Beach living in San Juanico
We arrived at San Juanico at eight o’clock at night. After traveling much of the Baja California Sur peninsula, we found ourselves in a village of 300 inhabitants whose main activity is, in addition to fishing, the tourism it receives for having the longest wave in the world. Yes, you read correctly.
By then, the hunger reappeared. But don’t worry, traveler. There’s plenty of food in every place and, best of all, that food is homemade. They are the authentic flavors of Baja California Sur.
El Burro en Primavera is the restaurant of Manuel Burgoin, a photographer who decided to return to San Juanico to surf and live the good life a few steps from the sea. The restaurant is outdoors, fresh, and the floor is full of small broken shells. The hammocks, the hand-shaped red chair, the paintings, and the mural with the Mexican Revolution characters delight with their charm.
Grilled fish, burgers with fries, and shrimp tacos are some of the dishes that invite you to relax and enjoy.
When we finished eating, we went back to the place where we’d spend the night. Cowabunga Hotel has five rooms and all its electricity comes from solar panels. The owners? A Canadian couple better-known as Mike and Chloe Patterson.
Mike built Cowabunga Hotel in 2013, and he’s still working on it. The bungalows are small houses of four by four meters. When you leave your room, you find the communal area with tables and bathrooms. At the reception there is a seventies stove and a water jug to refill your bottle.
Even though you can only find internet at El Burro en Primavera, with Mike and Chloe you don’t need it. Their hospitality and kindness make you forget you are away from home. You really appreciate that there’s no internet. Now you can put aside your cell phone and do what we’ve forgotten for years: interact and talk to each other.
That’s how we learned that Mike is a motorcycle racing fan, that they were the former owners of the Del Borracho restaurant in San Javier, and that they have traveled the world but in San Juanico they found their home.
On the next day, our hosts had coffee and freshly baked banana bread prepared for us. Barefoot, dressed in shorts, shirts, and a smile, Mike and Chloe showed us what it’s like to live in simple luxury and, at the same time, have it all.
The world’s longest wave attracts tourists from many countries, states, and cities. Some decide to stay in town. Others like something closer to nature and park their RV on a piece of land that serves as a beach viewpoint.
In front of the sea, with your feet on the small volcanic rocks that work as sand, the fresh air and the seabirds welcome you to surf.
