Are you fully aware of the vastness of the municipality of La Paz? When it comes to La Paz, most people picture our iconic Malecón or the Balandra beach. Yet, our municipality stretches from the rugged Pacific beauty of Todos Santos all the way toward the northern reaches near Loreto, and down the coast to the East Cape’s Los Barriles. It is an immense territory of desert, mountains, and oceans that requires conscious stewardship from both residents and visitors.
Held in San Antonio on December 7th, this year’s 4th Festival del MaQueCho was a beautiful display of regional alignment and collaboration. The free festival was only accessible by driving through a drop-dead gorgeous scenic mountainous landscape. Events like these exist through the collaboration among the State of Baja California Sur, under the Secretariat of Tourism and Economy (SETUE), led by Maribel Collins, inter-municipal support from the mayors of the major cities in Baja California Sur, local producers, and local universities.
This year, the festival brought over 3,000 visitors to San Antonio’s public square. Over 80 local producers participated, a significant increase from the first MaQueCho festival, which had 30 participants. These types of events decentralize tourism while promoting ranch culture and their economy. This included demonstrations of traditional leatherwork, regional gastronomy like cheese making, traditional sweets, and more.
MaQueCho is an amalgamation of machaca, queso and chorizo, all three regional staples. At the festival, I tried a regional beef jerky called cecina, which was both flavorful and easy to chew. I had a café de olla with raw cow’s milk. So far, it’s the best coffee I’ve had. I came back home with kilos of regional award-winning chorizo, boxes of buñuelos, and empanadas de dulce, raw local honey, and pickled chilies.
The municipality of La Paz is pioneering in conscious tourism, and it deserves an acknowledgment. To learn more, please visit: https://turismo.lapaz.gob.mx/
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Naailah Auladin is a life and relationship doula in La Paz, specializing in guiding individuals and families during periods of emotional trauma, crisis, and mental unrest. She focuses on teaching and inspiring individuals to take responsibility and ownership in participating in their civic duties, prioritizing the well-being of the self-first, as she believes that fostering and maintaining well-managed emotional, mental, and physical health is our primary civic duty.
