Though at least half the buildings in Puerto Nuevo, a fishing village not far south of the U.S. border on Baja California’s west coast, are restaurants, there’s only one thing of note on the menu: Pacific red lobster.
Never mind that this six-block cluster of stucco buildings, perched on the lip of a shallow bay 28 miles south of the border, barely qualifies as a village, with two tiny markets, two pharmacies, assorted craft shops and two streets packed with souvenir stalls.
Lobster is what the American visitors have come to eat, and lobster is what they will get. As the sun slants westward on a Saturday afternoon, the familiar rhythms of strumming guitars in competing mariachi bands strike up the strains of Cielito Lindo, calling the faithful to dine.
The lobsters, a specialty of the region, are fished out of the bay’s rich waters in what seem to be endless numbers. Weighing in at one to two pounds, they come to the table bright red and deep fried — or, as many Americans insist, steamed — on platters heaped with rice, refried beans, fresh tangy salsa and warm tortillas. A complete dinner costs about $11, not including liquid refreshment, preferably margaritas or beer.
The Americans, mostly from Southern California and Arizona, are in town for a getaway weekend of sun and shopping, also available in abundance since Puerto Nuevo has almost as many craft shops as restaurants. In this village, the embodiment of can-do capitalism, if the tourists will buy it, they will sell it.
“Why do I love it here?” says businesswoman Debra Wilson, explaining why she sold her comfortable California condominium 11 years ago, and moved to Rosarito, a few miles north of Puerto Nuevo.
“Nobody says `no.’ In Escondido, no, you couldn’t build a fence. You couldn’t have two cats. You couldn’t park on the street. I still spend two days a week in San Diego, and as I drive back across the border coming home, I can feel the stress and tension drain out of my shoulders.”
Wilson isn’t the only American to appreciate Mexico’s easy attitudes. On weekends, visitors stampede over the border to shop in Tijuana, eat in Rosarito Beach, 16 miles south, sample the crush at two new wineries in the nearby Guadaloupe Valley or weekend in Ensenada, 30 miles south of Puerto Nuevo.
As you leave Tijuana and the ramshackle slums that crowd up against the border, Baja’s rolling countryside opens up, a series of grassy hills. In summer and fall, the ground cover fades to yellow, then to brown, and finally to pale gray. But a few days of winter rain quickly renews the landscape, restoring a vibrant green.
In the last century this part of Baja California was mostly cattle ranch country, the last vestiges of a former Spanish land grant. After the ranch owners sold off a strip along the coast, creating a series of private lots, villages like Puerto Nuevo began to dot the coast. Since then, scattered hotels and beach clubs have sprung up, unhindered by zoning and separated by empty land, trailer parks, pottery shops, souvenir stalls, scrap yards and tumble-down shacks landscaped with barbed wire fences, handy for wet laundry.
Planning, as you might imagine, is not part of the vocabulary. But squinting hard, and looking beyond the helter-skelter landscape at the string of scenic bays and rolling breakers, it’s not hard to imagine a future when this beachfront property will be bought, cleaned up and developed American-style.
Meanwhile, Puerto Nuevo’s kick-back sprawl is a secret with families, fanatic surfers, beach people and escapees from El Norte’s predictable order. You can do it on a day trip, but many visitors overnight at one of several nearby resort hotels.
The closest of these is the New Port Beach Hotel, directly south of the village. The 143-room hotel, built in 1990, is a sandy-colored stucco building on low bluffs. Five stories high and V-shaped, its rooms face the ocean and a heated pool, surrounded by a paved patio and terraced lawns that slope down to a children’s play area.
The pool, very large, is the social center, where people swim, sun or order from the pool bar. Children play in an adjoining wading pool; shouting and splashing is the order of the day.
The lobby interior is a warm pink, a close match for the Mexican pavers tiling the floors. The restaurant is on the lower pool level; a lounge, bar and gift shop are on the lobby level. A map on the lobby wall, mounted just above a surfboard rack, shows all of northern Baja’s best surfing beaches; at certain times of year, American surfers make up a good percentage of the hotel’s weekend guests.
The rooms are definitely nothing fancy: Plain but large and clean, with telephone, television, new mattresses and modern bathrooms. The management says you can drink the water safely, but we stuck to mostly bottled, fudging only to brush our teeth. The hotel restaurant is a good place to eat. When a new general manager came on board in 1994, he revamped the menus and hired a professional chef.
The other popular coastal hideaway is Las Rocas Resort and Spa, on the ocean 5 miles northward. An older establishment, this 74-room hotel feels more settled, with mature landscaping and bigger palm trees. The location is prettier, too, on a secluded cove.
A petal-shaped pool and tiled patio hug the edge of the bluff, inviting swimmers to hang over the rim facing two mammoth rocks (“las rocas”) sticking up out of the water offshore. But the rooms are smaller and a little shabbier. Many, however, have mini-kitchenettes, two king beds and a fold-out sofa.
Las Rocas’ main attraction, in addition to the beautiful pool, is the spa. A surprisingly elegant facility overlooking the sea, its pink marble floors, hot tubs nestled in cozy rooms with ocean vistas, comfortable treatment rooms and a large salon give it an elegant air. The program, open to non-hotel guests, offers 10 types of massage, body wraps, and aromatherapy, mud, salt and oil baths. We had a massage — the best we’ve had in years.
Hotel guests can use the steam bath, sauna, showers and spa robes for $10 daily. Other spa packages are offered, or propose your own, Baja style. Sit in a hot tub, relax and forget those north of the-border hassles, then head back to Puerto Nuevo for a lobster platter.
IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
If you drive from Los Angeles or San Diego, avoid any possibility of trouble by buying Mexican auto insurance. Signs close to the border mark the way to a half dozen insurance booths, or you can do the whole thing over the phone through Ada-Vis Global Enterprises, in Temecula, Calif. The phone number is 800-909-4457. They’ll send you a policy by mail or fax. Contact them for details about available policies that cover liability and property damage.
Returning over the border, be prepared to wait in line for an hour on an average Sunday, and up to three hours on holiday weekends. Your best bet is to cross over in early morning or late evening.
LODGING
Call the New Port Beach Hotel at 800-582-1018, or fax 001-526-614-1174. Double rooms start at $70 per night for two midweek and $99 on weekends. A two-bedroom suite sleeps six for $125 midweek and $189 on weekends. Rates are comparable at Las Rocas Resort and Spa is at 888-LASROCAS, or email lasrocas@telnor.net.
RECOMMENDED READING
It’s a wonder that guidebook author Joe Cummings managed to write 490 pages about Baja California. We didn’t know how much history attends the peninsula. But Joe includes every detail in “Baja Handbook” (Moon Travel Handbooks; $16.95).
— A.Z.C. and S.H.
