Cabo-Day 7 And Home

After getting up and securing the rest of the packing we played some Rummikub and cards then headed to the airport. It's about a 40 minute drive. I don't think I would rent a car when coming here but just take a taxi since the cost of the car would probably be more than paying a taxi for the few trips into town we would make. Villa provides a shuttle to and from the airport for a reasonable price several times a day as well. It was great having our friends drive us all around but now that we have our bearing somewhat, we know where we would want to go most of the time. Thankfully our flights were uneventful. It is very boring to wait 5 hours in the airport in San Diego for our final flight home but there were no earlier flights. We are thankful we can make the trip with just ONE stop to and from Fresno. At least the waiting area for Alaska Airlines has a restaurant and a couple other small food options along with a convenience store. Steven and Saira picked us up at the airport and took us home. Things were just as we left them...boxes awaiting our attention at every turn. Tony was very happy to see us, the feeling was mutual!

Good-Bye Stuart & Darlene

San Jose Del Cabo Airport

Cabo-Day 6

Today we walked around, had delicious tacos for lunch, played games and then went out for a lovely and delicious lobster dinner at Maro's. Then it was back to pack up. We will head out for the airport around noon tomorrow.  

Our Last Trip to the Taco Bar

Fish Tacos!

All of us with Maro 

Lobster and Prawn Dinner

Cabo-Day 5

Today we took a drive to Todos Santos, courtesy of S&D. By the time we got there we were ready for a cold drink at the California Hotel, where it evolved into trying some nachos, tortilla soup, and crab cakes! Afterward we walked around the area for a little bit and then headed back to Cabo. Todos Santos was closer to the Pacific than I envisioned, there was a nice cool breeze there and we enjoyed it very much. I will add that they main streets were totally torn up and dirt at this time. Due to the damage from the hurricane last November it was decided they would now put the power lines underground so that is taking extra time. This evening we came back to the timeshare and Darlene made delicious black bean soup for our dinner. We ate on our balcony and then we moseyed done to the beach and watched he waves. The Crystal Symphony is still in port and might be staying overnight. We saw some fireworks and it was a quiet and lovely evening. Tomorrow is our last full day here. 

Hotel California

Nachos

Dinner

Cabo-Day 4

It was a full day here in Cabo. After coffee we headed to the The Office for a late breakfast. I had some shrimp split, wrapped in bacon filled with cheese and Poblano peppers – delicious! After that we went on a glass bottom boat (just the 4 of us) over to the Cabo Arch and around to the Pacific side of the rocks. The rock structures are amazing up close. I have only seen them from a cruise ship before, which does not do them justice. It was very nice. The hardest part was getting IN the boat…Get your back side over the edge of the boat, the strong man (very strong) will hoist you up, then swing your feet in. Sounds easy right? Next time we will opt for a boat with a little ladder! We greatly enjoyed the adventure of the tour; saw many fish and rocks with a name each, that we have not seen before. It is a much more intricate area than you see from a cruise ship. After that tour S&D went their separate way and we went back to The Office for a margarita and shrimp quesadilla. We planned to walk back to Villa del Arco and catch the shuttle back to Villa del Palmar but instead we too a taxi for just US$9 because we were tired. After resting up we had a “happy hour” to attend at Villa del Palmar. We didn’t win a prize at the happy hour but it was nice and we talked to a couple from Vancouver, WA. After the little event with food and drinks we watched the waves and chatted with another couple. They were telling us that last year a man about John’s age was sucked out in a wave when they were just sitting on the beach! One cannot underestimate the sea or ocean and power it has. The waves can be very strong and impressive in this bay. We also saw the underlying power of the currents when we were out by the arch and Lands End today!

Breakfast at The Office On The Beach

My Breakfast – WOW!!!

The Window to the Pacific

Fish!!! (Where are you Jeff?)

The Cabo Arch

Shrimp Quesadillas

Evening Happy Hour

Cabo-Day 3 (evening)

We went to the Mexican Fiesta and then watched the waves afterwards. Lovely ending to a lovely day.

Mexican Fiesta

Cabo-Day 3 (morning/afternoon)

This morning and early afternoon we participated in Salsa and Salsa up in town. It is held at a local restaurant called Romeo y Julieta. It was lots of fun and we made several kinds of salsa. We took S&D with us and Darlene won a salsa making contest for the hottest Salsa! Honestly we were tired and stuffed after the 2-3 hours of Salsa making and we ducked out before the Salsa dancing lessons began. I think those lessons should be first! A couple young women sat at our table, they are also staying in town. Everyone else was from the Holland America ship that is in port today. Tonight we will go to the Mexican Fiesta Show here at Villa del Palmar.

Salsa and Salsa

Cabo-Day 2

What a delightful day. After our breakfast we went down and took a walk by the beach, well mainly we watched these large waves coming in. I was surprised that such powerful waves would come into the bay here like that. Someone said there is a storm out at sea and that we are seeing a result of that. John and I went to a timeshare “update” following our walk this morning. I was almost next door to us here at Villa del Palmar, it was at Villa del Arco. It was one of the least offensive we have been to. No, of course we did not buy anymore points but we did earn US$100 in drink coupons. After that we had lunch at the Taco Bar there, which was every bit as delicious as the lunch yesterday. Soon we were back to the unit and switching into our bathing suits and heading to the pool area. We had a nice afternoon, met a lot of friendly people, ate guacamole, played bingo (free and John won prizes including a bottle of Tequila), John also went down the whale water slide. Before heading back to the unit we were mesmerized watching the beautiful waves crash against the shore. I tried to get a photo with people to show the size of the waves. I think they were around 20 feet high.

John’s cheering team from the waterslide

John won at Bingo!

Waves

Pirate Ship

Cabo-Day 1

We were up early and got all packed for moving since neither of us could recall exactly when we were to move. It is really muggy and hot already today. Hopefully the A/C at Villa de Palmar will crank it out a little better!

Our move was uneventful and though we had to wait in line about 30 minutes to check in we got a lovely room with a great view of the bay here in Cabo. After unpacking we relaxed a bit and John and I went walking around the resort to get our bearings. There is a lot here to do and see, very active and interesting. We went into town for dinner, which was delicious at Pollo de Oro, a small local place. We will get some groceries tomorrow and be able to fix some of our own things again. We already have breakfast foods and coffee from the other place. When we got back there was a show going on just below our window. Considering there will be shows every night we may not want loud music so we may look into a different room and switch tomorrow.

San Jose Del Cabo-Day 8

We slept in a little later than usual today. Other than playing cards and Rummy (Rummikub) we also went to the beach and to the happy hour. Tomorrow we move so for lunch we tried to eat up as many of the leftovers as possible. These were quite good even the second time around! It was very warm, humid, and the A/C doesn’t seem to pump out quite enough cool air! However, waves crashing and a lovely beach with fishing boats within view is a bonus!

San Jose Del Cabo-Day 7

This might have been the warmest day yet. In the morning John and I went down and walked around the area a little bit but it was really too warm unless you were in the shade and picking up a little breeze. We opted for a seat in the open air restaurant and had a Mimosa and an empanada for breakfast, John’s second breakfast. It was lovely watching the surf. The staff has the area all set up for a wedding later on, very lovely setup. When we came back down about 5pm the wedding was over and the area was all cleared up. We took a swim, had a glass of complementary champagne, and then had a snack at the Martini/Sushi bar that rounded out our day. Our friends had a dinner elsewhere tonight to it was a quiet evening for us playing cards. We heard about another earthquake in Yountville but Mom is fine.

San Jose Del Cabo-Day 6

Relaxing and reading – John went to Mega (grocery/department store) with Stuart and came back with a Rummikub game! It is really called Rummy but has similar tiles and we enjoyed playing that along with cards today. Stuart made a delicious breakfast, fruit smoothies for lunch and we went to Zippers on the Beach for dinner. You really are right on the beach too. There was live music as we ate, lots of American Oldies as of course the place caters to the tourist crowd. I really enjoyed my chili rellanos!  It’s just lovely down here.

San Jose Del Cabo–Day 5

After coffee and breakfast we headed into San Jose del Cabo. S&D took us on the scenic route to see a few different things before we got to the city. A stop at a cemetery was interesting. It wasn’t a very old cemetery so no interesting stories from the past. It is interesting that most of the graves don’t even have a name on them, let alone a date – yet most are elaborately decorated with tons of artificial flowers. Some even have flowers planted at the sides. The loved ones must come and water them frequently since the soil is very dry and dusty. Back in the air conditioned car after that little walk we saw a harbor with some large yachts and two several story dry docks. We also passed a huge resort called “Secrets” – it is very remote but large enough to probably have anything you desire for your stay there. Now it was into the city. The downtown art district or tourist area is just a few blocks in size but the city sprawls out for miles up to the low mountain areas. We had a nice walk around the area and met some friends of S&D’s. Stuart pointed out some of the sites that are mentioned in the mystery “Missing in Mexico” book he wrote. We went on to have a nice lunch at Retro where the A/C was going strong. We had some delicious jalapeno poppers followed by fish tacos for Darlene and me, the guys had burgers. It was “happy hour” of course. I think we figured the margaritas were US$2, and they were very good with a strong lime taste. We were treated royally as Stuart went and got the car and picked the rest of us up in front of the restaurant. The trip back was really quick and we spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing, playing cards, reading, etc. We had just a snack for dinner since we were all still pretty full from lunch.

San Jose Del Cabo-Day 4

It was warm here today. I think it was close to 90. It seems humid to me but nothing states the humidity so I don’t really know. In the elevator it perpetually says 99*C – glad that’s not the case! We had some delicious papaya for breakfast, well John had his Cherrios of course. After that we went down to the pool area to find a spot in the shade. That didn’t happen but we found a nice spot on the beach with lounges and umbrellas where we stayed for a few hours watching the wave roll in. There is a nice breeze. By noon we were hungry and didn’t want to lose our spot so we ordered what we though was food to split and share. Nachos, cheese sticks, and a small pizza (health food, yes!). The nachos were HUGE and we couldn’t even finish all of that. We finally switched to a cushioned lounge around the pool where we stayed for another hour or so until we got too warm then we headed back up. We have left over pizza, which we had a slice of for our dinner. S&D had a nice dinner and offered to include us but we were too full from the “snack” we had. We have done almost nothing but relax so tomorrow we will start to explore the little town of San Jose Del Cabo.

San Jose Del Cabo–Day 3

Another relaxing day with a nap! We showed Stuart and Darlene our simple card game and played that a few times. Sudoku rounded out the day so you know we are relaxing! Stuart and I went to the Mega store. This is a grocery/department type store very near to BelAir timeshare. We could have walked but I asked that he drive because to me it was too hot to walk there and back. I think it was up to 82 degrees but there was some humidity. In the timeshare rooms it is very nice as there is A/C but mostly it is a delightful breeze that flows though all day until the sun is hitting us. Anyway, back to Mega. There was a huge selection of very nice looking seafood. We got what looked like Tiger prawns for our dinner. Stuart cooks so that is a nice for me!!!  He even cleaned the prawns!!!  He fixed the prawns marinated in garlic and lime juice. The side dish was rice sautéed in butter and olive oil with garlic, red, onion, multicolored sweet peppers, and mushrooms. I fixed a small side salad to go with that. It was a delicious meal. It is so relaxing hearing the waves crash along the beach. I tried to call Mom twice but on my end the phone went dead. Apparently she heard nothing when answering. The Wi-Fi seems to work well enough on our phones but not other devices.

San Jose Del Cabo–Day 2

We had a very relaxing day. After a leisurely morning we went down to try the restaurant here at Bel Air timeshare. It was tasty. John and I had fish tacos, his were tempura and mine were grilled. Darlene had soup that she said was delicious and Stuart had Hibiscus chicken that he said was delicious as well. All of that went very well with a nice Sauvignon Blanc. After lunch it was nap time and honestly though I rarely nap in the day time, that is exactly what we did. We got up in time to make it to happy hour. There is a martini/sushi bar that offers 2 for 1 martinis from 6-7p. There are multiple choices! John had some fried rice with his. This sushi bar offers more than the traditional sushi items. I am sure we will be back when we are hungry! From there we took a stroll on the beach. I was sure I saw dolphins but everyone else said they were some other sort of fish. That could be, to me they were dolphins. It was warm today but still very pleasant.

To San Jose Del Cabo– Day 1 Photos Won’t Post

Our dear friend Cheryl O gave us a ride to the airport nice and early. (Thank you!) It was so nice flying on Horizon Air out of Fresno to San Diego. The stewards were so friendly. They actually acted like they were happy you were on board. They gave a couple of kids in front of us coloring books and “wings” and a couple celebrating their 1st anniversary got wings as well. They still offer complementary beer and wine at this early hour! Our arrival in San Diego was uneventful and we settled in to watch the rain and wait the 4 hours for our next flight. We had an early lunch and our flight left on time. Friends Stuart and Darlene were waiting for us when we arrived in Los Cabos, I think they waited a long time but they were gracious about it. There were 2 or 3 planes arriving at the same time so there was a long line coming through immigration. We were happy to see their welcoming faces as they whisked us off to the lovely BelAir timeshare in San Jose Del Cabo. We enjoyed just chatting and relaxing with cold drinks before they fed us a delicious meal of ribs, potato salad and other accompanying dishes. There was even a small dessert delivered to the front door! Apparently a similar treat gets delivered to the front door each evening! After dinner it was a crème de menthe on the balcony as the waves crashed below. We are off to bed early this evening…really early considering the 1 hour time difference from home. We are feeling very relaxed already! It was a great day considering the travel time.

Finally Packed

The last months have been a real challenge and more work than we can possibly imagine…BUT we are moved and we head to Cabo for a much needed rest. Can’t wait!!!

Packing

I tried to pack today, well I did pack some. It was frustrating because a few things I tried to pack can’t be found. I am sure they are packed for the move and I can do without them but when you have a packing “routine” it is disruptive. Let’s face it, the whole moving and downsize is extremely disrupting to your entire life! I refuse to look through packed boxes any further. I’m sure whatever is lacking can be purchased in Cabo! It will be SO nice to get away from the mess and work of this process.

Salsa and Salsa!

I read a lot of nice reviews on Trip Advisor for Salsa and Salsa, 5 stars even! It looks like a fun way to spend a few hours on a nice afternoon in Cabo. I was hoping we could book this when no cruise ships are in port but apparently that is not possible. I hope it isn’t too crowded. I am eager to learn how to make delicious, fresh salsa that John will like. He doesn’t care for food or sauces if they are “too” spicy. Oh yes I forgot to mention, you get unlimited margaritas and snacks as well…which I think is why John agreed he would like to go!

A Day of Rest

Today is Sunday and we really are taking a nice day of rest from all the work we have been doing packing and downsizing. I spent a lot of the day researching a few things on TripAdvisor. Since we will be in two different locations (San Jose De Cabo and Cabo, approximately 30 minutes apart) we may as well take advantage of what each has to offer. We are happy our friends have been going to the are for 14-15 years and they are willing to show us around a little bit. We are eager to have this move behind us and know what travel funds we will have left for the rest of this year! Anyway, Cabo is covered and it looks invitingly beautiful! We definitely want to make it out to Lover’s Beach, particularly on a day when no cruise ships are in port!

Lover’s Beach

 

Let’s Try Again

Planning again! This time we hope we make it to Cabo! Once again our friends S&D invited us to share some time in San José del Cabo at their Bel Air Timeshare.  Likewise we have our Villa del Palmar in Cabo secured for them to spend time with us there! They are staying longer than we will but our plan now is to stay from May 15-29. Our friends have been going to this area for many years and we are looking forward to them “showing us the ropes” so we can enjoy taking friends or family there ourselves in the future. Knowing some favorite places and fun things to do from experience really adds to the enjoyment of repeat vacation time, like we do in Maui as well. The reservation is made, flights are in place using our Companion Fare with Alaska Airlines, so we are set to go!