Santiago, B.C.S. a hidden Gem in the desert

Hello Fellow Readers, today I want to tell you about my Day trip to one of the hidden treasures here in Los Cabos, B.C.S., I had heard small talk among other guests from Club Solaris about a hidden location nearby, where you can find some Hot Springs and even a Waterfall.

The information I heard was vague, so I decided to do a little research on my own, and yes, as a matter of fact, I did find what I was looking for, so decided to start the journey by renting a car, a Jeep to be more precise, as one of the roads I was going to take was a dirt one ( or in this case since we are in Cabo and in the desert, it was a sand one).

My Destination was Santiago, a small town 30 miles away from San Jose del Cabo, on the road to Cabo Pulmo, a nice ride, with a lot of scenic things to look at. For instance, the mountains on one side, the desert on the other, this part of my journey did have a transitive road.

Before I got to the town, there was a tourist spot call the Cancer Tropic, this is the spot where one of the 5 main division of the word happens, the imaginary line that divides the world are the Capricorn tropic, the Antarctic and the Arctic, and of course the Equatorial line, a cool place because it has a big world with a beautiful background. Just beware, you might have to stand in line for a bit, as its on the main road, and tourist stop every minute.

Well continuing with my road trip, was a very smooth ride to Santiago, this small town, has a lovely entrance with a big Sign and 2 white bridges, that open the door to the main area of town surrounded by big green trees. Its is very small, but it has a central plaza and several small convenience stores, where you can buy some water and groceries for your camping trip. By the way we arrived at 930 AM, so we were hungry and stopped to this little restaurant alongside the road to eat something, Highly recommend this place, the Super Burrito is really good with beans, meat, avocado and salad, and pretty cheap also, the food for all for of us, was less than 20 USD.

Hot springs

Now here comes the tricky part, before hitting the dirt road, you will need to download the map from Google to work offline to get there, there are signs that lead you there, but they are in Spanish, so it's a bit tricky, and once you enter that road, all cell phone connection will be lost, as you are going into the canyon.

On the way there, we saw a lot of Cactuses, Big and tall, and some even in between the trees. We also saw Lizards, Iguanas, Snakes and even a roadrunner in the path. Talk about connecting with nature right?

15 min later we arrived at our first destination the Santa Rita Hot springs, this place is protected by the CONAFOR ( National forest commission ), and there is a cover entrance of $3.50 US per person to access the site, they gave us the instructions not to bring any meals or drinks to the Springs, as that's why they have the tents and palapas outside. Please use Biodegradable Sunblock to avoid the sunburns, as its in open space.

This place is perfectly adapted to receive visitors and make their own BBQ, several tents, chairs, and Tables are there at your disposal, some of the palapas have Grills to heat something up.

The place is beautiful as it rests in the skirt of a mountain, and there are rocks and trees all over the place, the hot springs are located on the top position, with two natural rock formation ponds, that perfectly fit 30 people, really relaxing time as you exfoliate everything from your body.

But that's not all, as the water drops from those 2 pools, they go into another 2 ( one to each side, as it goes thru the rocks, it starts cooling off, making it a perfect spot to rinse of, and have a swim. Kids loved the cold one better than the hot one, we adults did like the hot one better.

Talking to one of the person that has years coming to this place they told us, that they can Camp there overnight, and that they even light a bonfire to keep the mosquitos away, there are two options on spending the night there, one is bringing your own camping gear, and set up your tents in the designated area, for this they charge you $7.50 USD per person ( includes the prior fee also) or you can rent one of the two Cabins that are there, where you can find a kitchen, full bathroom, and 2 bedrooms in each one.

I was impressed to see foreigners there, although 90 % of the people are national, we saw some Europeans and Canadians arriving as we were there.

Waterfall

It was 2 o clock, and time to continue with our trip to the Waterfalls, as we had to hit the dirt road again in a different direction. So we went back thru the same dirt road, until we hit the first intersection, there, instead of heading back to town, took the other path in route to Sol de Mayo, the place where the Waterfalls are located, its a 4 mile trip, but once again is in a dirt road, so it takes you about 15 min to get there.

Once you hit the small wooden cabin, where they charge you another $3 for the entrance and maintenance of the place, you will need to hike about 150 yards, between the bushes, and down some rocks, and then you got it the spectacular lagoon, has as a backdrop a small waterfall that feed it, the place looks beautiful as its surrounded by rocks and palm trees. You can walk in and take a swim, or you can try and take a dive, form one of the different rock formations there, just beware of the depths in the lagoon, as all of it is under a rock pool.

Oasis

Well, it was time to head back to the hotel, before it was too late, on the way back we found one last treasure, just in the middle of the desert, an actual Oasis, we actually thought it was an illusion, until we saw a sightseeing outpost n top of the hill, there you can see a magnificent lagoon, surrounded by some mangrove, and lots of vegetation, almost unbelievable, of course, we stop and took several pictures there.

This concludes my weekly adventure, to explore nearby places where you can practice some ecotourism, and without spending too much in the process, as always, please take care of yourself, and use sunblock lotion as I have mentioned.

Really hope you can do this adventure, next time you visit Club Solaris Los Cabos.