We are back from the land of sun and sand. Sweetie and I escaped real life for a week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. What a great little getaway. For the first time we did AirBnB instead of all inclusive and we weren’t disappointed. Stayed in a really nice little studio condo overlooking the Marina. We could spend hours just watching the fancy boats coming and going below us, sipping really good tequila and dreaming about “the good life”.
Cabo isn’t like any other area I have been to in Mexico. It is quiet and laid back, the traffic isn’t crazy, there weren’t swarms of people everywhere. Now maybe it was the time of year, as this is still off season for them or so we were told, but the weather was perfect for us at +25 Celsius. If I were to compare it to a place in Canada to give you a better idea of the atmosphere there I would compare it to Banff, Alberta. Touristy little town, with lots of great restaurants, clubs, shopping, and things to do. We were told that Cabo was expensive but expensive is a relative term, what might be expensive to one might not be to another. SO to compare again I would say it’s like Banff. If you are looking for a cheap Mexican vacation that is not what you should expect to get in Cabo. I would say most things were on par with Canadian prices, you can expect to pay the same in restaurants and at the mall. The local market where we shopped for souvenirs also wasn’t exactly cheap, if you are a good barterer you would do okay but I am not so much and probably over paid for most things. And beware, the tequila might make you a very extravagant tipper. I never thought I liked tequila much till I sat down at a tequila tasting and found sipping tequila. YUM! oh ya I probably over paid for it too but oh well….when on vacation.
Be prepared to be bombarded by sales guys trying to sign you up for Adventures. Whale watching, fishing, ATV’s, snorkelling… there are no shortage of adventures to be had, but don’t be afraid to stop and talk to them. Shop around a bit, they are willing to barter. We went on a snorkelling tour one day, and a fishing trip. The snorkelling was okay, it would have been great if we were more of the “partying” spirit as its more of a booze cruise with some snorkelling added in the middle, the tacos they served us tho were great! The snorkelling was in a big group and tho there were lots of fish to see I didn’t enjoy the fact that we had to stay in a big group. I found myself getting kicked in the face more than I could really just enjoy swimming with the fishes. We later learned that there is a better option at a place called Cabo Pulmo, you can experience aquarium like snorkelling where you can rent equipment at the beach and go at your own pace. We will definitely be checking that out next time but it required a car ride to get there.
The fishing was a bust, we were lucky enough to get a day to meet up with Josh’s brother Jeff and his wife Carla (who were also there on holiday at a resort down the way with Carla’s family) but we did not get a single bite. We did however get to see a lot of whales, a beautiful sun rise and enjoy a nice visit so it was worth it. I am not much of a fisher person, I like to fish but could take it or leave it so wasn’t disappointed that we didn’t catch anything, Josh might feel differently but I thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride and the company. And at the end we got to feed our live bait to Carlos (who’s actual name was Poncho, but I thought it was Carlos) the friendly sea lion who jumped up on our boat and scared the pants of Carla and Jeff. Josh and I had been watching the sea lions coming in with the boats to the marina all week so we were expecting them.
We went to a few of the touristy places like Cabo Wabo and The Giggling Marlin, and they were as we expected, it was day time and not party time at night but we didn’t go there for the party so much as the relaxation. We enjoyed some live music and found a great little place called 101 Kruda Bar, with bartender Miguel. He made amazing drinks from scratch and we sampled a few while chatting it up with a couple from California. This was more our style, small local pub with some fun company.
We did not have a bad meal there. The food was amazing. We stuck mostly to the restaurants along the Marina so I imagine you could find places that were cheaper but it was exactly what were were looking for, we aren’t seasoned travellers and we aren’t all that great about just going up to people and asking questions so this was a good step for us to learn to be better travellers. It was a very comfortable and easy place to take a little holiday, we were entertained and had lots to do or nothing to do depending on what we felt like. We enjoyed the Airbnb experience, it was easy to book, our host was great, the place was exactly as it was advertised and the best part was just sitting out on the balcony watching the boats and the people and enjoying each others company, sipping tequila. I can’t wait to go back.
