Los Cabos Municipality

Overview San José del Cabo–Cabo San Lucas San Jose del Cabo is the seat and the government for the communities found in a 3,451.51 km2 area, located in the extreme south of the state of Baja California Sur. It is connected to the capital of La Paz via the Transpeninsular Highway. The municipality borders that of La Paz to the north, with the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California surrounding it in the other directions. The municipal government consists of a municipal president, a syndic and fourteen representatives called regidors. Outside of the two main cities, other important communities include Colonia del Sol, Las Veredas, Colonia Los Congrejos, San José Viego and La Ribera. The municipality is one of the most important tourist destinations in Mexico, for its fishing, beaches, and resorts. Historical landmarks are relatively few but include the municipal hall, the Casa de Cultura in San Jose del Cabo, the Faro Viejo and the San Jose del Cabo and Santiago de las Coras missions. The latter was founded in 1721 by Ignacio María Napoli. Cabo San Lucas and the tourist corridor The city of Cabo San Lucas, about to the west of San Jose del Cabo, is far more commercial. Unlike most Mexican towns, Cabo San Lucas has no main plaza or large cathedral. Instead, it is centered around the marina and entertainment district. Up until the latter 20th century, the area was a small fishing village when tourist infrastructure begun. Despite its success, high rise construction has been kept limited, focusing on resorts and sand-top restaurants in the beach area. The main attractions are fishing, nightlife and whale watching. It is a place for vacation, where most visitors stay at all-inclusive resorts. The two main events during the year are Spring Break and Sammy Hagar's birthday which happens on the second weekend in October as his birthday is 13 October 1947. The latter focuses on his Cabo Wabo bar and restaurant in the city. The success of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo has created a tourist corridor along the coastal highway between the cities. While there has been some development of resorts, hotels, and golf courses, there are still smaller isolated and undeveloped beaches. ==Socioeconomics==

By far the main economic activity for the municipality is tourism, focused on a shoreline corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. Visitors can get by in Cabo San Lucas purely in English and use U.S. dollars. and San Jose del Cabo also has a notable expatriate population, mostly retirees who have economic influence. The gastronomy of the region is based on seafood, which includes clams, marlin, snails, tuna and shark. A locally produced liquor is Damiana, sweet and flavored with a local herb, said to be an aphrodisiac. There are 313 schools from the primary to high school level. 9.3 years of schooling for those over 15. There are two vocational schools and twelve centers for adult education. There are no schools specifically targeting an indigenous population. ==Geography==

The municipality of Los Cabos is at the southern end of the Baja California peninsula, where desert meets the sea and the Gulf of Mexico meets the Pacific Ocean. The basement rock underlying Los Cabos formed even earlier, approximately 115 million years ago. The municipality has an average altitude of forty meters above sea level. There are three main terrain types, mountain terrain, semi flat areas and flat areas. The mountains consist of the Sierra de la Laguna and the Sierra de San Lázaro, both formed of volcanic rock, covering about fifteen percent of the total territory with peaks between 400 and 1000 meters. The semi flat areas are located between the coast and the mountain ranges, mostly of sedimentary rock and account for sixty percent of the territory. The flat areas are along the coast, beaches and alluvial plains, which account for twenty five percent of the territory. As it is on the edge of the desert that covers most of the Baja California peninsula, it is one of the sunniest locations in the world, with an average of 320 days of sunshine per year. This pooling of brackish water has created an oasis in the surrounding Sarcocaule desert. The Río San José flows largely underground for from its origin in the Sierra de la Laguna (Laguna Mountains), although its Miramonte River tributary adds almost an additional . Its tributaries flow down the eastern side of the sierra and include Santa Rosa, Santa Lázaro, San Miguel, San Ignacio (at La Palma), Caduaño, Miraflores and San Bernard. The river used to flow above ground until the beginning of the 20th century due to anthropogenic causes. For more than 250 years the Río San José has furnished drinking and irrigation water for the town of San Jose del Cabo, beginning as a source of fresh water for Spanish galleons traveling back from the Philippines. Over the sand bar from the estuary is a bay referred to by early Spanish explorers, including Sebastian Vizcaino, as the Bahía de San Bernabé or Bay of San Bernabé, and now as the Bay of San José del Cabo. The estuary is home to both native and migratory birds and aquatic species, 250 species of tropical birds alone. Vegetation varies mostly by altitude and soil type and how much moisture the area receives. However, almost all species are those adapted to desert and semi-desert zones. The highest elevations have pine forests. Wildlife is varied and includes mammals such as badgers, skunks, coyotes, foxes, pumas and other wild cats, deer, raccoons, rabbits, bats and various rodents. Bird species include quail, doves, cardinals, woodpeckers, swallows and marine species such as pelicans and seagulls. There are over 850 species of aquatic animals off the coast such as marlin, sailfish, swordfish, tuna, dorado and whales. Many species and subspecies of both plants and animals are endemic only to Baja California. ==History==

The indigenous Pericu names for San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas were Añiñi and Yenecami, respectively, with the current names given by the colonizing Spanish. As of March 1, 2021, the municipality reported 7,796 recoveries, 209 active cases, and 404 deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. ==References==