Almost Free For You Today

Well, it's our last day in Cabo. We fly out in a few hours.  The week has gone by quickly, and we are leaving with some pretty amazing memories--the highlight of course being Hayley and Eric's wedding. I'm going to use my creative license and mess with the timeline a little bit. Instead of writing a blog post about the wedding (which was the next thing on our itinerary after James went on his off road adventure) I'm going to table that story and instead write about the trip to town we took yesterday. My reasoning for this is that James took many photographs of the wedding with my camera, and I want to include some. Since I am on my iPad, there is no way to transfer said files into the blog until I am on my laptop. Therefore, my final Cabo post shall be about the wedding, but won't be written until after we are safe and home, likely after a long nap.

Cabo San Lucas is a neat little town. The harbour seems to be the centre of it all, streets and shops spread out in a sort of spider web pattern from it's watery centre. We walked on the beach from our hotel to town. Passing many resorts on the way, I noticed that some were half built. I wonder how the oceanfront looked a few months ago, after the hurricane. Looking around the hotel at the open concept it's hard to imagine the kind of damage that was done. Buildings are built so differently when there is hardly any rain. There is certainly a lack of glass windows, for example.

Walking on sand is tough on the calves. I was pretty impressed by the step count for yesterday. According to the old fitbit, we surpassed 20, 000 steps.

It was good that we went in the early morning, because it got hot. By noon we were all overheated, and so we stopped for food at a place called "Rock and Brews". We all enjoyed a change in pace from the resort, ordering some really delicious burgers.

The day was spent shopping. James was not so great at bartering to begin with, but as he got the hang of it it seemed like he started to enjoy the back and forth between himself and the Mexican salespeople. He laughed at the constant "almost free for you today!" calls from the various shopkeepers. I was struck with memories of my time shopping in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and warned James not to reach for his money as soon as they name a price. It is also easier to barter when there are two people. I like to be the one to say "too much" and walk away, leaving James to make the final deal.

We took a water taxi home, which is essentially a motorboat that takes you from the harbour to the beach in front of your hotel. The gentleman driving our taxi tried to sell us numerous things, as well as attempted to rope us in to a timeshare presentation. I've been to a timeshare presentation before. They are long and not usually worth the free things that are promised. 

Last night the entertainment in the hotel was karaoke, which seemed kind of serendipitous. James loves karaoke more than anything, and he was eager to sign up. He decided to sing a Disney song (apparently for me, but I'm not so sure it wasn't for more selfish reasons) from Hercules. I think people were fairly impressed with his singing. Not me though, living with James means living in a constant song. 

All in all yesterday was a successful venture. Our suitcases are very full from all of our purchases. I'm very much looking forward to seeing my dog, and sleeping in my bed, but I won't be able to do either until tomorrow afternoon. I actually will see my work before I see my bed.

Hopefully traveling home is relatively painless, and I'm given many opportunities to nap along the way.

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Aerial shot of the harbour. Thanks google.

Menu from "Rock and Brews".

 

Water taxi home!

All-Terrain Education

"A Lesson on Terrain" Yesterday a large group of us went on an All-Terrain Vehicle adventure. The bus takes you about half an hour north of Cabo, up the highway and into the desert. Yes, it is a desert. The locals informed me that the tip of the Baja peninsula receives ~10-15 days of rain per year. The landscape is what you'd picture from a movie (Once Upon A Time In Mexico, perhaps): tall cacti, browning in the sun, with ubiquitous short, dry trees dotting the ground in and amongst them. The land is dry and rocky, giving a sense of desolation (or at least dryness) but the mountains in the background lend a sense of majesty. http://cdn2.landscapehdwalls.com/wallpapers/1/desert-in-baja-california-1436-1920x1080.jpg I was told by our tour guide (Cactus ATV Tours) that some native groups still live in those mountains, similar to the 'Running People' in "Born to Run". We were also given a brief lesson in ethnobiology: the trees (whose name I cannot recall) bleed a type of sap that comes out red at the trunk and clear at the top. The red sap was used as a dye. The white sap, when rubbed into the skin, turns white and is a natural sunscreen. We were also told that, if dying of thirst in the desert, not to drink from the tall cacti. They secrete a toxin that causes nausea. The squat, aptly named barrel cactus, however, has an interior like a cucumber and can be cut and chewed to draw out the water. On our tour we didn't drive through such difficult terrain, however. The trek (on Polaris RZRs) took us to a Pacific beach, then through a dry riverbed. We were told that during the hurricane the riverbed filled and took out anything in its path. It was a fun tour, but very expensive. The insurance for the vehicles (which was only optional if you left a credit card behind) wasn't disclosed to us ahead of time, so the entire tour wound up costing us ~$160 U.S. each. Due to the semi-dangerous nature of taking a high-powered vehicle out in unfamiliar country, we rode single file and could only take it up to a speed as dictated by our guide. Understandable, but a touch limiting to those who know what they're doing. I would recommend the tour if money is not an issue or if you are a diehard vehicle sports fan. I also learned more than I expected to about local culture and biology. For those on a budget, however, I'd say the snorkelling adventure packed more bang for my buck. --James