When you arrive at Areli Sarah Castillo’s house in Pescadero on a late summer afternoon, the look and feel of the front of her house is very similar to that of her neighbors: there’s a teenage boy working on his truck in beat to the radio’s tunes; two young girls are playing with dolls on the sofa under a well-placed beach umbrella; and several dogs are enjoying afternoon napping bliss in various poses. There’s nothing to suggest that the Castillo family is at the forefront of a movement to change the eating and health patterns of a town – until you go around back. There you find the riot of green and rampant plant life that is the greenhouse built by Areli and her children, and from which they feed the twelve people who now call their house home. Beautiful long vines of tomatoes, steamy-looking chiles, delightfully prickly pineapples, all manner of herbs and spices, all lovingly cared for in a space next to the chicken coop where the happy, well-cared for hens oblige the family with at least 15 eggs a day. All healthy, all organic, all the time. It’s not really what you’d expect from a woman who used to sell hotdogs for a living.
Greenhouse Greats of Pescadero
Areli is one of 18 women in the Sistemas Naturales y Desarrollo AC (SINADES) greenhouse program in Pescadero run by Inés Melchor Pantoja, with assistance from her husband, Julio César Rivas García. Inés and Julio, with a grant from Fondo Acción Solidaria AC, or Fasol* , started a community center about five years ago where their first program was teaching the children of Pescadero in accordance with the SINADES motto, “Educar para conservar” – Educate to preserve. Here kids were able to learn about composting, recycling, healthy eating, and growing things. The kids loved the program so much (seriously, we’re playing in dirt here – what’s not to love?) that they wanted to get their parents involved, so Inés and Julio started a pilot program for women in the community called Conscious Cooking. It has transformed the lives of the women and their families.
Like many Mexican towns across the country, Pescadero is plagued by health problems associated with poor diets. Manuela Tapis, one of the participants in the Conscious Cooking program, has lived in Pescadero for 40 years. She says that many of her neighbors in town suffer from diabetes, severe allergies, gastritis and other chronic health issues. Pescadero is not alone. Mexican government statistics indicate that 71% of the entire Mexican population is either obese (32%) or overweight (39%). That’s over 48 million Mexicans walking around in plus sizes. According to journalist Olaya Astudillo writing in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, one of the key culprits in this rise in obesity in Mexico is the global trend away from traditional diets towards highly processed foods. More specifically writes Astudillo, “Cost is highly influential for when a family with limited income has to make decisions about the home diet. They will spend their money on the food that contains more calories for lower prices. But the food might not necessarily be more nutritious, of best nutritious quality, nor contribute to a more adequate diet than other products with less calories.”
Clarisa
The Conscious Cooking program aims to change all that by making healthy foods affordable, desirable and an integral part of family life. And it was the desire to procure organic, pesticide-free produce at a reasonable price that drove SINADES and the women of the Conscious Cooking program to start building greenhouses. As Margarita Vasquez, one of the women in the group explains, “The older people in Pescadero used to grow their own food, but we lost all those skills. Now with SINADES and the greenhouse project we’re recovering those values. Through this program we’ve learned how to make our own organic fertilizer by composting, we’ve learned about watering our plants using gray waters from the house for irrigation, we’ve learned great skills like how to make nutritious snacks by drying fruit in the sun and so much more. We have learned such an incredible amount here about how to have healthy food at a low cost, and the impact on our personal health and that of our families has been remarkable.” Janette Albañez, who has lived in Pescadero for 25 years agrees. “Health, health, health is what this program means for me. I used to have chronic asthma and ate very poorly. Now my asthma has cleared up and even my junk-food guzzling husband loves eating raw vegetables.”
Ines Melchor Pantoja
Janette got involved when she saw one of her neighbors building a greenhouse, and this is the type of knock-on effect that the SINADES program is having in Pescadero. As more people see the health benefits that their friends and neighbors are achieving, the more that are interested in learning the skills to achieve similar results for themselves. And even more than for themselves, they are motivated on behalf of their children. Angeles Caballero, mother to two children ages 3 and 7, really speaks for all the women involved when she says “I started this program because of my kids. I’ve only been in Pescadero 10 years and was so surprised to see all the young children here that already have diabetes. I was motivated to save my children from this fate, but now my kids are even more motivated than me. Their friends think it’s weird that they’ll have tomatoes with salt instead of potato chips, but they don’t care. My kids love working in the garden and love this program. It is wonderful for us as a family.”
Areli couldn’t agree more. “My children are actually even more excited about the greenhouse than I am. They love coming out here and working every day. They love that we no longer buy any canned food, and they love how much better they feel with so much less junk food in their diet. These are benefits that you just can’t put a price on.”
But there is a price of course, and the 4,000 pesos (~US$285) required to build a greenhouse is a fairly high barrier to entry for many of these families, a barrier that they must surmount once again as Hurricane Odile (September 2014) destroyed every one of the greenhouses built by the women and children of SINADES in Pescadero. But they are not discouraged. Says Inés, “We recovered some of the material from the greenhouses and received a small donation to buy more mesh, so we are slowly coming back around. Some of the families are already in production again and everyone is continuing to move forward. It’s a strong community and we will rebound.”
Before the hurricane, there were signs around the Pescadero community center that read “Cue da-temba, nuestra casa”. Cue da-temba means Mother Earth in the language of the Guaycura Indians, the now extinct indigenous people of Baja California Sur. And of course nuestra casa is Spanish for “our home”. The goal of Inés, Julio and the women and children of SINADES is to create a sustainable and healthy lifestyle for the families in their community. Helping them to do that is really just enlightened self interest because, after all, “Cue da-temba, nuestra casa” applies to us all. Inés can be reached at and the SINADES Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/SinadesAc.
*Fasol, headed by the dynamic Artemisa Castro and a group of likeminded environmental activists, provides financial support to grassroots groups that are working for social and environmental change in Mexico. SINADES is a great example of the type of success they have achieved in communities across Mexico. For more information please visit their web site at: http://fasol-ac.org/fasol_wp_ing/
If science had all the answers, poets and dreamers would be out of a job. So when scientists tell us that they’re not really sure why humpback males sing – and it is only the males that sing – then it’s up to the rest of us to look at the evidence and help science along. And here’s what the evidence shows us. Like traditional mariachis, all-male college a capela groups, and the Rat Pack, humpback whales in Baja clearly understand that singing, particularly with the harmonious help of your mates, is the best way to get the girl. Now some scientists theorize that humpback males are singing only as a type of echolocation exercise of the type used by their dolphin cousins, a way to map out the world around them. This certainly
Humpback Happiness. Photo by Erika Peterman
may be true – because how else are they going to find the girls? But that really doesn’t explain why some humpback whale songs are several hours long and, according to the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, grammatically complex and loaded with information. Like a ballad. Or why sexually immature young males join their virile older brothers in song. Like frat boys with their pledges beneath a sorority girl’s window. Or why all the males in one region will congregate in an arena and sing the same song. Like a boy-band in an outdoor stadium. Or why a male escorting a female and her calf will sing. Like a lullaby. These are all great mysteries that the poets are currently best equipped to ponder, but they don’t begin to touch on the greatest mystery of all – how does the female humpback decide which singer is worthy of her affections? Science presently has no answer, but maybe this is why Elvis always sang alone.
When the fireman tossed the first baby to her at about 1:00 AM, Karina was dizzy with fear that she would drop the little girl. She didn’t. By the time the fireman tossed the third baby to her she was confident in her skill, had an assembly line set up with hand offs to Lorena and Julio, and had the whole situation managed so brilliantly that by 10:00 AM 150 people who had lost all or part of their homes in the fury of Hurricane Odile were safe, dry and having breakfast in the Casa del Estudiante del Todos Santos.
Jayna Schweitzer of the Palapa Society with her neighbors
Why on earth would a fireman toss a baby? Down the road in Pescadero Lalo and Pili were finding out. Pili is a pretty big guy, topping the scales at 250 pounds. Lalo is a little scrawnier, weighing in at 180. The 430 pounds of them were holding onto the inside beams of their roof with their hands, trying to keep it from blowing away. They succeeded for two hours before a particularly violent gust lifted the roof – with the two of them still attached – several feet off the ground. At that point they decided not to make the trip to Oz and let go. And that’s why the fireman had to toss the children: the wind was blowing so violently through the door that Karina could not propel herself forward the two meters to take them, and the fireman had to anchor himself at the entrance or risk not being able to get back out to help others. Category 3? Category 4? Doesn’t really matter. When it’s blowing hard enough to take your roof, your home and your child’s safety, it’s blowing hard enough.
Todos Santos, Todos Juntos
Before Hurricane Odile hit on September 14 and forever changed the storyline of Baja California, the communities of Todos Santos, Pescadero and other BCS towns were already coming together to fight a manmade force with the potential for devastation far beyond anything a single hurricane could unleash – an open pit gold mine in the Sierra de la Laguna mountains. The local and foreign communities had united at huge rallies and protests across the state, and even staged a multi-day vigil to prevent the mine from illegally drilling in connection with its planned desalination plant. A feeling of unity and empowerment permeated the air, and when that air was dramatically rent by Hurricane Odile, it only strengthened the feeling of community. No one was going to back down from a fight for home.
Serena Saltzman of the Palapa Society helping her neighbors
Karina, the administrator of the Casa del Estudiante del Todos Santos – or albergue as it is commonly known – was one of the first to witness that fighting spirit on a significant scale. She’d never met Marisol, the manager at Casa Tota in her life. But when she called her to ask for help, Marisol didn’t hesitate and delivered food for 150 people in just a few hours. The grocery stores Supermercado El Sol and Guluarte’s, the restaurants Landi’s and El Zaguan – all made sure that Karina and the rest of the albergue staff could feed the people in their care in those first few critical days, even as they were struggling with their own properties. Gabriela Guluarte sent along clothing for those who had lost everything, and Kappner from Tres Santos came with boxes of much needed personal items like shampoo, deodorant, underwear and baby food. Karina and Lorena spent 17 days working around the clock at the albergue, often with 150 sleeping under their roof and up to 200 mouths to feed at any given meal. Not only did no one miss a meal, but many others were sent home with “dispensas”, or care packages with several days worth of essential food items.
But the damage was extensive and the needs were great and a surfer named Justin Lindholm who spends his winters in Pescadaro was among the first to grasp that significant funds were going to be needed to advance the recovery. “Pescadero and its people are beautiful and have made a huge impact on my life. People say hi to you on the streets, really listen to you when you’re talking, and remember stories you might have told. They live day-to-day and worry little about the future. I admire that. Starting a fund for Pescadero was something I knew had to be done. I spent the fall and winter months of 2005 with the clean up effort after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I saw what a hurricane is capable of and how helpless people are even in a powerful country like the US. I knew the people of Pescadero were going to need help to get back to normal.” Odile hit on September 14 and on September 15 Justin opened a GoFundMe account to raise money for hurricane relief in Pescadero. $6,000 was raised in the first few days alone, and people in desperate need of work were soon being paid fair wages to help clean the town and restore order.
In Todos Santos The Palapa Society – a nonprofit whose mission is to help educate the children of the town – had an emergency meeting on September 20 to discuss what they could do to help the community. The meeting was over at 10:30 AM, and by noon they had set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for hurricane relief for Todos Santos. By 2:00 PM board members Oscar and Tori were with Karina at City Club in La Paz, where she was using the $1,000 advanced by Palapa to great effect. And by 9:00 AM on September 23 when the next meeting started, over $30,000 had already been raised. Before long people were getting new roofs, remote ranch families were receiving food, and people in need of work were getting it. Outside the venerable old Todos Santos Inn a hand written sign appeared, Todos Santos, Todos Juntos.
Viva México!
The sight of Mexican troops crossing the US border to help Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina discombobulated many US citizens (“poor” Mexicans helping “rich” Americans?), but disaster relief is actually a core competency of the Mexican military. Todos Santos woke up to Odile’s handiwork on Monday, on Tuesday Army and Navy troops were in the neighborhoods handing out emergency food and water, and on Wednesday they were also handing out sleeping pads, clearing debris from the streets and parks, and helping to ensure that the looters from Cabo didn’t make their way into town.
But in a democracy, military action is just an expression of political will, and on Thursday a helicopter carrying Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto flew over town. Skeptical gringos likened this to W’s infamous flyover of New Orleans after Katrina and rolled their eyes. But this helicopter landed, Peña Nieto got out, and he went and met with Karina and Lorena at the albergue. He toured the town, he made a speech, he made promises and he left. By Friday morning the military was helping with the cooking chores at the albergue, and on Saturday 120 workers and dozens of trucks from CFE – the Comisión Federal de Electricidad – arrived to begin restoring electricity to town. Not only did they work around the clock to get the town running again, they stayed in hotels and B&Bs across town and paid for the service. Todos Santos is a town fuelled largely by tourism, and it is hard to know if people were more grateful for the restored electricity, or for the income provided at a time when repair costs were soaring, employee needs were escalating, and cash flow was crashing in the wave of cancellations that wiped out reservations for September, October and even some of November. The town swelled with gratitude for CFE, and the skim boarders started returning to Playa La Poza to enjoy the late summer afternoons.
God Bless Rock ‘N Roll
One of the reasons that it’s not the end of the world as we know it is that Peter Buck loves Todos Santos. The lead guitarist of REM bought a house in town, and started the Todos Santos Music Festival in 2012 to raise money for the Palapa Society; he believes in and wants to further its mission of serving the educational and health needs of the children of Todos Santos. So when Odile struck, Peter and the music festival immediately fronted the Palapa Society $10,000 from ticket sales for the 2015 event to help with the rebuilding efforts in town. Said Peter, “We will donate all of the profits from the 2015 festival to help people in Todos Santos reconstruct their lives, homes and businesses.We also hope that the festival’s return in January will serve as a symbol of Todos Santos’ resilience and ability to bounce back from this terrible tragedy.”
Peter Buck and his friends have shown Baja that insanely talented and successful rock stars can also set the gold standard for generosity, so perhaps the area was not that surprised to learn that one of Mexico’s most-loved rock bands, Maná, was also pitching in to help in the aftermath of Odile. Maná’s nonprofit, Fundación Ecologica Selva Negra, working with the large Mexican corporation Verde Valle and the regional director of WildCoast, arrived at the port of La Paz on October 5 with 15 tons of rice, lentils, beans and other food basics. In Todos Santos 20 families in one of the hardest hit areas, Nuevo San Juan, directly received food from Selva Negra. They made sure that 50 families in their neighborhood benefitted from the bounty. Out at Cerritos, live music started flowing again.
The Beatles Got it Right
Oscar, Benny and their crew at a neighbor’s house working on the roof
When the communities of Todos Santos and Pescadero asked for help, the world answered. Americans, Canadians, Europeans. People for whom these communities are seemingly just vacation destinations reached deep, found their inner rock stars, and gave. They made their friends give. They held fundraisers in their communities and they showered social media with notes of support. As of this writing the fund for Justin’s hurricane relief effort for Pescadero stands at about $15,000, and the fund for the Palapa Society’s hurricane relief effort for Todos Santos is over $80,000. And they’re getting things done.
In Pescadero, Alec, April, Bridget and Hesed held a community meeting at Baja Beans, and 150 people showed up to see how they could help their neighbors. Sam, Ronnie, Epi, Mario and Ana Maria formed cleanup teams with the local teenagers, who have been competing to see who can clear the most debris. In Todos Santos, the Palapa Society hired two contractors, Oscar and Bennie, who are coordinating the work of 3 teams to put new roofs on homes. Over 150 houses have received new roofs so far, and the work is not slowing down. They’ve created two designs for simple wooden homes for the families who lost everything, and hope to have those under construction soon.
These stories are just the tip of the iceberg, and scarcely begin to convey the enormity of the effort underway to restore the shelter, food, work and normal life ripped away by Odile. It is impossible to relate the countless acts of kindness, generosity, selflessness, humor and grace that saw our communities through the immediate aftermath of the storm, and continue to rebuild it all these weeks later. Robert Hall, the town dharma dude and defacto non-religious spiritual leader, says that The Beatles had it right all along. “All you need is love. Odile was so powerful that it was able to tear the fabric of our lives, but the healing is love. Love is what makes it possible when we barely have the saliva to swallow these big bites of reality. Love is all you need.” Just off shore, the humpbacks returned for the winter, singing their sweet Baja serenades.
We’re Not Distracted
Water = Life. Businesses of Todos Santos Against Toxic Mining
It was about 2:00 AM when the French doors in Wendy’s bedroom started banging so violently that she had to throw her body weight against them to try and keep the storm out of her house. As the doors heaved and she pushed, a side length of her nightgown swept between the two doors, which then promptly slammed shut. She was pinned against the frame, completely unable to move. At first she was gripped by panic, but then she started to laugh. Because really, a tiny woman fighting a huge storm being trapped by her nightie is kind of funny. And while she waited for the rhythm of the storm to shift so she could retrieve the trapped material, she thought about all the wonderful water the storm was bringing, and how it needed to be protected from the lethal chemicals connected to the gold mine. She thought about the next steps the citizens of Baja California plan to take to protect our water and our lives. Because really, a tiny woman fighting a huge corporation as part of a determined community is pretty serious indeed. It’s a force of nature. Love is all you need.
Jamie Sechrist, Tori Sepulveda, Serena Saltzman, Erick Ochoa, Alec and April Tidey, Ana Maria Peters, Sam Sitkin, Ronnie Barkas, Ivo Mondragen all contributed to this story.
Get involved!
If you would like to contribute to the continued reconstruction of homes and lives in Todos Santos and Pescadero please donate to the following funds (and don’t be shy about getting your friends to contribute too!):
Category Seven: Pizza, Burgers and Take Out Chicken
A. Pizza
Gallo Azul Pizza Bar
Overview: Local entrepreneur Alan Becerril created Gallo Azul Pizza Bar in 2013 and it’s a great addition to the Todos Santos restaurant scene. Alan serves up authentic Napolitan pizza made in a blisteringly hot wood-fired oven with a volcano stone floor with natural leavened dough – the results are delicious. There is a full bar, great salads and lots of fun events like Saturday night Latin nights with salsa lessons.
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 3:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Contact: 612 158 8457
Café Santa Fe
Overview: As with everything else on the menu, the thin-crust pizza at the Cafe Santa Fe is fabulous. It ain’t cheap but you get what you pay for!
Contact: 145-0340
La Coronela at the Hotel California
Overview: The Hotel California restaurant serves up a pear and gorgonzola cheese pizza that is fantastically delicious.
Contact: 612-145-2722
Pizzeria Napoli
Overview: This is a great little spot in the middle of town that cranks out very tasty, very affordable pizzas from 1:00 PM to 10:00 PM every day but Wednesday. It’s a favorite with locals. You can do take out or take advantage of the simple seating at the restaurant and enjoy cold beer and soft drinks with your meal.
Contact: 612-145-1085.
Tres Marias
Overview: Coming soon – stand by for details!
B. Burgers
Chill ‘N Grill
Overview: Fun tropical bar atmosphere with full bar and good bar fare including burgers, ribs, steaks, wings and hot dogs. (Best vegetarian option is to stick to the booze or get take out from Our Pura Vida next door – the owner of the Chill ‘N Grill and the owner of Our Pura Vida are brother and sister!) Pasta Mondays, Taco Tuesdays and 2-for-1 happy hour 4-6 PM every day. NFL and other sporting events flowing on the bar TV. They often have live music on the weekends.
Hours: 4-10 PM daily (unless everyone’s having a great time and you can stay later); Sundays open at 10:00 AM for ball games.
Contact: 612 151 1441.
La Cueva Tres Marias
Overview: Big open-air space with a long bar, pool table, foosball, and darts, and lots of fun art work all around. The bar food is pretty yummy, with 1/2 lb Burgers (including a seriously tasty veggie one), Nacho’s, Salads, and Wings, all washed down with draught and bottled beer served up cold. Monday nite Football comes with 20 peso draughts, and free nachos, Wednesday features a pool league, Thursday is movie night, Saturdays feature haircut and a beer, and Sunday is NFL all day. They often have live music on the weekends, and food specials like pozole.
Hours: Kitchen is open every day but Tuesday, 12:30 PM to 10:00 PM. Bar is open until 12:00 Midnight (or so).
Contact: 612 159 3755,
Shut Up Frank’s
Overview: Some visitors to town told us just the other day that they’d found a great place in Todos Santos for their prayer meetings. Turns out they are born-again members of the Church of Football and Shut Up Frank’s had been providing all the spiritual sustenance they needed! 4 large screen TVs running nonstop NFL football, as well as NHL hockey, UFC and more make it a sinner’s sports-viewing paradise. And the food is pretty darn good too. The place has been famous for its burgers for 20 years now, and they grill up an array guaranteed to please most any palate – turkey, chicken, fish, veggie and beef. All served with terrific fries. To round out the bar menu they also serve up fish ‘n chips, wings, steaks and salads. New Italian menu with pizza and other specialties coming soon.
Hours: Open 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM every day but Tuesday. Happy Hour 3 to 6 PM, Monday through Friday.
By Todos Santos Eco Adventures The great Todos Santos festival tradition will continue in 2015, with celebrations of music, film, food, wine, nature, and art filling the entire calendar year. This is a list of the festivals currently scheduled for 2015, and please check back often for updates. For more in-depth coverage of these events, their organizers and other Todos Santos happenings, be sure to check out Wendy Rains’ weekly radio program Todos Santos Weekend with Wendy, as well as Janice Kinne’s magazine, Journal del Pacifico. Please confirm dates for festivals before you book your tickets as organizers sometimes must change dates. ___________________________________________________________________ Todos Santos Music Festival
Date: January 15-17; January 21-24, 2015
Organizer: Hotel California and friends
Details: Confirmed bands and musicians include Joseph Arthur, Kev’n Kinney, Chuck Prophet, Steven Wynn, Drive-By Truckers, Old 97’s, La Santa Cecilia, Conor Oberst, Nortec Collective, M. Ward and Dawes. All shows will be in the Hotel California with the exception of the show on the 24th, which will be in the town plaza.
Why It’s Fun: Peter Buck of REM conceived of and curates this event. Not only does he play, he invites his musician buddies from the US and Mexico to come play to raise money for the Palapa Society and other Todos Santos charities. And it turns out that Peter Buck’s friends are all these incredibly nice people who are insanely great musicians. It’s nothing but fantastic music and great fun pulsing through the streets of town for nights on end – you don’t want to miss it!
Why it’s fun: It’s a week-long celebration of Mexican culture that typically features live music, dance and theatre performances, painting and drawing exhibitions, lectures on local environmental and social issues, piano and poetry recitals and lots more. Artisans from different parts of Mexico also set up shop next to the church to sell their crafts. Diverse, fun and engaging.
Inception: 1997
Special Note: The Todos Santos Open Artist Studio Tourwill be held on Saturday, Feburary 7 and Sunday, February 8, just after the art festival. 38 studios participated in 2014 and mediums included oils, pastels, watercolors, mixed media, encaustic, ceramics, sculpture and photography. Proceeds from the Tour go to the Children’s Art Fund of The Palapa Society Of Todos Santos, A.C. It’s a wonderful event.
Dates: March 12-22, 2015: Film festival events at venues across Todos Santos, Pescadero and La Paz
Organizer: Sylvia Perel, director of the San Francisco Latino Film Festival and the Latino Festival of Redwood City, California.
Benefits: Youth in Video program, teaching the children of the Todos Santos area about film making. They usually present a film they’ve made at the festival each year.
Why it’s fun: This fantastic festival brings together a terrific selection of feature films, documentaries and shorts from across Mexico and Latin America that many folks would otherwise never have the opportunity to see. Many well-known film directors attend to present their films and lead audience discussions. It’s a truly great event.
Benefits: Silent auctions of previous years have benefitted the local orphanage and the Todos Santos fire department.
Why it’s fun: It’s a wonderful celebration of the food and wines of Baja California – and you get to indulge in plenty of both! It’s a great opportunity to get to know local chefs from Todos Santos (and their food) and wine makers from Baja’s Valle de Guadalupe wine-growing region (and their wines). Terrific live music performances throughout the day. It’s fabulous!
Inception: 2012
__________________________________________________________________Mango Festival y Fiestas de San Ignacio en Todos Santos
Date: July 31-August 2, 2015
Organizers: Todos Santos Pueblo Magico
Why it’s fun: Ripe, juicy mangoes everywhere! There’s also dancing in the town square, polka bands, a parade of horsemen (cabalgata), folkloric ballet, artisan products, coronation of the Mango Festival Queen and much more. Lots of fun for the family.
Inception: 2007
___________________________________________________________________ Festival del Dia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar / Todos Santos Foundation Festival
Date: Our saint’s day is October 12, and there are usually 5 days of celebration around then. Details when available.
Why It’s Fun: It’s a celebration of the founding of Todos Santos and our patron saint, Pilar. Lots of music, dancing, regional foods, arts and more. There is typically a parade of horsemen and a wonderful horse show October 13 and 14. Great time for the whole family.
When you arrive at Areli Sarah Castillo’s house in Pescadero on a late summer afternoon, the look and feel of the front of her house is very similar to that of her neighbors: there’s a teenage boy working on his truck in beat to the radio’s tunes; two young girls are playing with dolls on the sofa under a well-placed beach umbrella; and several dogs are enjoying afternoon napping bliss in various poses. There’s nothing to suggest that the Castillo family is at the forefront of a movement to change the eating and health patterns of a town – until you go around back. There you find the riot of green and rampant plant life that is the greenhouse built by Areli and her children, and from which they feed the twelve people who now call their house home. Beautiful long vines of tomatoes, steamy-looking chiles, delightfully prickly pineapples, all manner of herbs and spices, all lovingly cared for in a space next to the chicken coop where the happy, well-cared for hens oblige the family with at least 15 eggs a day. All healthy, all organic, all the time. It’s not really what you’d expect from a woman who used to sell hotdogs for a living.
But there is a price of course, and the 4,000 pesos (~US$285) required to build a greenhouse is a fairly high barrier to entry for many of these families, a barrier that they must surmount once again as Hurricane Odile (September 2014) destroyed every one of the greenhouses built by the women and children of SINADES in Pescadero. But they are not discouraged. Says Inés, “We recovered some of the material from the greenhouses and received a small donation to buy more mesh, so we are slowly coming back around. Some of the families are already in production again and everyone is continuing to move forward. It’s a strong community and we will rebound.”
home”. The goal of Inés, Julio and the women and children of SINADES is to create a sustainable and healthy lifestyle for the families in their community. Helping them to do that is really just enlightened self interest because, after all, “Cue da-temba, nuestra casa” applies to us all. Inés can be reached at and the SINADES Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/SinadesAc.
the booze or get take out from Our Pura Vida next door – the owner of the Chill ‘N Grill and the owner of Our Pura Vida are brother and sister!) Pasta Mondays, Taco Tuesdays and 2-for-1 happy hour 4-6 PM every day. NFL and other sporting events flowing on the bar TV. They often have live music on the weekends.
The bar food is pretty yummy, with 1/2 lb Burgers (including a seriously tasty veggie one), Nacho’s, Salads, and Wings, all washed down with draught and bottled beer served up cold. Monday nite Football comes with 20 peso draughts, and free nachos, Wednesday features a pool league, Thursday is movie night, Saturdays feature haircut and a beer, and Sunday is NFL all day. They often have live music on the weekends, and food specials like pozole.
had been providing all the spiritual sustenance they needed! 4 large screen TVs running nonstop NFL football, as well as NHL hockey, UFC and more make it a sinner’s sports-viewing paradise. And the food is pretty darn good too. The place has been famous for its burgers for 20 years now, and they grill up an array guaranteed to please most any palate – turkey, chicken, fish, veggie and beef. All served with terrific fries. To round out the bar menu they also serve up fish ‘n chips, wings, steaks and salads. New Italian menu with pizza and other specialties coming soon.
Todos Santos Art Festival /
Festival del Dia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar / Todos Santos Foundation Festival