It is not often that I feel out of place, even when I am not fitting in. However, being in a party town with disco music blaring out from every corner, innumerable restaurants, bars, shops, vendors, pharmacies offering viagra, sleeping bills, prozac, antibiotics and much more. In this town, it was hard for me to find my place. I was in Cabo San Lucas, the most southern town of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. But I was determined to find my niche, my own places of joy.
Montagna photographed from the harbour of Cabo San Lucas with pelicans resting on the boats
Dressed in my hiking outfit, my back bag and a huge straw hat, I wanted to hike up the “Montagna”, the mountain overlooking the bay. I had to walk along the harbour to reach the foot of the mountain. My appearance was so strange that several vendors greeted me with “hola, Indiana Jones!” This name was not so far off, as I was looking for a treasure in this superficial town – the treasure of natural beauty!
Already the day before, I saw that a more than 2 meter high barbed wire fence was closing off the area i wanted to hike in. A local person told me that Mexicans will not be stopped by a fence: there will be a hole or some other way to get in. I took this as a encouragement to try the same. I followed the fence along the street and came to the Playa de la Pobreza (poverty beach), a beach for Mexicans. From there, a steep, wild, rocky path was leading along the fence up the mountain. I followed it and saw former holes in the fence which were closed off again. There were also warnings signs attached to the fence not to enter the forbidden area, which I ignored. At one point, a sound like wind blowing through metal pipes filled the air around me. It became louder and disappeared again – it was a drone!
The only way into the fenced off area. Other people already found a way in.
By that time, I had reached a place where the fence was pressed down to the hight of one meter. I removed the barbed wire and waited until the drone was gone – thinking that it was a toy from somebody at the beach. Then I climbed over the fence, which was not hard to do. “Be aware of rattle snakes” my son Lorenz warned me the day before. I watched my steps, climbing up an uneven terrain with hardly any path.
The rocks on the top of the Montagna seemed to watch me too.
Sea of Cortez
View to the Pacific Ocean
Slowly, the noise of the town disappeared. I was in pure nature! When I reached the top of the mountain, a white cross was surrounded by the most bizarre rock formations. The view was gorgeous – to the left was the Sea of Cortez and to my right to wide, the Pacific Ocean. About two hundred years ago, this mountain was a lookout point for pirates waiting for ships needing water and food supply. From here, they gave mirror signals to their pirate fellows down below. But I also saw something else – a huge sign “drone watch!” Oh my God, I was watched by this official drone while climbing the fence!
Suddenly my peace disappeared and scenarios started to unfold in my brain. Maybe, this is really a tightly controlled area! Maybe, they saw me climbing over the fence and a group of policemen is already waiting for me in front of the fence, the only way I can get out. There were dogs in the cages down below. Maybe, they will cic them on me. Prisons in Mexico are terrible – what if….
Needless to say, I headed down the mountain as fast as I could. There were no police, no dogs nor anybody who cared that I climbed the fence. However, my brother in law translated the next day the warning sign I disregarded. It said – freely translated – people who trespass have to go to prison between two to six years or have to pay a huge fine.
I still do not know why this area was closed off, as it was not a military place nor anything which was so special to protect. I was glad that I climbed up the mountain.
I heard the story at the family reunion but as I read it here I see the situation was more serious. The government was indeed watching but they don’t wish to offend the tourists and so you caught a break. Mexico City is more real.
Hi Don, I am not sure how much they would have enforce the penalty – however, I saw several people the day before climbing the fence and the local person said it is okay to do so – but if the worst case scenario would have happened, then I would have gotten in trouble. I am pretty sure that the reason for closing off the area is a commercial reason – they want that people take the water taxi to the Playa del Amore and not walk over the mountain to reach it. I was so fed off the commercial climate there, that I took the risk. Glad nothing happened.
Yes, Cabo really is a hard place to be yourself if you don’t like the partying & noise. Thank you for the fun story of your adventure up the mountain!
it was really nice meeting you in Cabo – there were many things which were beautiful. It was nice to be with the family. I wrote the story because it seemed so extreme – glad that you liked it!