After spending Thanksgiving in Santa Rosa with Diana's daughter and family, we made a quick trip to Mexico for a little warm weather - just for 5 days by the beach. We flew from San Francisco to San Jose del Cabo at the southern end of Baja California Sur - a 3 hour flight. We had not embarked on such a trip before - there was no plan of activities or sites to see, just 5 days in a warmer climate with a beach and a pool and a jacuzzi. I wasn't sure if I could handle it.
Arriving in San Jose airport we found that we had to run the gauntlet of people trying to sell us a taxi ride to our hotel. I had already ordered an Uber to our hotel so I believed that I didn't need their taxis. The touts at the airport were insistent and there were so many of them. It was quite unsettling. Our Uber driver indicated he wasn't at the Arrivals section but upstairs at the Departures area. We eventually found him and realized what was going on. While Uber can drop off at the airport, they cannot pick up. Our driver must have just dropped someone off and was hoping not to get caught picking us up. It worked for us, but I don't know if I would recommend it in the future.
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| Hotel El Ganzo |
We were deposited at our hotel, the Hotel El Ganzo, and we checked in. It was a nice enough hotel in the port area of San Jose del Cabo. Perhaps not the best area of town but there were some rather fine boats and yachts moored in the harbor.
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| Sunset from the rooftop pool |
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| Local Musicians at the Hotel |
We dined in the evening in the hotel. Not great food but quite adequate and the margarita was great. There was also a band playing and they were very good. Apparently every Friday evening, a group of locals show up to play together and improvise. They were really very good - just my kind of music.
The hotel didn't have phones in the room - a positive move according to the hotel as they are not really needed in this day of smartphones. That is true but when they don't respond to phone calls or WhatsApp calls, you have a problem. We couldn't turn off our ceiling lights so I had to get up, get dressed and go to the front desk to sort out the problem - bit frustrating to say the least.
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| San Jose del Cabo Lighthouse |
The next morning, Saturday, I went out for a run around the neighborhood. I started by trying to run on the beach but that was not easy - it was narrow and it sloped quite steeply. I chose to run along the path above the beach alongside a barbed wire fence that kept you out of the beach properties (and presumably the beach property occupants off the beach). Where a dry river bed came down to the beach I turned inland to try and find a road back to the hotel. The dirt road went adjacent to a small lighthouse which was again restricted by a barbed wire fence. Then came a gate and a security guard who didn't seem to worry that I was the wrong side of his gate, he just opened it and let me out onto the public streets.
The road then went through a fairly shabby neighborhood over to the hotel. Not the best of early morning runs.
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| The Pool and Jacuzzi |
Back at the hotel, we had breakfast before going up to the rooftop pool where we found a nice shady sunbed area to lounge around in. I wasn't sure how I would do lazing around all day, but I did just fine. A good book, shade from the sun, a nice view, waiter drinks service - what more could we ask for.
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| The Hotel Beach |
In the late afternoon, I took the boat across the harbor entrance to the beach area on the other side to the hotel's private beach. Not a great beach but quite adequate. The water was just the right temperature and the sea was calm.
We again had dinner in the hotel that night before retiring for the night.
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| El Rey Pescador |
The next morning was overcast but still warm. I ran again out on the road towards the town center. I stopped at the impressive El Rey Pescador statue at the entry to the port area. We camped out again adjacent to the rooftop pool and jacuzzi and whiled away the day.
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| The Mission in San Jose del Cabo |
In the evening we took an Uber into San Jose del Cabo. Unlike its sister city of Cabo San Lucas, San Jose has a little of the flavor of a Mexican seaside town - they have a town square and a nice mission. It also has restaurants and art galleries catering to the foreign tourists. We walked around for a while and then had a nice meal before catching an Uber home. Ubers were readily available and we didn't ever wait very long.
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| View from the Rooftop |
The next morning, Monday, was again a little cloudy but that was fine by me. I did not need to be burnt to a crisp by the sun. It was plenty warm enough and it was nice and shady up on the roof.
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| Iguana |
There were some beautiful iguanas lounging on the rocks in the afternoon sun. Not the sort of thing I wanted to get too close to, but a magnificent animal nevertheless.
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| Very cheesy and commercial Cabo San Lucas |
In the mid afternoon we took an Uber over to the adjacent town of Cabo San Lucas. We knew this would be pretty tacky and touristy and we weren't wrong. It was quite awful.
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| One of the hundreds of Pharmacies |
There were bars and restaurants everywhere and what wasn't a bar or a restaurant was a pharmacy where Americans can buy their prescription drugs much cheaper than the US and, of course, without a prescription. We did visit the church or parroquia but it was not very old and not very interesting at all.
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| The Marina in Cabo San Lucas |
The harbor was full of very expensive and very large fishing boats. Apparently there are major Marlin fishing contests there each October. The biggest is the Bisbee's Black and Blue Marlin Tournament which awards millions of dollars in prize money (for a $5,000 entry fee). Not our cup of tea.
Finding nothing really enticing about the place we Ubered back to San Jose for our evening dinner. We found a great bakery and bistro (Ruba's) that was Michelin rated and had an excellent meal there.
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| Whales |
Tuesday was the end of our stay but we had until noon to relax by the pool and swim in the sea. We were treated to a group of whales swimming by. Quite a way out at sea but there was no mistaken their white blows and black bodies.
We checked out at noon and caught an Uber to the airport. The airport was very busy with many planes leaving for all parts of the USA (American, United, Alaskan, Southwest, Delta, Frontier, Air Canada...). Cabo San Lucas was not to our liking but the more laid back San Jose del Cabo was perfect for 4 days.
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