SAN JOSE DEL CABO: Mexico's popular Los Cabos beach resort, a favorite haunt of US tourists and celebrities, is scrambling to clean up the destruction left by Hurricane Odile before its peak season starts.
Odile caused an estimated $1 billion in damage in the picturesque Baja California peninsula, leaving plenty of work to do if the region is to remain Mexico's number-two tourist destination after Cancun and the Riviera Maya, with two million annual visitors.
Less than a month before the Bisbee's fishing tournament, which marks the start of high tourism season, most hotels are in disarray.
The airport is inoperable, and looters have emptied shops.
Officials brought in new electricity poles to replace the ones knocked down by the powerful storm last week while water services are slowly being restored.
Americans are the main visitors to Los Cabos for its golf courses, Pacific beaches and the Sea of Cortez, a location French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once called "the world's aquarium."
Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and television legend Oprah Winfrey have vacationed in Los Cabos, following the footsteps of film legends John Wayne and Bing Crosby.
Tourism Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu insisted that Los Cabos "will be in shape to welcome tourists in the high winter season" in December.
- Workers have fled -
But the municipality is short on workers after hundreds of Los Cabos' 238,000 residents fled the hurricane-ravaged region.
"I'm leaving because there's no work. The hotel where I worked was completely destroyed and I have nothing to eat," Monica Jimenez, who works in a hotel in Cabo San Lucas, said as she waited for an airlift to Mexico City with her two children.
Claudia Arce, who sells bags to tourists, said she was also heading to the country's capital.
"Who will buy from me now?" she said after nearly all of the 30,000 tourists who were in Los Cabos during the storm were flown out.
Offers for temporary jobs were posted in local newspapers.
An advertising campaign on the radio and on signs posted on walls urged locals to rally: "Together we will rebuild! Los Cabos will get back on its feet!"
"We are facing tough times, and a sad December," said Nelida Lopez, a waitress in one of the few restaurants that managed to reopen, with a simple menu of chicken or beef tacos instead of the usual offerings of lobster and seafood.
To cope with the upcoming season, tourism operators are planning to offer special rates, invite US travel agents to come see the repairs for themselves, and try to attract Mexican visitors to the area.
The government has announced plans to revive the local economy with tax benefits and credits to the service industry.
As they pick up the pieces, Los Cabos residents hope to shed the image of destruction and once again be able to enjoy things like celebrity sightings; U2 singer Bono gave an impromptu concert in a restaurant back in May.
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