Cabo San Lucas

Cabo…..oh how I love Cabo! After visiting this desert wonderland every year for the past six years, it is so awesome to currently be calling this place home! Located on the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, Cabo has gained notoriety as a playground for the rich and famous but also as one of the preferred destinations for Canadians and Americans to escape the long months of winter.

We arrived in Cabo in late January, driving down from San Diego/Tijuana (more on that later), and were surprised (and impressed) to observe how well this tourist region was managing the challenges brought about by covid-19. Credit to the locals who are extremely compliant with regards to wearing the mandatory masks everywhere (unlike the tourists sadly) and maintain a constant vigilance on checking temperatures and providing sanitizer in retail environments.

The day we drove in to town, we learnt that Cabo had just entered a level of restrictions that prohibited more than one family member shopping in the large format retail stores (Costco, Walmart, Fresco, Le Comer, Home depot etc). Whilst in theory authorities were trying to limit the number of people in stores at any one time, people learnt pretty quickly how to navigate around this simply by walking in separately and meeting up inside!

Originally our plan was to find a rental for six months but we found our options were somewhat limited in this time frame, especially given we needed a ‘pet-friendly’ home. We ended up securing a lovely house in one of the Ventanas complexes that worked well with our budget. The owner agreed to give us an ‘out clause’ at nine months without penalty even though we signed a 12-month lease. Now that we have been here a few months, we are likely to now stay the full 12-months anyway. It seems the world is taking a little longer than expected to return to pre-covid times and we are loving the food, the sunshine, the low cost of living, the people and exploring the wider Baja Peninsula.

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Everyday Living in Cabo

Weather

Cabo has generally a very dry, sunny climate although the summer months can become quite hot and oppressive. On average it only rains about 10 days a year – perfect for those wanting to escape from colder climates.

Throughout the year, the temperature typically varies from 16°C (61°F) to 32°C (91°F) although it is quite rare for the overnight temperature in Summer to drop below 27°C (81°F) so staying anywhere without proper air conditioning can be very uncomfortable.

Looking at the high’s and lows of Cabo’s weather which are the Summer and Winter months, temperatures are fairly consistent from day to day; consistently hot or consistently warm. Even in Winter, temperatures during the day average around mid to high 20°C

Hot Season: generally the period from mid June to late October are the warmest months of the year where there can be little reprieve from the heat day or night. From July, the days start to become more humid and if there is little cloud cover then it can feel a lot warmer than the actual reading.

Cool season: from around early December to late March , with an average daily high temperature 27°C (81°F) or below, this is the more popular season for tourists (called the ‘high season’) where the days are sunny, crisp and clear providing perfect condition for outdoor activities. The nights tend to be a little chilly often reaching around 16°C (61°F) so people are encouraged to pack long sleeve tops and long pants when planning their trip.

September is the month to experience the greatest amount of rainfall (an average 2.5 inches) however rainfall season lasts from July to January. Baja California also sits in a hurricane zone although most are downgraded to storm by the time they hit landfall.

The last serious hurricane was Hurricane Odile in September 2014 (100mm to 150mm of rain) which caused significant damage across San Jose and Cabo San Lucas costing around $1.5 billion USD. In total 18 people died over the 9 days the hurricane wreaked havoc across the Baja north-western region.¹

Living through Hurricane Season

Whilst hurricane season can span from mid-May to November, September is the month to prepare for extreme weather conditions. This year, as we head towards September, I am perhaps overly conscientious with regards to being prepared. This includes;

• A powerful solar mobile battery charger (I have one that charges up to 4 devices at a time)
• Bottled water in storage – can never have too much water in Cabo
• Generator if feasible
• Keep yard clear of loose items (if it isn’t secured it could take flight)
• Solar Panels
• Pair of gumboots (I was told that they are often needed after a heavy downpour)
• Keep pantry stocked with long-life items (tinned food and long life milk etc)
• Hurricane Shutters
• Insect spray – cockroaches, flies, moths and mosquitos descend on Cabo in droves during Summer – especially after a downpour. Don’t be surprised if you witness a plague of flying termites after the rain which is closely followed by a plague of moths (fun!)

We did recently experience a 2-day rainfall (around 7/8th August 2021) – whilst it wasn’t particularly stormy, the rain was pretty constant for about 16 hours. What did surprise us, however, is that when there is a constant downpour, all the sand from the mountains gets washed into the streets of Cabo.

We woke to all the roads around us buried under sand with sections of roads that had collapsed – almost like a sinkhole had opened up. As there is inconsistency in the road paving in and around Cabo, it is not unusual for a dirt road to be paved without proper drainage or retaining wall. The sight was pretty incredible for us first-timers but we have since learnt that this happens every time it rains. I’ll let the pictures below tell the story;

Despite the incredible clean-up job, local council workers were quick to jump into earth moving equipment to remove all the sand or fill in holes in high traffic areas. Two days later, very little evidence of the storm remained (except perhaps a collapsed road or two). Given we are not yet through Hurricane season, I was told that the major works tend to be carried out later in the year as there is a high likelihood of heavy rain ahead.

Another casualty during the Summer months is the occasional loss of power. Due to increased power usage, the electricity companies occasionally shut down a grid for a couple of hours in order to prevent a power surge. So far we have had only two relatively short power outages (no more than an hour each time) although I have heard this can sometimes last much longer. During Odile, people had 3 or more weeks without power, so no air-conditioning, refrigeration, lighting etc for 3+ weeks – hence having a back-up generator is not such a bad idea – you just need to ensure you have a generator plug installed in your laundry or garage in order to be able to connect to your domestic appliances.

I’ll update this post later in the year to wrap up a summary of our first Hurricane Season – fingers crossed we don’t have to endure anything too extreme!

Covid impacts and protocol for Baja California

(as of 29th August 2021)

Often family and friends will comment on the alarmingly high rate of covid deaths in Mexico (as of August 2021, there have been 3.33M reported cases with 258K deaths) and that we are crazy to be living here. People back home probably don’t realise that Cabo is located in Baja California Sur (BCS) which is largely separated from mainland Mexico resulting in significantly less instances of covid.

Currently there has been a total of 52,489 case of covid in BCS, 2,319 deaths and 1,028 active cases. In the Los Cabos region, which is the southern point of BCS housing San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, there is currently; 172 active cases, 912 deaths and a to-date total of 20,745 reported cases. ²

To put this into perspective, Los Cabos makes up only 0.00624% of Mexico’s total reported covid cases and 0.009% of total deaths. Relatively low risk overall if you ask me and not bad for a population of 270,00+ permanent dwellers and a tourist trade of over 3M people a year. That being said, I did get vaccinated back in May on a trip to the US – better to be safe than sorry right?

Mexican ‘Traffic Light System’ regarding covid levels

There are specific restrictions in place for Baja California that are in addition to the Mexican Government’s ‘Traffic Light System’ which outlines a region’s status (red, orange,yellow or green) pertaining to what restrictions are to be enforced. These are explained as follows;

Currently Baja is a combination of Orange and Yellow levels with Los Cabos (Cabo San Lucas and San Jose) in Yellow.

Baja has six levels of restrictions with regards to social distancing practices in the wider community. This primarily covers;

• Hotel Occupancy
• Trading hours for retail and hospitality (restaurants, bars etc)
• Capacity allowances per square metre
• Limited trading hours on the sale of alcohol

Depending on what level you are under on the Mexican Traffic Light System will influence which level you are to follow on the Health Alert System When we arrived in January 2021, Los Cabos had just moved to level 5 which is the highest level we have experienced to-date (level 6 was implemented last in Spring 2020). We enjoyed a brief period of level 3 in April but we were back to Level 4, then 5 by June.

In mid-August, Los Cabos moved down to level three and as we headed into September, we reached level two for the first time since we arrived – this is only one step from a ‘state of normal’. T

Being in level 2 now means hotels are allowed up to 70% capacity, outdoor activities can allow up to groups of 30 people and restaurants and bars are allowed to remain open till 1am.

** Update as of 28th September 2021 – Los Cabos has now been moved to Level 1 which is classified as the Covid ‘New Normal’ !!

1. Reference: Wikipidia – Hurricane Odile

2. Reference: https://coronavirus.bcs.gob.mx/english/