trip. Across the street was a cute little courtyard/outdoor restaurant with live guitar music by patio lights and candle lights called Bajo La Luna. Much more the vibe we were looking for that night.

For my birthday I was craving Italian food. For this I did do some research. We went to Salvatore G's. We were warned the portions are big and share size, to which I said I don't care, I want my own. It was delicious. Zero regrets.

The Marina area is definitely the most touristy part of Cabo. Everyone speaks English, menus are in English and US dollars, US prices, and the vendors are pretty aggressive and try to sell you some legal and not so legal things. John summed it up perfectly when he said, "If you were to blindfold me, drop me off here, and ask me where I am I would say California." The further off the marina you get, the less touristy it is. Monkey's Cave Bar was a great stop each night- great drinks, very kind staff, and they loved Lucy! If you scroll through their IG you'll see Lucy featured 3 times :)

Adios until next time!