The Hotel California

Short Version:
If you go to the Baja Peninsula, you should go to Todos Santos, and if you go to Todos Santos, you should stay at the Hotel California.

Long Version:
Stylistically a perfect amalgam of traditional Mexican and various small eclectic touches, with appropriate modern amenities, we fell in love with the place at first sight, threw budgetary sensibility out the window, and didn't want to leave.

This is probably one of those parts of our trip where plastering a bunch of photos about is far more likely to convey just how amazing the place is, but we might have drunk just a wee bit too much tequila and broken the camera.
So, highlights conveyed with words:
- The pair of long conical sconces made of rusted metal hanging from a wall, wide end up, each with a sphere nestled in the mouth. These turned out, on closer inspection, to be the heads of little people sitting in the cones, with their little hands wrapped around the lip. The cones were perforated by strings of Spanish words, and at night they were lit from within, casting words written in light onto walls and onto the skin of close bystanders.
- The tiles. Bedroom and bathroom floors, as well as the innumerable outdoor patio areas and niches, and at least the lower half of many walls, were tiled, with a huge variety of colors, sizes, and finishes on display. Many of the not-tiled areas were bricks made from some soft stone which had been eroded in places by the passage of countless feet over the years*
- The sticks laid across beams to provide shaded outdoor areas were reminiscent of the shade structures on the beaches, but had bougainvillea and other plants growing over them, providing not only more comprehensive shade coverage, but also splashes of color absent from the landward portions of the seashores
- The pool. Circular, tiled in blue, with steps of different heights and depths. The water was clear and cool, and the hymn-singing from the Catholic church next-door provided a magical contrast to the sight** of hummingbirds in the hibiscus

We arrived late in the afternoon, and spent time in rooms and pool before heading out in search of delicious foods. Which we most definitely found, at a small restaurant run by a chap who looked very much like a slightly bigger version of Sicoff (Hi Simon and Liz!). This was, we think, the first evening meal where we`ve all had something we`ve rated really really highly, and I`m not just talking about the drinks, which were delicious, sizeable, and really cheap. Local fish dishes for the ladies, shrimp for Craig***, and vegetarian tacos for me. Tacos here are not the brittle, impossible to eat without spilling fillings all over yourself, flavorless nightmares they are in NZ - rather they`re soft and pliant and delicious. Wish I`d found that out sooner.

Post-dinner we hit the hotel bar for another drink, and found ourselves in another incredible setting. Really, at every turn, the Hotel California just kept pulling new awesomenesses out of the bag, including the really cool patio to which we retired with a really big bottle of really good tequila to round off a fantastic evening.










* = The place has been around for a LONG time - there are a few photographs from many many years ago dotted around the place, and our collective rudimentary knowledge of automobile history has left us thinking they`re shots from the 1940s. We know from speaking to the owner (Hi Debbie!) that it had been essentially derelict for four or so years before she and her late husband purchased the place in the early 2000s and refurbished it. We`re glad they did.

** = And sound. For those who haven`t been up close and personal with a hummingbird, they`re surprisingly loud. Kind of like enormous insects, only without the revulsion****

*** = An unusual event, in that he`s not a big seafood eater, and a fortuitous one, as the local `shrimp` turned out to be what in NZ would be termed `really enormous prawns`

**** = Feels very much like I`ve said that before.