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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2001)
A tropical village can provide an inexpensive and unique alternative to the more popular vacation destination resorts By Rebecca Wilson Oregon Daily Emerald You awaken to another day of icy rain falling from a mercury sky. You slop to class through piles of rotting leaves and grimy puddles, only to sit through hours of class in perma nently soggy clothing; you quietly succumb to seasonal depression. Ahhh ... winter in the Willamette Valley. But don’t despair: Spring Break ’01 is just around the corner, and it’s never too early to start plan ning an escape from classroom drudgery into sunshine and re laxation. After all, according to the authority on the subject, MTV, spring break is exclusively for the benefit of carousing col lege students. But before settling for the cus tomary road trips to Tahoe or Shas ta, or blowing spring term tuition on airline tickets to Southern Cali fornia, Arizona or Mazatlan, check out Buena Vista, Mexico. Buena Vista is located on the Tropic of Cancer, 60 miles north of Cabo San Lucas, a town fabled among college students for streets flowing with tequila, scantly clad beauties and the crashing waves of the Pacific. Buena Vista is a significantly less hopping town than San Lu cas: Tourists go unmolested by beach vendors crying their over priced wares and adventurous hikers have miles of black-and white beaches at their disposal. It is possible to converse with peo ple who are not American, and swimming is actually safe — and virtually effortless — in the warm, salty Sea of Cortez. Feel free to guzzle gallons of tap water without the usual side effects. And most importantly, a trip to Buena Vista makes for an inex pensive and unique vaca tion. W' Getting there 1| Reaching Buena Vista re- ■ quires a bit more creativity ■ than its more popular coun- 1 terparts to the south. Travel- 1 ers must plan their transporta tion weeks before their arrival at the Los Cabos airport, which is the gateway to Southern Baj; Unlike the classic tourist town Buena Vista doesn’t have exper sive resorts, which usually prc vide shuttles to and from the ai: port. Eduardo is a taxi driver workir for an American couple who live i Nevada and own rental houses i Buena Vista. Travelers make rese vations, and Eduardo greets them i the airport with a Ford mini-va and a piece of cardboard, upo which is scrawled the names of th males in the party. Eduardo is sof spoken and takes his job seriously. “These roads — they are ver narrow; they have very big truck American tourists get nervot when drivers go fast,” he e: plained. “Tourists don’t want t start their holiday with a crash.” The road to Buena Vista, Higl way 1, is indeed quite narrow, snakes through rolling hills coi ered with sagebrush and saguar cactuses. Wrecked car bodies, an mal carcasses and trash abound o the sides of the road, despite fr< quent signs encouraging motorisi not to litter. The scenery is star and arid; it hardly seems tropica Small, government-owned gas st< tions appear out of nowhere, re< ognizable only by light-up sigr advertising various brands c cerveza: Tecate, Corona, Dos Equi Suddenly, Highway 1 crests hill, and the expanse of the aqu; ma rine Sea of Cortez stretches out before the brown landscape. 5’ Your room, sir The main tourist accommoda [" tions in Buena Vista consist of sprawling stucco houses on a cliff overlooking the sea. They are collec § tively called Casas de Cortez and are n owned by Eduardo’s employers, the n aforementioned Nevada couple. For ‘ between $500 and $1,500 per week, 1 a group of people can rent a 3,000 n square-foot house with three bath n rooms and six beds. Vibrant, ceram e ic tile-work comprises the interiors of all the houses. In addition, all houses are y equipped with gas stoves, reffiger 5‘ ators, microwaves, toasters, televi s sions, VCRs and stereos. These ap k" pliance-heavy houses are devoid ° of locks on the doors. But the woman who cleans the houses, !' Angelita, gave her assurance that * theft is not a problem in Buena Vista. It is a very safe town, she 0 said in Spanish. n Feed me *' Buena Vista is also an inexpen s sive town. Besides the reasonable k housing rates, the overall lack of l- tourism and resorts encourages i- travelers to buy their own food at > one of several nearby supermerca s dos, which carry mainly American •f food. The nearest resort is several >• miles down the beach, and its a restaurant, specializing in fine i- American cuisine, is available to tel guests only. But the town is not without its own attractions. Bue na Vista features several excellent restaurants and taquerias. The largest eatery is family-owned Calafia, just across Highway 1 from the beachside houses. Calafia, and the town’s other restaurants, specializes in spicy, fresh salsa and deep-fried seafood. In fact, most of the food is fried, even the beans and rice. “Everything is fresh here,” Calafia’s owner said. “The avoca dos, the fish, the chicken. We only cook with fresh food. That is why we are the best restaurant on Baja.” Although the liberal use of oil can be somewhat of a shock to American health sensibilities and digestion, the tasty food is well worth the extra calories. And the liquid sunshine of freshly squeezed orange juice is available almost everywhere. What to do, what to do In all honesty, Buena Vista en courages tourists to be creative in finding things to do. The nightlife is almost nonexistent, and the daylife isn’t much better. In fact, be sure to take several good books to read on the beach. But the little town still has its share of sunbathers (2), beachside bars (1) and windsurf shops (3). On the bright side, the lack of entertain ment options allows an easy-going person to truly experience the town at his own pace and become famil iar with the shops and the locals. For example, after two days, Juan the Barteuder not only knows cus tomers’ names, but also their favorite beer, preference for lemons or limes and penchants for early-morning jogs down the beach. “I like getting to know the cus tomers,” Juan said. “A good bar tender can go to San Lucas and make a lot more money, but I like the quiet. Nicer people come here ... not so many drunk college kids.” Ahem. One of the most interesting and entertaining things about Buena Vista is the vast amount of Ameri can expatriates. It’s smart to culti vate their acquaintance: They know where to eat, where to shop, where to hike: they may even invite you in for a beer. And this unique brand of American isn’t hard to meet — they spend most of their time walking their dogs and riding ATVs up and down the beach. One expatriate is 73 and origi nally from Florence. When she was 60, she joined the Peace Corps and spent four years in Swaziland, which is near South Africa. Upon her return to the Oregon Coast, she found that she couldn’t take the cold, the rain or “the American at titude.” So she moved to Baja with her two dogs. “People are so much nicer here,” she said. “It’s a laid-back life. And when you’re old, it’s hard to adjust to cold weather. Oregon just has too much rain.” So true. If this winter finds your soul sag ging under the weight of so many raindrops, talk to a travel agent, search the Internet or go straight to www.bajavacations.com and check out the many options for even the tightest of budgets. You will be glad you did.
