Galeria de Todos Santos Move Underway

The Galeria de Todos Santos has been closed the last couple of weeks while Michael and Erick work feverishly to fix up the new location (the old Maya Roca real estate building.) The building was in need of serious cleaning, remodeling and updating. Michael plans to continue his public cooking career and is fixing up the back patios and yard to serve as a restaurant. Those of us in the neighborhood can hardly wait!

Prepping the New Galeria de Todos Santos

These are two of the most talented painters in Todos Santos. I ask you, is this the best use of their talents? <g>

What's under this old sign?

La Voz del Pueblo!

We think “La Voz del Pueblo” was a general store at this location. I know it sounds like a newspaper or magazine. Maybe we should have called El Calendario something like “La Voz de Todos Santos!”

Getting There! White Walls!

The backyard and patio - future home of the restaurant!

Happy Labor Day to all of you up north! No such celebration here.

Todos Santos Turtle Nursery

I don’t often walk as far south as La Cachora or La Poza. But last Friday I was in the area and checked in on the new turtle nursery. Last year it was located a couple of blocks from my trailer, in Las Tunas, so I saw it every day. As you can see, there are already a far number of relocated nests in the fenced area. Last year was a banner turtle release year. Maybe this year will be too.

Todos Santos Turtle Nursery

Tropical Storm Julio Photo from Todos Santos

Okay, it wasn’t much of a storm. But knock on wood when you say or think that. Our dangerous time is only just beginning. The ocean temps are high 70s to low 80s. Perfect for storms.

Here’s a shot I took around 6 pm on August 24. I opened the trailer screen door and shot the neighbor’s yard (to the north.) Not much happening. Some rain. Some wind.

Tropical Storm Julio in Todos Santos

Tropical Storm Julio and Todos Santos

Just a quick update – Julio was perplexing. Looking at the storm path maps it appears he passed right over Todos Santos, yet we never got anything close to 50 mph winds. My best guess is we got 35 mph gusts and maybe an inch of rain. We still have clouds and it rained once already this morning so we could get more but nothing like the 3-6 inches the forecasters called for.

My electricity stayed on the entire night. Cell phones and land lines and internet all work. Aside from large amounts of water on the roads and some plant debris, Todos Santos escaped unharmed.

And so our dangerous time for hurricanes begins.

This Week In Todos Santos

Rereading my posts of this week I realized I forgot to share some interesting stuff. So it’s catchup time…

Monday August 18: The Playitas road was graded. I am not sure how far north, but at least to Las Tunas.

Thursday August 21: It thundered and pounded in Todos Santos but barely rained. It drizzled for 5 minutes. Not a single mud puddle on the Playitas road. But in Pescadero, it stormed. There is still standing water on the side of the road and mud and dirt across the highway. I was told that the arroyo in Elias Calles had 3-4 feet of water flowing through it.

Friday August 22: It was a dark cloudy day from the beginning and it rained really hard in Todos Santos for 30-40 minutes. It didn’t rain a drop in Pescadero. Go figure. There is still standing water in the low spots on the Playitas road. The wonderful grading of the road has mostly been destroyed. It’s still better than it was before the grading but many areas have gullies and ruts and puddles. It almost always happens this way in the summer, i.e. when the road is finally graded, it rains within a week or two. Ni modo!

All this water and heat means two immediate things. Weeds have sprouted up overnight. And the insects have multiplied too. Expect more bobos and the mosquitos can’t be that far behind. There is a standing puddle on my walk to the beach and this morning it was swarming with dragon flies, happily munching away. Before the rain I had hardly seen a dragon fly for many days. Then the rain and bam! There they are. Nature is amazing!

Todos Santos Storm Warning!

It’s mid August and it’s tropical storm time. Tropical depression 11E formed this morning and should become Tropical Storm Julio later today. It’s about 350 miles southeast of Los Cabos and heading northwest and should parallel the peninsula. Current chances of tropical storm strength winds for the Todos Santos area are about 10% but always subject to change. Some graphics current as of 1 pm MDT:

Tropical Depression 11E Projection

TD 11E Satellite Image

TD11E Projected Path Near Baja

Ain’t No Cure For The Summertime Blues (Todos Santos Style)!

It just started thundering. Big time! It’s dark. Maybe it will rain yet again. There are no tropical storms in the East Pacific, so this is just regular old thunderstorms for a change. It’s 3 pm MDT.

The heat continues. The breeze comes and goes. Mostly goes. At least it shifted back from the north. It had been a west-south-west wind for a while. And that’s a warm wind that brings even warmer water up towards us, inviting tropical storms to visit. Night time lows are right around 80f but it takes all night to get there. Midnight temps are routinely 85f. That’s sweating hot.

One of the plagues that arrive with temps this warm and rain is the onset of “bo-bos” AKA noseeums, sandflies and more properly, biting midges. These are nearly invisible little flies that bite. They mostly appear near dawn and sunset but they can be present anytime. Their life cycle is 3-10 weeks. Adults are 1.5 – 4 mm long. Once they arrive, they stay for up to 3 months depending on how hot it is. Around town you will see little old ladies waving strips of cloth in front of their faces to keep the bo-bos off. The critters like to fly up noses, in eyes and ears. They are very annoying. And their bites are not to be ignored. They itch and can welt up too.

Right now they aren’t nearly as bad in Todos Santos as they are in Pescadero and points south. This is due to the additional rainfall that has fallen to the south of us. The wetter and the hotter it is, the more bo-bos we have. And they can fly right through most window screens. That’s how small they are! Repellent helps a bit but nothing gets rid of them totally except colder, drier weather.

Biting Midge or Bobo

Some Todos Santos Weather Updates

It rained on Friday, August 15. Bands of rain spun off of Tropical Storm Iselle and there was heavy rain in various locations from Todos Santos to Los Cabos. I saw shallow water running in the arroyo at Elias Calles. There was sand and mud on the highway in other places. It rained more in Pescadero than in Todos Santos. I missed the action as I was in Cabo but I am told there was quite a bit of heavy thunder.

The temps are hot. Very hot. Daytime it is oppressive in the sun and barely okay in the shade. Last night at 1 am it was still 85f. This morning at 7 am it was only 81f. And humid.

This is summer in southern Baja. Enjoy!

Whew! It’s Hot in Todos Santos!!!

Okay, summer has broken for sure. Wednesday night, August 6, it didn’t cool off. Barely got below 80f and believe me that makes a difference. No wind. Nothing but hot. The next morning the sky was dark and cloudy from the getgo and sure enough, it rained later in the day. Not a lot of rain here (total blow out in San Lucas though, arroyos running and all) but it cooled it off again temporarily. So last night we got down to 76f again. But it won’t last. This is the summer pattern. Hot hot hot days and nights, then rain, cool off, then cycle hot again.

It doesn’t help that there currently are 1 hurricane and 3 potentially tropical entities south and west of Todos Santos right now. That just keeps the hot moist air coming north towards us.

This sort of weather pattern could conceivably continue through mid-October. Yikes!

Short Todos Santos Update

Okay, I took a break. No big deal.

I didn’t attend the Mango Festival. It did happen as far as I can tell. There was music but I got conflicting reports about the timeliness of events. Some told me they happened on time, others told me they didn’t happen at all. Guess I needed to be there. The event was held on a dirt side street near the Fire Station (how did the trucks get away to put out fires? people parked haphazardly all over the place) in an area about 1/3 of a city block. The midway took up at least 1/3 of the space. My friend Aaron told me the midway workers were the rattiest he had seen. Yikes! No one told me that they had an amazing time. There was music though. Wonder if there will be a 2nd Annual Mango Festival? I did notice yesterday morning that new mango trees (complete with drip irrigation) had been planted on the street that hosted the festival. Well more like right in the street. Hmmm.

Okay, the weather: Invest 93 did not turn tropical but it blazed a path right up the west coast of the peninsula on Saturday night, August 2. Around 9 pm the winds picked up, 20+ mph with higher gusts. My trailer’s increasingly tattered awning really loved that. There was lightning too, not clean rays but the kind that lights the cloudy sky up. Somewhere after midnight it began to rain, fairly hard but for less than 1 hour. Next morning all was clean and calm, muddy puddles in the low spots, new pot holes on the dirt roads. Gotta love summer with dirt roads.

It is still hot and muggy. But we do have some breeze and the nights are continuing to go below 80f. That’s because the ocean isn’t above 76f yet. But it will be. According to Baja Insider, the 26c line is right at Todos Santos. Why is this important? Because 26c and above is fertile ground (water actually) for tropical storms to live in. According to them, a storm could come our way. By mid August, we usually start seeing the formation of storms that could head towards southern Baja.

Right now, all is good.