The Baja Peninsula consists of 2 states.  Baja Norte and Baja Sur.

Cabo is located in Baja Sur and the state capital is La Paz, located about 1 1/2 hours north of Cabo.

Recently I came across some interesting facts about Cabo and Southern Baja.  

Almost 40% of the Southern Baja residents were born in another part of Mexico.  (I always enjoy locating a Cabo native and learning from them about Cabo in the early years)

Baja Sur is the least populated state in all of Mexico, however the population of Southern Baja has doubled in the past 20 years. (637,026 people at last count) 325,433 men and 311,593 women. 96% of those age 6-14 attend school.

There are almost 11,000 people who speak an indigenous dialect.

Religion:  82.7% Catholics,  7.5% Christians of different denominations.

Commerce and Service employees 72.4% of the population with 17.5% working in manufacturing and construction.  9.2% work in agricultural activities.

Electricity has reached 96.7% of the homes with 87.8% receiving water from the city.

94% of homes have TV, 88.6 have refrigerators, 69.7% own at least one car, 40.7% have a telephone, 41.5% own a computer, 33.2% have internet and 86.5% own at least one cell phone.

Please feel free to add any other interesting facts you may know about Cabo and Southern Baja.

We always enjoy reading the Gringo Gazette, one of Cabo’s local English newspapers.  The owner/editor Carrie Duncan is always creative as are the other contributing writers.  Next time you are in Cabo pick up a copy or go online.  Here’s the link:  http://www.gringogazette.tv/

In a recent issue, March 28, I found the following article and thought it would be fun to share.

Who Reads What?
And is anybody reading the Gringo Gazette?

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the U.S.

2.  The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the U.S.

3.  The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the U.S. and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4.  USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the U.S. but don’t really understand The New York Times.  They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5.  The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the U.S., if they could find the time–and if they didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it.

6.  The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it.

7.  The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the U.S. and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8.  The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who is running the U.S. as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9.  The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.

10.  The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure if there is a United States or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for.  There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped, minority, feminist, atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens form any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

11.  The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

12.  The Gringo Gazette is read by people in Mexico who have recently caught a fish and need something to wrap it in.

March 21 is a national holiday in Mexico celebrating Benito Juarez Day.   Benito Juarez was born on March 21, 1806 and died July 18, 1872.  His full name was Benito Pablo Juarez Garcia and he was a lawyer and politician from Oaxaca.  He served 5 terms as President of Mexico from 1858 to 1872.  He is known for being the first Mexican leader who did not have a military background and was also the first full-blooded indigenous national ever to serve at President of Mexico and to lead a country in the Western Hemisphere.  During his reign he resisted French occupation, overthrew the Empire and restored the Republic.  He is also known for his liberal efforts to modernize the country. 

Today he is remembered as a progressive reformer dedicated to democracy and equal rights.  His time as President is known as La Reforma (the reform), and “constituted a liberal political and social revolution”. His photo is on the 20 pesos bank note.

Mexican banks, state and federal offices and local offices will be closed today.

April 1-7  Festival La Paz  Art & Culture  Special guest country is Australia.  Info: paxcultura@gmail.com

April 3  18th Annual Festival de Artes. Information: Eastcapearts@gmail.com

April 3: Paws ‘ N Claws 2011 Open Golf Tournament   Puerto Los Cabos Golf Course   Benefits the Los Cabos Humane Society

April 9  Home and Garden Tour Todos Santos  Information: Info@escuelapacifica.org

April 14  Bocce Ball Tournament-East Cape Guild  Information: bjborg@earthlink.com

April 16 & 17  Nikiki Beach 6th Annual White Party

April 21-23  Cabo Marina Show

CABO EXPEDITIONS RESCUES HUMPBACK WHALE!
Trapped Whale in Fish Net Saved…

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico — Each year, the migration of thousands of whales from the cooling arctic oceans migrate to the warm waters surrounding the Baja Peninsula where the Pacific Ocean meets with the Sea of Cortez.  Annually, from the beginning of December through approximately the second week of April, Los Cabos becomes the Mecca for whale watching on water or sightings from land at local resorts or hotels.
 
These incredible mammals celebrate over a 10,000-mile journey each year and then repeat this natural process.  Once in a while, a whale will get tangled in a fishing net dozens of miles from the shore.  For some time now, fishermen and their nets have been monitored in Mexico by a variety of governmental agencies who implement standardized regulations.  Fishermen always abide with the fishing regulations but sometimes, a whale will not recognize the hazard and gets tangled inadvertently.  

On the morning of February 8th, 2011, an unfortunate whale probably miles upon miles from shore was caught up in a fisherman’s net.  Oftentimes, a whale’s natural tendency can be to swim to shore whereas they may beach themselves.  In this instance, it seemed very likely that this adult-male Humpback whale was headed to the shore with a 75% chance of drowning or being beached had Cabo Expeditions and the Mexican Navy not gotten to it in time. 

Around 10 A.M. local time, a number of phone calls were made from local fishermen on their fishing boats and other whale watching companies to Cabo Expeditions with a whale in distress.  Immediately, the SCUBA diving, boat captain and marine biologist teams prepared themselves.  Administrators at Cabo Expeditions notified the Mexican Navy who works in conjunction with whale-rescue efforts.

Cabo Expeditions is one of our favorite vendors for whale watching.  We have booked with them since 1998 and always had a fantastic experience.

Thanks Cabo Expeditions for some great memories and thanks what you do to save the whales.  This isn’t the first time you have come to the rescue of a whale.