Who knew that when we moved here we’d end up in a “neighborhood” with all these commercial buildings? When we bought our property we saw the plot map with many lots, so we knew there would be others seeking sanctuary in this beautiful spot in Baja Sur. But somehow I was naive. I didn’t realize the building wouldn’t be single family residences like ours. Instead of “Pave paradise and put up a parking lot” we have an infestation of commercial building. No rules followed. No rules enforced. These builders just keep going.

For people who want to come experience paradise and then go home, this is great news. For the people who actually live here year round, this is more like a nightmare.

The pressure on the environment is one of the nightmares. People make trash and people make sewage. Both of those things are a big problem here. The landfill here is in no way what a landfill should be. It’s just a bunch of trash piled in a big area. The methane gas it creates means fires all the time and the smoke comes directly to town. So until something is done about it, more trash means more hideous smoke. And occasionally it is completely shut down. Then we have to take our trash to Cabo.

We bought a bunch of bins for recycling and the Todos Santos recycling center takes a lot of our cans, #1 and #2 plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, and aluminum. Now we’re making better decisions about what to buy in packaging. The two of us make one trash bag every three weeks. There are quite a few of us who recycle, but it’s not enough. We keep thinking of ways to cut down.

I won’t go into the sewage problem because nobody wants to read about it. But I will say that there is a long road coming from Pescadero to the beach that often flows with sewage. Disgusting? A health hazard? Definitely.

What are all these builders doing about this? NOTHING. Absolutely nothing except building more condos, boutique hotels (some disguised as yoga retreats) and gigantic houses used for AirBnBs, or like my closest neighbor to the north, a so-called Modern Elder Academy

https://www.modernelderacademy.com

More and more and more. It doesn’t stop. Raise your hand if you want to live in a “neighborhood” of hotels, condos, retreats, etc. What’s happening here has already happened in Cabo San Lucas and a lot of other places in Mexico.

There is nothing I can do about it. I have to figure out ways to deal. I’ve been doing a lot better lately, and then all of a sudden I’m not doing better. I might be worse right now than ever. Sad. Depressed. Disgusted. Worried.

This “house” is multi levels and buildings. AirBnB.

This next one is beyond gigantic. I don’t know if you can tell the scale of these from my photos.

There are lots of cars parked all up and down our road from the MEA. This has totally changed the complexion of our neighborhood.

These are just a few of the things going in or recently finished. It just goes on and on. The pounding and sawing and trucks coming and going (and the beeping when they back-up) has been going on consistently for over a year. On Sundays it is so peaceful and quiet like it was a few years ago.

Another shot taken from behind my house.

Like I said, we knew houses would be built. That’s what a neighborhood is, but not hotels, AirBnBs, retreats, and condos. The condos being built as we speak are over the hill from us, and they aren’t the first ones or the last ones being built. The good news about this one in the photo is they have a state of the art sewage treatment and are providing parking for their owners. Also, they are installing a water purification system in each of the 14 units, so no plastic bottles! There are some developers who care about the environment. They are going to repair the road when they’re done and fix the public access to the little beach. All good news! If you have to have development, then these are the kind of people you want doing it.

To end on a happy note, I’ll post some photos of the beach. We are fortunate to have been here for over 10 years, enjoying it while we could. And the beach, while people are building like crazy on the beach and bluffs, all I have to do is turn toward the water and imagine it is like it was before.

Even though this place is exploding, it’s still better than anywhere else.