The first photo was taken at Todos Santos, 68 km (42 miles) north of Cabo San Lucas at Baja California Sur. The brown building you see on the center of the photo is the Hotel California, hence the hint was Eagles song Hotel California.

        Yes, before you flam me, this is the most creditable story seems to be going around regarding Hotel California controversy. Eagles released Hotel California singles in 1977, and members of the band said something like they wrote the song Hotel California while they were traveling or vacationing at Baja California. Then people find out about the Hotel California in sleepy little town north of Cabo San Lucas and many believed that the hotel in Todos Santos is Eagles song Hotel California is about.

        However, since this urban legend has surfaced Eagles has maintained that the song Hotel California was based on a fictitious place they came up with and the song is not based on the actual location in existence. Eagles has said that they were not aware about the actual hotel called Hotel California in small town of Todos Santos in Baja California.

        I think the small town of Todos Santos is the one benefited most out of this story. Since then many people has visited the Hotel California in Todos Santos believing that this is the place Eagles song was based on. There are many people visit Todos Santos knowing that it is an urban legend and the Hotel California at Todos Santos has nothing to do with Eagles song. Then there are people believe in a conspiracy theory, that Eagles song actually is based on the Hotel California at Todos Santos but due to various reasons Eagles is publicly maintaining that the song and the hotel in Todos Santos has nothing to do with each other.

        The second picture is a town of San Jos del Cabo where SJD airport is located 12 km (7.5 miles) north of the town. A lot of flights arrive at SJD everyday from the U.S. There are major development going on at east side of San Jos del Cabo, where used to be just nothing but beach. But in few years it will be filled with high priced condos targeting toward the U.S. vacationers.

        Then the third picture with the cruise ship was taken at Cabo San Lucas, 35 km (22 miles) from San Jos del Cabo. Cabo San Lucas is the tourist center of the area, San Jos del Cabo is a tourist town also but some people call Cabo San Lucas as Waikiki-nization of Mexico. I do admit I posted pictures which is hard to identify the location. If I posted the following picture then some may easily figured out that it is Cabo San Lucas.



        On this trip I also visited La Paz, 196 km (122 miles) north of Cabo San Lucas. La Paz is a capital city of Baja California Sur and also has a university. La Paz is a good size city but has not seen a lot of tourist development like Cabo San Lucas and San Jos del Cabo, least not yet but the development is starting fast in La Paz and five years from now may be different La Paz then today. May be because La Paz is not developed yet for tourism, I felt that people are so sincere and willing to help me without trying to sell condos or cheap souvenirs. I had a really nice impression of La Paz, and it was little disappointment seeing Cabo San Lucas after La Paz.

La Paz


        Also drove Carretera Transpeninsular (Rt. 1) north from La Paz to Ciudad Constitucin, three hours drive then on to Magdalena Bay. It was nice to see Baja California away from the tourists from the U.S.

Magdalena Bay


        At Cabo area I did full tourist thing and stayed at Westin at the corridor. It was nice properties, but had to walk a lot to get places.

Westin