Day 18 - Todos Santos, Mexico. This town, whose name you may not know, actually has a place that you have heard of, the pictured hotel, memorialized forever by a song which serves as an anthem for the elusive near-past. Booming with a property craze fuelled by nirvana-seekers, Todos Santos is now clearly on the map and may one day lose the very quality that made this backwater so special, so permeating, a place “you can never leave.” But for the time we were around, it did a decent job of showing its appeal. We sampled the mix of galleries, some of which where atrociously bad, some of which were passable. The food, served in an unpretentious bodega was done with panache even though the place was semi-packed with gringo tourists. The hotel itself was kitsch and capitalistic and managed to still retain its rock star status. Finally, the place slowed down and emptied out after the last day tour bus left and we found ourselves alone or at least just surrounded by the city’s real inhabitants, which was really quite nice. If I really wanted to unwind and buy a villa in the town’s environs, I’m sure we would find it idyllic. Nonetheless, TS has all the charm of going to an Eagles reunion concert: you’ll have a great time but you know that you’re seeing something repackaged, dated, and yet classic.