Hi Mexico-loving friends,
I hope this email finds you well.
The weeks are passing quickly here in San Jose. A month has come and gone already and we felt like we were only just scratching the surface of this beautiful beach town, so we've decided to stay for another month.
The decision is also based on the fact that the Easter holidays are coming up here in Mexico and Semana Santa, or the holy week that comes before Easter Sunday, is traditionally the biggest travel week in the country. Many local governments are calling for shutdowns to avoid spikes in case numbers.
Closures Around Mexico for Semana Santa
This year, Semana Santa will be from Monday the 29th of March until Easter Sunday which falls on April 4th. You can expect things to start getting busier on the previous weekend when many people are off from work, so there are definitely going to be some pre-emptive closures around the country starting on the 27th of March.
Baja California Sur has already announced that they will be heavily limiting the numbers at bigger beaches and some beaches will be completely closed for Semana Santa in Los Cabos, Loreto, and La Paz in order to stop tourists from visiting. I don't imagine this will impact resorts and the beachfront areas that they hold space on, but I think it will affect beaches like Playa Balandra in La Paz and perhaps smaller beaches like Chileno Beach in Cabo.
There is some conjecture that beach towns in Quintana Roo (the state where you find Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum) may follow in their footsteps and limit beach numbers and lower hotel capacities for this week. But that is still to be decided.
You can read about those closures in this article.
The state of Jalisco, home to Guadalajara, Chapala, and Puerto Vallarta, will also implement some restrictions for Semana Santa. Beaches will only be open from 5am-5pm, restaurants and bars must be closed by 11pm, and there will be more checkpoints on roads leading into the state. They are asking places to be more vigilant about checking temperatures and limiting capacity.
You can read about those precautions in this article.
What Does Los Cabos Look Like Right Now?
Since the state moved from the "orange" to the "yellow" on the traffic light system last week, I haven't noticed a whole lot of changes.
Beaches are open until 6 pm every day. Buses are running as normal (we took one last week to go to this beach!). It is still required to wear a mask in any public space, in stores, and when entering restaurants and bars until you are seated at your table.
The state of Baja California Sur has its own traffic light system within the federal system. It is numbered - 1 is green, 2 is low yellow, 3 is high yellow, 4 is low orange, 5 is high orange, 6 is red.
Right now, we are in level 3, which means that although we are in yellow, we are still in "high alert" and most precautions are still being taken. However, as a tourist, you likely won't notice much difference. Tours are still able to operate, restaurants are open.
The biggest thing that you may contend with is that most bars don't allow you to come in just for a drink (although this rule is very vague and only seems to happen at the more upscale spots). This includes Baja Brewing, Nomada, and Dalton bars in San Jose del Cabo. In order to sit in and have a drink, at the moment, you also need to order at least one plate of food between two people.
What's Happening in Other Parts of Mexico Right Now?
A few more states changed colors this week. There are now three states in the "green" traffic light including Chiapas, Campeche, and Sonora. Nuevo Leon (home to Monterrey) and San Luis Potosi have both moved from the orange into the yellow. Read about all of the changes in this article.
Mexico City continues to see a decline in weekly cases but remains in the orange. Read all about the restrictions currently in place in Mexico City here.
For more updates about Mexico City, as always I recommend following Ubish Yaren on Instagram. He is doing regular weekly updates about the situation there both on his Instagram and on his YouTube channel.
For updates about what's going on in Oaxaca, Susan of Brooklyn Tropicali has been showing some great updates around the city. She has also begun doing a small amount of traveling around Oaxaca state and sharing her experiences about that on her Instagram.
For regular updates about life in Merida and around the Yucatan, check out Mexico Cassie.
As always, a great place to keep up to date with news about Mexico in English is Mexico News Daily.
Catch up with Videos and Blog Posts
In case you've missed them, these are the blog posts and videos that I've shared in the last two weeks.
- The REAL San Jose del Cabo - More Than Just a Tour - this was a really wonderful tour we took in downtown San Jose that is doing incredible community work. If you want to know more about the history or this beautiful place, you like interesting tours, or you want to help support this project, I HIGHLY recommend checking out this tour when you're next in San Jose.
- The Best Beach in Cabo - A day trip to Playa el Chileno where we could actually swim in the water. I also talk a little bit about the bus network here in Los Cabos.
- Epic Cabo Day Trip - Hiking, swimming in natural pools, waterfalls, and all within driving distance to Los Cabos. This is the first video from a road trip I just returned from, so I hope you'll enjoy the next few videos to come this week!
- The Best Restaurants in Cabo San Lucas - If you're not staying at an all-inclusive and you want to enjoy some seriously great local eats, try some of these spots!
- Awesome Things to Do in Cabo San Lucas - There are SO many things to do in Cabo San Lucas, these are just some of my absolute favorites!
As always, you can find me most often on Instagram with daily updates and photos, but I also post very regularly on Facebook if you prefer following along there.
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email me by simply hitting reply on this email.
Speak soon,
Laura
