St. Valentine's Day

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We spent a lazy day at the condo today, my foot is still iffy for much activity and I need all this down time.

We had reservations at Tropicana Inn in downtown San Jose del Cabo.  We chose this place because we had a good lunch there earlier in the week and they have a nice secure parking lot in the back AND we knew they would have live musica tonight.  The restaurant was decorated with balloons and candles for everyone's date night.

we shared a bottle of Columbia Crest H3 (Horse Heaven Hills) Cabernet Sauvignon. Larry enjoyed a Cioppino  and then fajitas and I had the pork ribs.

During dinner a vendor came around selling single red roses for $50 pesos. Larry bought one for me. I noticed a little excitement at the table next to us and when I looked over, the young woman who had been holding her date's hand across the table for most of the time was now holding her left hand out in the way women do when admiring a ring.  I tapped her and asked her if that was a new ring and she said yes! 'I am now a fiancee'.  We congratulated the couple and wished them many blessings.

Besides the music, I enjoyed watching a family group in which the older of the 2 men enjoyed dancing with a girl of about 10 - I believe his daughter. She liked it so much that mid way through the meal wanted another dance. He also danced with the baby in the group as well as his wife and their daughter joined them. Reminded me of when Courtney would dance with us at weddings.

When we got back to the condo I could hear booming. I went out onto the deck and looked up the coast and there were Valentine's Day fireworks!

Jazz and Sharks

So we went on another driving adventure yesterday.  Off the paved roads, out of town and into the hills Larry drove.  After a few miles, the road was then newly paved through the hills and still in the middle of nowhere.  We were heading to east cape with a picnic lunch toward a national park. When we reached the shoreline, the paved road again was dirt - compact sand, and then in some spots, not so compact. I pictured us spinning our wheels in a sand trap - with our already repaired tire.  We never made it to east cape and the national park - I was too stressed out. (more entry below pics).

Part of the nicely paved road

Looking back at civilization (San Jose del Cabo)

Tons of saguaro cacti in the area

I was trying to get a good pic of the mountains in the distance, but could not do it justice

Last night we drove over to the 'hotel zone' and had a lovely Italian dinner at La Forchetta.  The 4th annual Jazz Festival was going on at Plaza del Pescador. We had made reservations in hopes it would secure us a parking place since we had seen earlier in the day that cars were already lining the streets. We did find parking, had dinner and enjoyed a bottle of piccolo wine. We walked across the street to a fancy hotel called Cabo Azul and walked around the the grounds and pools. I checked later and rooms start around $400/night.  Back at the Plaza, we listened to a great group playing for a while before heading back to our place. The foot I sprained last June decided to swell and walking around had to be curtailed.

This morning Larry was up bright and early to go fishing with 'Toro' of Cabo Playa sport fishing. He texted me a few times from the boat to report on their fighting a marlin etc.  They did land a thresher shark.  It is a 'medium' size, about 11 feet long and maybe 300 pounds. As they were cutting it up at the dock, there were quite a few folks who came over asking for some of the steaks.  We have a large steak in the fridge now. Larry has contacted a nearby restaurant and made arrangements for them to cook it for us tonight.

Shark steak - about 5 pounds, 'skin' side up.

Here is the shark prepared by Sardina Cantina - a great hole-in-the-wall restaurant within walking distance of our condo here at La Jolla.

The sauce preparations - there were two - were very tasty, but the shark was very hard to eat, not good at all.

La Paz

For Carnivale (mardi gras or Fat Tuesday) we drove over to La Paz.  We are in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur and La Paz is the capitol. Highway 1 goes in a circle through Cabo San Lucas, La Paz and San Jose del Cabo. We left here and went through Cabo San Lucas and on up a toll road through Todos Santos and other little towns. (This was after a Larry adventure in CSL).  Once we got to La Paz after a 2 + hour drive, I realized we really did not have a plan.

La Paz is a very large city and it had a lot of traffic and even traffic signals.  The best maps we had are in a 10 year old 'Cabo' tour book. So we drove and drove (large city) trying to navigate our way to the waterfront and the Malecon (along the waterfront) where the carnivale parade would be.  Larry had also mentioned he needed to get gas in the car.

We found the Malecon, but of course the police municipal had the streets blocked going down to it as it would be of course.  Well, we had about 2-3 hours to kill, so we headed back to the downtown area and found a gas station. (Larry said fill it up, but for some reason, the attendant stopped at 100 pesos). As he was cleaning the windshield (anyone remember when this was done in the US at gas stations?) the attendant asked me if I habla espanol.  I indicated little with my thumb and finger. I guess he was going to explain the flat front passenger tire to me, but instead he pointed it out to Larry who was standing next to the fueling (but not watching that it was stopped at 100 pesos - which equals about $5.27 so we probably got only 2 or so gallons.)

So we were pointed into the direction of a place to get the tire (llanta) problem fixed. For some reason, after Larry pulled into the place, he asked the guy to just replace the flat with the spare. I said, why don't you just have him repair the tire?  Oh! so that is what was done for a few bucks.

On our way again we now had A PLAN.  We parked a block from the parade route and now it was time to find a restroom.  We walked along the street looking at the vendors setting up their booths and a couple of the floats, found an Applebees, used the restrooms and had a well deserved drink.  We asked around for when the parade started, but it turns out there was no exact time.

We went back to the car to eat the lunch we had packed and just relaxed until 4:30, made our way back to the parade route and staked out a front row spot (which we 'gave up for some short kids).

So now we have seen Carnivale parade in La Paz (saw it in Mazatlan in 2014) and found it a fun homey parade; the Mazatlan parade was much more corporate sponsored. There was lots of music and dancing on the floats so that was the same.  I love being around the Mexican families, it reminds me that people are the same wherever you go. We stood next to a pair of grandparents who were delighted to be sharing the event with their granddaughter who was 6-7 years old.

The drive home we took the western route back which was much windier. Both routes are very isolated for most of the way, so one sure better have a reliable car!

Sculpture along the waterfront

Waiting for customers!

La Paz harbor

Waiting for the parade

Cotton Candy and toys!

Carnival ride

This ride was getting some repairs - yikes

More candy and goodies vended by cart

Just like home, the parade starts with the squad car!

The sign says not to throw objects at the floats (confetti filled eggs are popular

This float had child drummers - they were great!

La Paz sunset

San Jose del Cabo persistent sales people

We were not greatly surprised, but confused when we finally got through immigration and customs, to be herded into a reception area and trying to figure out where to find the rental car folks.  Instead, a guy pointed us to a counter and it turned out to be someone who started asking us questions about what activities we like - uh oh, we have been to too many time share talks to know where that leads.  We cut him off and started out the door. (Later, Larry told me that Ms. Monty warned him about this - he failed to share that with me).  

We went grocery shopping first thing Sunday morning after helping ourselves to Monty's coffee and dry creamer.  As we were looking at produce and trying to convert pesos in our heads we were approached by a man.  At first we though it might be a store employee, but then he began asking where we are staying and if we are time share owners. GAH!  Another gringo who had witnessed this said he had been offered $200 to go to a presentation.  I told Larry that we should say yes to a presentation for $1,000 and at the first protest up it to $2,000! 

Anyway, I share these stories so you will be aware when you make a trip here.

We drove to Cabo San Lucas on Monday. It is much more congested there. Some streets are well maintained and then we would be on one full of broken asphalt. When Larry drives it is always an adventure because he decides to take turns and then we spend time backtracking and trying to figure out where the hell we are.

Anyway, we drove around, but the only time we got out of the car was at a time share resort (did I mention we are long time, time share owners?) to see if this was a place we would want to come back to. We walked around Pueblo Bonito Blanco and then right next door, Pueblo Bonito Rose.  We walked through reception and on to the pools and beaches and both were lovely at both places. At Blanco we were invited to lunch by a hostess, since we were standing right next to the beachfront restaurant, but we explained ourselves and had a nice conversation until she asked if we wanted an invitation to tour the newest Pueblo Bonito's (Sunset and Quivira) in Cabo. We told her some other time. From reading about those two places I get the impression they are verrry exclusive with tons of amenities for the rich and famous. In fact, at Rose we stepped up to a platform that overlooked the beach, just off the swimming pools and were approached by a guy who explained that THOSE lounges were for the 'elite' subscribers.  Apparently for a bit more money you can guarantee having a reserved lounge chair and not put up with the riff raff from Bumble F**k, Anytown while swimming or working on a tan.

Pool at 'Rose.' It is named Rose for the building color. Blanco = white, you figure it out.

Los Cabos (the Capes)

Flamingoes at 'Blanco'

Beach at 'Blanco' looks over to the city

Turtle pond!

Rose condos

San Jose del Cabo Days 1

I know most people put the details of their trips into Facebook, but this blog is as much for me as my family and friends - where I can come back and see my trip 'journal' and keep the memories.

We had no problems on the flight down to Los Cabos, Mexico on Saturday Feb. 6, 2016.  We spent an hour in line for immigration. One thing I noticed that is different from arriving in  is 99% of the people were gringo in Los Cabos. In Mazatlan (2003 and 2014) we had seen many more Mexican nationals in immigration and customs. One observation is there are always those one or two families who did not get their forms completed (they give you time on the plane to do it as well as instructions) and so you see them off to the side of the immigration lines frantically completing them.

Budget rent-a-car took a bit of time. Larry went to the counter while I minded the luggage and chatted with a couple from Hartford CT. Apparently there is a requirement for full insurance coverage and for us it cost $500 we were not expecting.  When the car came I did what one is always reminded to do, take photos of the car and go over every scratch and ding - which Larry and the counter person were doing. I did take photos (not one side of the car was without something), but we have full coverage, so it really does not matter.

We found our way to the Monty's condominium and after fighting with the elevator a while we made it to #404; ( it is the only elevator in the building and it only goes to the 2 top units as it was private installed by Monty's and their neighbors).  As we were wandering around trying to find stairs etc, one neighbor said about the unit after our inquiry - O the penthouse (!). The 2 bedroom condo is spacious with a large L shaped deck that looks out to the beach and water. These are all private residences between a hotel and a time share resort.  I plan to add more - this is long enough.

View from kitchen into half of the living room. Beach is to the left.

Construction just up the hill

Deck dining

View from beach side bedroom door to half of living room, dining room and kitchen

Door just left of the double doors goes to kitchen

Dining, outdoor shower, BBQ, fridge

View looking northwest. Small hot tub to left of the lounge chairs

View from the beach - top corner where one can see the columns

View to the southeast from the deck