The mangos are hanging heavy on the trees these days. It's prime time for the wonderful fruit! They are ripe and plentiful in the markets and stores. Although it's sometimes a challenge to find the 'perfect' one!
I've found it's best to buy them slightly on the firm side, put them in the refer for a day or two before cutting open.


My favorite way to enjoy them!

The nearby town of Todo Santos claims to have a Mango festival. Having enjoyed other village and pueblo events, we gathered the gang together and headed off to see what it was about.



Todo Santos is about a 50-minute drive from La Paz on the road to Los Cabos. It's mostly 2 lane each direction and in very good condition. Unfortunately, most of the roads within the main part of town are being redone - total chaos. Like most areas of construction, there is little to no signage, and what is available doesn't mean much. You'll see signs positioned in such a way as to block a road from traffic. But, if the road is still passable on the other side - hey, fair game. 4WD needed? No problem. You might find a 6'deep trench on the other end... but you can possibly get to where you need to go.

Anyway, I digress! We, Tom and I, Ron and Cricket off of Mystic Island, and John of Timepiece arrived about mid morning. We saw no signs advertising the festival. ( nor could I find much info about it on line!) We played tourists for a while browsing through a few stores and taking a photo or two. John, who had just returned to La Paz on Friday, got right back into the spirit of things!



We found the location of the festival only to learn it really didn't get started until 8pm or so! Way past our bedtimes! Actually, it was the driving back to La Paz in the dark that no one was interested in. So, we passed on the 'festival' and went exploring.


We continued down Hwy 19 to the small town of Pescadero, and took a right turn onto a dirt road that headed towards the water. We'd been given a restaurant recommendation, but we'd just finished a good taco meal in Todo Santos.

There is lots of development happening in Pescadero. We wandered around the roads until we spotted the 'hacienda on the hill'.




A few stops along the way to look and explore, we made our way to Hacienda Cerritos, located right at Cerritos Surf Club and beach. From the highway it sits high up on the point right on the waters edge. The golden color contrasts nicely with the blue sky.
As we got closer, signs announced that the bar was open to visitors. We suddenly got thirsty!



It's a beautiful place in a good location. There are signs asking you to stay in the common area and bar to preserve the guests quiet. But I couldn't resist 'wandering' just a bit to take a few photos. I grabbed a few shots with the lens I had. I could spend some time taking more.

I had some fun with the mirrors and reflections. You can see some of the detail in both the mirror and the mantle around one of the fireplaces.... and Tom!








We enjoyed a cool one on the veranda, watched the surfers in the water below us, and a thunderstorm brewing in the direction we needed to go; a good place to sit and watch from.

The rooms are a bit steep -starting at $349.00/night and you share a common kitchen. If you're interested in seeing more, their link is http://haciendacerritos.com/.

After finishing our drinks we piled back in the car and headed back to La Paz. We missed the rain, of which it looked like it was quite significant. The outlying areas have received several showers lately, and the greening of the hillsides is nice to see.


We had a good time on the drive back inventing all of the wonderful 'mango' things we'd seen and tasted at the festival.... I'm thinking it's time for a batch of mango chutney, or mango sorbet, or mango sauce, or dried mangos with chili......