Like a Child's favorite storybook, Los Cabos, Mexico, ignites the imagination. It' one of the planet's most magical places full of wild adventure, unexpected romance, extraordinary beauty and ancient legends. "Los Cabos" takes you on a pictorial journey to the tip of the Baja Peninsula, where Cabo San Lucas, San Jose del Cabo and the East Cape come alive.

In the Beginning

Stretching south from California, the Baja Peninsula is a thin finger of land that separated from mainland Mexico millions of years ago and now divides the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Cortés. As a result, the Sea of Cortés, or Gulf of California, holds one of the most diverse marine populations in the world, and it merges peacefully with the mighty Pacific in Los Cabos, located at the southernmost tip of the 1,100 mile long peninsula.

The Sierra de la Laguna mountain range peaks to the north of Los Cabos with decidious trees and freshwater streams that trickle down from 7,090 feet and blend seamlessly with cardón cactus and underground springs of the desert. The wild Baja desert eases past the Tropic of Cancer and into the sea, where blue marlin, yellowfin tuna and live corals reefs provide some of the best seafaring diversion in the world.

Glimpses of uninhabited mountain peaks, stretches of deserted beaches and the sight of whales breeding in their natural habitat hint at an untouched Los Cabos of centuries past. Nevertheless, despite its pristine natural scenery, humans have lived and loved Los Cabos for hundreds of years.

Early Los Cabos

Despite Baja's prehistoric geographical history, Los Cabos' record of human life dates back just 550 years. Los Cabos' first inhabitants were the Pericues, Indians of Polynesian decent, who lived in small tribes and made grass shelters by the fresh water estuary in present-day San José. They lived simple lives as hunter-gatherers wearing little or no clothing until Jesuit missionaries arrived to build the Misión Estero de las Palmas de San José del Cabo Añuití in 1730.

As with many such conquests throughout North america, the missionaries were not welcome among the Pericues, and history reveals the brutal killing of at least one of the Spanish missionaries. It's no surprise the Pericues were unfriendly to visitors, considering that generations of the tribe were frequented by visits from pirates returning from their Atlantic crossings. Legend says that Cabo San Lucas Bay was a haven for pirates, namely Thomas Cavendish, centuries ago. According to the legend, the pirate sused th Arch as alookout for passing ships, and those who stayed behind became fisherman.

Tourism Transformation

Today's locals are friendlier than the original Pericue inhabitants. Subsequent missionaries, fishermen and travelers settled in Los Cabos for its excellent fishing, beautiful landscape and impeccable weather. In the 1950s, word spread about this charming seaside getaway, and the likes of Bing Crosby, Jean Harlow and John Wayne made their way to Los Cabos in Private Aircrafts, the only way to get here at the time. Until the 1960s and 1970s, Cabo San Lucas was a little fishing village with a fish cannery; San José was a small colonial town; and the East Cape was known mainly to avid windsurfers and fishermen. The area's reputation as the blue marlin capital of the world spawned a new interest in the "jewel of Baja" over time. The 1980s brought even more travelers and new hotels sprouting around Cabo San Lucas, San José del Cabo and the 25 mile corridor in between.

The East Cape, which is comprised of towns such as Cabo Pulmo, La Ribera, Buenavista and Los Barriles, maintains its reputation as a sportfishing hotspot and is awakening to other forms of tourism, including diving, hiking and kayaking.

Today, the magical place where the desert meets the sea offers all the amenities of a world-class resort destination while at the same time preserving the natural wilderness of Baja. Six championship golf courses, fine luxury homes and top-quality spas as well as endless water sports, diving and surfing provide entertainment for luxury travelers rugged adventures and everyone in between. More than anything, the Los Cabos experience is about cool breeze across your face in the middle of the desert. It's looking down through your mask upon starfish and coral, and up at cacti and ospreys framed against the sky. "Los Cabos" may tell the story but, unlike a favorite child's book, all the enchanting places in these photos are real, and they're waiting to meet you.