Baja California Sur

While La Paz was first inhabited by Neolithic hunter-gatherers at least 10,000 years ago who left traces of their existence in the form of rock paintings near the city and throughout the Baja peninsula is the “official” founding recorded on May 3, 1535. Hernán Cortés arrived in the bay by La Paz and named it Santa Cruz. He attempted to start a colony but abandoned his efforts after several years due to logistical problems. Almost 60 years later, in 1596 Sebastian Vizcaino arrived, giving the area its modern name, La Paz. From April 27 through May 5 take different festivities place to commemorate the foundation of the city featuring diverse artistic and cultural events. continue

Tomorrow, 11. February 2010 is opening night for the 2010 La Paz Carnaval. At the first night of Carnaval, the “embodiment of a bad mood” gets burned in effigy in the Quema del Mal Humor. There will be live entertainment on the Malecón at the foot of 16 de Septiembre starting at 17:00 The show really gets going after 20:00, with a dance performance, the Quema de Mal Humor and coronations of the King of Happiness and the Queen of Young People. At 22:00, opening night’s featured entertainer is Mara Escalante (more details on her below). At 23:00, dance the night away to Banda Sinaloense music. Hopeful this will all all happens at reasonable weather, continue

Tropical Storm Patricia headed for a drenching of Mexico’s Los Cabos resorts late Tuesday or Wednesday as it neared the tip of the Baja California Peninsula. The storm had winds of near 60 mph (95 kph) early Monday and slight strengthening was possible, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The winds were not projected to reach hurricane force of 74 mph (118 kph).
The storm was located about continue

Hurricane Jimena has lost more of its muscle, dropping to a Category 1 storm with 90 mph (145 kph) top winds off Baja California. La Paz get off easy as Hurricane Jimena moves north. Government offices and schools remain closed until tomorrow. There has been no reporting of excessive flooding or other hurricane related incidents across a wide spectrum of friends, acquaintance and businesses contacted this morning. There is a report on an arroyo north by Santa Rita that the carretera #1 is flooded. continue

Jimena weakens a little more but remains at category four strength. At 8 a.m. today, the center of Hurricane Jimena, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, was 140 miles south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas and churning toward the Baja California peninsula at about 12 mph. The accompanying image was captured just after 8 a.m. from the area of the old lighthouse at Cabo Falso on the Pacific side of the peninsula north of Cabo San Lucas. Rain comes and goes and wave heights are steadily increasing. Cabo San Lucas is no longer in the projected path of the hurricane. Also saved from the dangerous path of Jimena continue

Mexico and France have united to launch Mexico’s first virtual marine observatory in one of the world’s most vast and diverse eco-systems, the Sea of Cortez. The Jacques Cousteau observatory was conceived to further scientific research on human impact and global warming on Mexico’s baja peninsula and plans to help enforce laws that protect Mexico’s beaches according to officials from France and Mexico. The observatory will exchange costal and oceanic data between Europe and Mexicon stated french ambassador Daniel Parfait. “There is no other country in the world with which France has developed this type of information-sharing observatory” Parfait said continue