10 More Pacifica Facts in Honor of Pacifica’s 20th Anniversary

1. Olfactory senses come alive when a guest enters Pacifica’s lobby. That is because Armonia Spa’s signature air freshener—a distinctive lavender/ vanilla scent—is discreetly atomized into the hotel’s high-ceilinged entry area.

2. Pueblo Bonito Resorts, including Pacifica, are a great place to work. “We’ve found that if we care for our employees, our guests will feel the warmth,” said company founder Ernesto Coppel. “We have employees that have been with us since the beginning.” The company’s Cultural Practices programs and Pueblo Bonito University, offering a range of education and wellness programs respectively, are aimed at improving each employee’s life. The result: an annual turnover rate of well under 4%.

3. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus single-handedly put Los Cabos on the international golf map when he built a pair of courses outside San Jose del Cabo in the early 1990’s. Quivira Golf Club, a world-class layout that offers exclusive access to Pacifica and other Pueblo Bonito Resort guests, was Nicklaus’ sixth design project in Los Cabos. Based on its inspired routing and dazzling Land’s End setting, it may be his most daring and eclectic design. Construction on Jack’s second course at Quivira is underway.

4. Quivira’s par-3 14th hole is a good place to make a hole-in-one. Numerous “aces” have been recorded there since the club opened in 2014. Why is this petite but visually intimidating par 3 falling prey to the ultimate perfect shot? One big reason: for the risk-averse, a kicker slope to the left generally pitches the ball onto the tiny tilted green, which caps a granite pinnacle rising 100 feet from the surf. Because the hole is usually cut on the right side of the putting surface, a shot played safely to the left has a better-than-average chance of chasing across the green and dropping into the cup for a ONE.

5. Partidas Bar, situated a few steps to the right of Pacifica’s lobby, is an oft-overlooked place to enjoy a cocktail. Primarily a sports and tapas bar, the atmosphere can be relaxing or, if sports fans are rooting hard for their home teams, quite lively.

6. Pacifica and its environs were originally inhabited by the Pericue Indians, likely descended from Polynesian or Asian sea explorers. Their society possessed sophisticated maritime technology, making use of wooden rafts and double-bladed paddles. They dwelled in caves and thatched-roof rock shelters called ramadas, subsisting on fish, shellfish, small game and seeds and fruits yielded by the desert. They also cultivated pearl-bearing oysters in coastal waters. Although the oldest Pericue remains are dated to 3,000 years before the present, archaeological evidence extends as far back as 11,000 years.

7. The tip of the Baja California peninsula was reputedly “discovered” by Spanish mutineers in the early 1500s. Hernan Cortes was the first conquistador to lead an expedition to the area, exploring the peninsula and surveying the gulf between it and mainland Mexico in 1535. Spaniards began to settle the region in the years afterward.

8. For a period of time in the late 16th century, British buccaneers and privateers such as Sir Francis Drake and John Cavendish ambushed treasure-laden Spanish galleons returning from the Philippines. These pirate attacks likely took place at Land’s End, located a short distance from Pacifica; and in the Rio San Jose estuary, where passing ships often watered.

9. Pre-dating Pacifica by several decades, Cabo San Lucas was home to a small fishing village and a tuna cannery. In the 1940s, celebrities such as John Wayne and Bing Crosby arrived by private plane for the world-class deep-sea fishing. By the 1960’s, the waters off the Baja peninsula’s tip, where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meet, earned the nickname “Marlin Alley.” Satisfied anglers returned home with glowing stories of this exotic desert-meets-sea destination, but it wasn’t until the Transpeninsular Highway opened in 1973 that Cabo began to be discovered.

10. A tiny fraction of Pacifica’s guests arrive by car. The construction of Los Cabos International Airport in the 1980’s brought the area within reach of vacationers who could not fathom the multi-day drive from the U.S. border. Tourism infrastructure took shape as the region molded an image as an idyllic getaway unlike any other in Mexico. Los Cabos (The Capes) stretches 20 miles southwest from San Jose del Cabo through the “Tourist Corridor” to Cabo San Lucas. Pacifica lies outside this Corridor, discreetly tucked away in its own paradise.

Plan a Pacifica escape today!