Two major and encouraging developments – one from the Mexican government and the other in the international arena– took place yesterday in Baja California, putting wind in the sails of the diverse coalition working to protect Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park from proposed large-scale real estate and tourism projects nearby – namely the massive Cabo Cortés . 

First, the Mexican Environmental Authority announced that it would not grant Cabo Cortés anymore permits until 2013 , when more data is collected, particularly about the sea currents along the East Cape region of the Gulf of California.  The Secretary of the Environment, Juan Elvira Quesada, stated that although land components of the Cabo Cortés plan are authorized (hotels, electricity, access roads), the marine components (marina, desalination plant) are not:  “it is like authorizing a soccer stadium without a parking lot.”  This move indicates that the government is taking the evaluation of the environmental aspects of the project seriously. 

 We usually stop at San Carlos on our way north.  This time, however, we changed our plans since we had heard so many great things about the beautiful “Hotel Playa de Cortes.”    The RV park was right in front of the hotel.  The hotel was a beautiful old world place and reminiscent of something you would find in Spain.  We  enjoyed both our morning coffee and our evening martini overlooking the beautiful bay.     We celebrated Valentine’s Day here and Ken and I enjoyed a wonderful meal, complete with some very blue margaritas!  The kids made some sweet Valentine’s cards for us (and each other (surprisingly enough!)) so it was a nice day to also celebrate family. 

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