Los Cabos: Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Los Cabos

---

23 February 2011
So we are awake to enjoy our first day in Los Cabos. We went downstairs for our free breakfast of hotcakes, eggs, frijoles, chilaquiles and coffee. We had our swimming gear on and were ready to go to the beach. We loaded into the car and drove to the Marina in Los Cabos. We heard Nikki Beach, was the place to go, but quickly found out that it was a name of a bar and the beach was actually called something different. If I remember the name, I will try to edit this sentence with its actual name—I do know its starts with an “M.”

So, we found a parking space for 40 pesos or free with a validation from a bar in beach. We saved the ticket for the validation and went straight to the tables on the beach offering different services. We wanted to visit the arcs and to tour around the beaches, so we opted for a Jet Ski. We got onto the Jet Ski, after a bit of haggling for the price, and I let Cris drive first. She zipped us past the big cruise ship and many private yachts littering the coast to the Arcs. We went past the sea lions hanging out near the arcs—they were so smelly—and continued to the Pacific side onto divorce beach.
I then got onto the Jet Ski and I drove Cris to Lover's Beach, so she could swim on its coastline. As she did swimming I put the Jet Ski on full tilt and tried to catch some heights off the trailing waves of the many speedboats in the area. I then came back to pick-up Cris and we zipped around the way on the jet skis having fun. We found a group of sea lions hanging out off the coast, which was nice, but we already had our fill of sea lions from La Paz and preferred to enjoy the Jet Ski instead. We went fast, did some hard turns and caught some heights in the Jet Ski, before our time was finally up. We got the Jet Ski back onto shore and decided on a shot of tequila, so we can finally validate our ticket. We ordered a shot of Cazadores at Baja Cantina and sat by the beach sipping on our very expensive shots.

We were getting hungry and thought that paying 300 pesos for 3 tacos would be ridiculous, or even criminal, so we decided to go into the city for food. We went into the shopping center of Wal-Mart and parked at VIPS. We enjoyed ourselves, as we ordered half the menu at 1/3 the price of the beachfront restaurants. We then went to Wal-Mart to get a few things and two bottles of wine for tonight at the Art Walk. We drove back to the beach and used the same parking lot, which gave us another ticket for validation.

We decided to get a drink at Nikki Beach as the music was top quality and the decor was magnificent. It was not the typical tourist decor of the other bars and the music was something you would find in Ibiza, Miami or even Playa del Carmen. We sipped on a shot of tequila and watched as the light of the sun slowly faded away from the arcs of Cabo San Lucas, like a curtain in a theatre. It was a magnificent view. The sky grew dark as the lights of the city slowly grew brighter and the beach livened up with music, also along the beach you could see a few tourists trying to by marijuana from vendors on the beach.

24 February 2011
So, today we woke to another free and magnificent breakfast at our wonderful hotel in San Jose del Los Cabos. I had the hotcakes, eggs, frijoles and chilaquiles, again. We got ready to go out and explore San Jose del Los Cabos, but this time during the day.

We walked down our street, which was full of art galleries and chic restaurants. We walked past the main square and down Mijares street towards the beach. We wanted to visit the Central Commercial to buy a few beers and reading magazines for the beach. We arrived to the Commercial after a 15-minute walk past the resorts and numerous real estate offices selling properties or timeshares to numerous Expats in the area. Once inside the store we went to the drink section and grabbed a six-pack of Sol con “Limon y Sal.”

We then started walking to the magazine section, when an employee in a yellow shirt and communication’s radio strangely asked how we were and if we needed assistance. We said we were on our way to get some magazines and he directed us to their location. He then asked about where we were from. We finally arrived to the magazine section and noticed two plain-clothes female and male security officers were following us. We found what we needed and started walking to the checkout. I noticed th plain-clothes security officers early on, so I thought it would be fun to play with the undercover security. I decided to turn around and greet him, making eye contact, and walk the other way. I did greet him, he was surprised, and he then the plain-clothes security officer went into a checkout section to watch us from there. He did not have anything in his hand and he obviously was not with any of the customers at the register, which was a easy give away on who he really was. Also, he kept trying to avoid eye contact. We walked another way and then finally back to the checkout aisle. We gladly paid for our items and went to get a coffee next door. The whole situation was funny, but also slightly annoying.

We walked out of the grocery store and to my surprise there was a Starbuck's next door. I had a Caramel Frappuccino, which I have not had in years and we then walked to the beach. When we arrived we noticed a sign that said “No Swimming.” We were surprised and then learned that it was due to the large amount of Jelly Fish in the water. We decided to head back to Cabo San Lucas and take a water taxi to Lover's Beach. We were going to walk through a hotel on the beach named the Crown Plaza Hotel on the beach of San Jose del Los Cabos. I need to remind myself to write a memo to this hotel and to the grocery store too. As we walked through we were stopped by security and they quickly said we could not pass through because we were not guests of the hotel. We said we just wanted to have a taxi called for us, but they said we could walk to the street and try to flag one down. Also, that we had to go back to the beach and walk around the hotel. We were disappointed that we were turned away. I am sure if I looked different and not so Hispanic, I would not have been treated in this manner. Oh well, we would not let this experience cause any difference to our journey to the beach for some swimming. We walked to the street, around the hotel of course, and tried to find a taxi. As we expected, no taxis were around, so we walked back to our hotel instead.

Once we arrived to our hotel, we got into our car and drove to Cabo San Lucas. We found a free parking area next to the beach and found some tacos for only 15 pesos each. We then hailed a water taxi to Lover's Beach. We stayed on the beach all day and left around 5pm. We were the last ones on the beach as we waited for our water taxi to come get us. We prearranged a pick-up and we did not pay the driver in full, until his deal was completed. We thought our taxi was not going to arrive, so we jumped onto another boat. As we were in the water, our original taxi zipped by and said he was coming for us. Our current driver stopped and let us cross deck into our original boat. I gave our new driver a small tip as we crossed into our original water taxi. We then made in back the shore of Cabo San Lucas and we gave our water taxi driver the rest of his payment.

We then got back into our car and drove to Koi Sushi, which is next to the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cabo San Lucas. It seems everything is next to the Wal-Mart in Cabo San Lucas. I had a great Sushi experience thanks to Cris, plus the white wine I ordered made very relaxed. I was a bit too relaxed that I had to let Cris drive us home. This was her second time driving on the trip. We got to San Jos de Los Cabos and we quickly showered and got ready for the Art Walk on our street from the hotel, El Cielito Lindo.

We uncorked our bottle of wine and asked the front desk for two plastic cups to drink our wine. As we walked to the first gallery we started on our cups of Concha y Toro' s Casiello de Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon. We walked into the first gallery, which was full of sculptures and paintings. It seems the artist's studio is also his bedroom, but it was beautifully created as both a living space and working space. I admired his use of nails to create a body of a man that was surrounded by wood decorated in colors that represented arms, head and legs. There was also a local chef who had some crackers topped with a sample of a spread. He was also promoting a cookbook he had created and was selling. I enjoyed the sample of food and bought his cookbook. I always like to try and support any local artists, if I could afford it of course. I asked him to sign the book, which he graciously did for me. Now the real test is to see if I can actually follow anything from the book—that is edible of course.

We walked into all the galleries and decided to see how Senor Mananas looked, since our friend Miguel who we met in La Paz, recommend it us. We walked past the hotel and to our surprise we seen Miguel seated on the side with a Frenchman and two Argentineans. We said hello and he invited us to sit. We asked how things were and he was happy to see us. The Argentinean, who actually worked at the hotel, invited us for a drink and we said yes. The owner, another Argentinean, also introduced himself and invited all of us to sit in the patio for drink. Miguel also had his boat that he was constructing near the patio, so he gave us a quick tour of his construction. It was a great site to see. I never see a boat being constructed before, which I was impressed to see. He was making a mold, in which he hoped to begin creating multiple boats from it.

The owner of the Hotel started a fire in the patio and we placed our bottle of wine on the table. There were another two bottles of wine on the table and a bottle of Rum. There was also a blind Labrador dog named Diego going from person to person. Then a guy named Frederick, who said he was a research scientist, came with another bottle of wine. Frederick had been traveling, in a Volkswagen Combi, conducting information seminars on extra terrestrials. I was going to ask him at first what type of research he did, but when he mentioned the seminars I then knew it. We had missed his presentation by one day, but I would have liked to see it. He was going to hold a presentation a day after tomorrow, but Cris and I would have been gone by then. I can only imagine the people that would have shown up. I would have been more interested in the people showing up, rather than the information in the presentation.

The wine and rum started running through us and within an hour we had a high content of alcohol streaming through our blood. The Argentinean made some Capirinihas and we quickly drank those. They were really good! And as when many insightful people get alcohol through them, we began to talk about life, philosophy and adventure. “This is the frontier!” as Miguel mentions about Baja. In a sense, I think he is right. I could imagine that in the days of colonization and discovery, the men and women involved did the same thing we are doing now—drinking, talking and just enjoying the free moments they had. After periods of exploring new territories, conquering or befriending people and having new experiences the explorers of the past would sit near a fire and drink, talk and feel the emotion of freedom. This emotion can give you the energy to really do what you want and to think about a clear path in life. Possibly, even decide on what it is life we actually want. Also, the men and women in the early days of exploration must have talked about relationships. Relations with each other are another topic that all of us seem to share. Relationships could destroy or motive people to do many things.

Tonight reminded me of the evenings I used to have talking about philosophy, love, history, strategy and all the other topics passionate people would have after drinking wine and sitting by a fire. I used to sit with my peers in Kabul, to whom I admired, and we would exchange words that would stimulate the mind. Such a contrast to my current peers in Kabul, which whom are either morons or without any culture. There is a few in Kabul that don’t have the opportunity to express their minds and I still remain friends with those persons, but the others I just pay no attention.

This setting tonight is probably how revolutions started. People conversing, drinking and talking passionately about something they believe in. I wish more people would experience this. We get stuck on our lives, working, doing chores and being a slave to our possessions. I will not be like this. In actuality, I do not want to work all my life and slave away somewhere. Maybe deep inside I am just lazy. I'll work now, so I can quickly put myself in a place where I can just relax and do as I wish. Confront my real passions and create what I was destined to accomplish, which I have yet to discover (I still need to narrow my list of passions, so I'll come back to this).

We said adios to Miguel and our new friends and started walking towards our hotel. We were recommended to visit “La Pampa.” We went into the bar, La Pampa, and immediately enjoyed the place. The live band was playing live Latin Rock and Reggae and I could recognize some popular songs from Los Cafres and the Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.

The venue was a rectangle shape with a dangerous step to the patio, which I managed to cut my toe on. The patio was full of vegetation and one side had booths with benches and the low stage with the band had a crowd of 20 something’s listening to the music. We walked towards the back to listen to the band and drink some tequila. Unfortunately, I noticed I did not have any pesos and Cris offered to go back to the hotel to grab my credit card. I had enough pesos for 1 tequila shot, so I ordered it and she went to get my card. I was hoping she made it back to the bar and would not fall asleep on the bed. Cris is notorious for going to sleep before my little sister’s bedtime. Definitely there is something going on in her body to cause this. I need to make sure she gets checked out for this, before our trip to South America.

The bests experience in traveling takes place when your meet other people and communicate with them. Bars, cafes and open spaces with other people are the places to enjoy this. If we are to have any experiences in South America that take place in a bar or café at night, then I will need to make sure Cris can stay awake to be there.

25 February 2011 – Departing from Los Cabos
We woke up this morning after a good time the night before. We were a little slow from the numerous tequilas and cups of wine, but we eventually managed to make our way downstairs for breakfast. I had the normal hotcakes, eggs, frijoles, chilaquiles and a cup of coffee. Cris had the same, minus the hotcakes. We tried to print our boarding passes, but we were having trouble getting the Volaris website to function properly on my little computer. Cris decided to go to an Internet café to print the boarding passes. I said to go to the reception desk and see if they would print the passes, which Cris did, but the woman of the house mentioned some excuse to the reason why she was unable to print.

So, Cris went to the Internet cafe and I started packing our things for departure. I had showered and packed all of our things and was waiting for Cris to return. Cris returned with boarding passes in hand. I told her that I was going to go the coffee shop down the street, while she showered and packed her sack.

I went to the coffee shop, but then decided to walk around the city, while Cris was getting ready. The village center is small, so walking around would take 15 minutes or so. I went to Banco Santander to use the ATM and withdrew some pesos, which would cover any costs for the day. I finally met up with Cris and we did a final checkout with the house manager and we loaded our sacks in the car. We then went for a walk around town.

We checked out some art galleries and a few shops, before deciding on some food. We wanted to visit the Baja Brewery, which we heard so much about, so we went. Once at the Baja Brewery we ordered a sampler of beer, which was a great way to sample the various beers of the house. I ordered a burger and Cris ordered the empanada’s. My burger was great! I must admit I had not tasted a burger like this before. I have a new favorite for when I return to San Jose de Los Cabos. After filling ourselves we slowly made our way next door to order a coffee and tea. Cris had the green tea and I had a house coffee with milk. As we sat at the cafe on the corner we had seen Miguel walking down the street. He had his shorts and safari hat, his usual attire, and he was holding a piece of wood in his hand.
We yelled out to him and he came over to us. He showed us his piece of wood, which he was going to use as the front of his wooden boat he is making. When we met with Miguel the night before, he showed us his molding for making the wooden boats. I hope to see one of his boats in the water some day.

Well, we finally drank our coffee, walked to the car and drove off to the airport. We were lost trying to find Advantage car rental by the airport and it seems most of the people who eventually found the agency were lost as well. Advantage car rental was in a warehouse with no signs on the top. Maybe it was a new location, but if it not then I hope the agency sort this place out to make it customer friendly.
We finally returned the car and the inspector noticed the flat tire in the back. We said it popped. I hope I do not see an outrageous bill for the popped tire. We were given a ride to the terminal and we stood in line to check into the flight. The security attendants informed to us we could not check in bags with items hanging from the outside of the packs. Although, our tent, sleeping bags and sleeping mats we strapped to the fasteners of the pack, we could not check our items into the flight. So we had to remove everything and check in each item individually.

The security person was very unnerved with all the extra work she had to do and I was surprised we could not check in with the items strapped tightly to the packs. Oh well, after 30 minutes of reorganizing and turning our original 2 check in items into 5 check-in items with multiple carry-on items we finally boarded our flight. We had to carry 2 bags with many items stuffed tightly into them and 2 sleeping mats onto the plane.

We finally made it into the airport and we on our way to Tijuana.

---