Ok so the pictures are up for Cabo, but how was it? Well it was a great time. The school year before last Kim hosted Gerardo and exchange student from Cabo so we were really lucky and had local friends that were able to hook us up with local deals as well, as show us what to do and what to avoid.
Being on the Tip of the Baja Peninsula, Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo felt like they were cut off from the rest of Mexico. We took a 4 wheeler ride up a small portion of the Gulf side of the Peninsula, and found a lot of open undeveloped land dotted by small little housing groups of four or five houses every so often. We also drove up to Todos Los Santos, on the Pacific Ocean side, to see the Eagles inspiration for the song “Hotel California.” The trip that way was a windy road with beautiful scenery but not much in the way of development.
The land of Cabo was quite interesting; it is a mountainous region with a lot of hills rolling into the ocean. However there is tons of construction going on in the area, be it a house or a resort. It is hard to tell however where the construction ends and the land begins, for the hills themselves look more like dirt piles for construction then natural formations. They are sparsely covered with growth. Lot of them look like they would take a major erosion hit if there was any kind of heavy rain. However we were told it never rains in Cabo more than a light sprinkle which the earth quickly absorbs.
Being one who had never seen the Pacific Ocean until now, it was an interesting site. Much more violent then the tame Atlantic, but from the shore the waves didn’t look that bad or big. The Water on the shore line is about the same color as the Atlantic but gets a nice sea green color quite fast further out to see.
I did try my hand at body surfing on a boogie board(with 1 flipper), and found that the waves and the currant are a lot stronger then they looked. I didn’t do too well. I rode one wave a pretty long while, it was fun but felt really reckless for I had pretty much no control. The next wave I tried knocked the board from my hands and pretty much dragged all the way in. Being taken by the wave wasn’t a fun experience; in fact it was a bit scary. The board was attacked to my wrist and being pulled by the wave. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to fight it, but it takes a lot of energy to stay on the surface of the water, as well as not to be flipped about and hurt that way. After the wave let go of my board I was spent. I knew after that I couldn’t safely continue so I made my way to shore; which in itself takes a lot of energy. That was my only real foray into the Pacific that didn’t include a boat.
O
ne of the big things I was looking forward to in this trip to Cabo, was the food. I really enjoy American-Mexican restaurants, but always wondered if it was really the real deal. Well the answer is, yes and no. The food in Cabo seemed a lot simpler then the stuff you get in America, while still tasting a lot better. One main difference is most things like fajita’s enchiladas and quesadillas by default come with soft corn tortillas rather than the floor that you mainly get in America. Also one thing that I ate a lot of and thoroughly enjoyed was Ceviche.
Ceviche is something you put on round tostados or saltines akin to chicken salad. It is made up of some form of seafood like, shrimp, calamari or my favorite marlin. Fruit acid is then added, mainly lime and the like, which cooks the seafood without it ever touching heat. You add a lot of salsa components onions, tomatoes, cilantro and whatever else might go well. It is eaten a lot with avocado, but I don’t care for that at all.
While there were things like Applebee’s, Chili’s and McDonalds, in Cabo, we forced Gerardo to take us only to the restaurant’s the locals go to. It was quite interesting to note that in the city of San Jose del Cabo, there were little outdoor restaurants on just about every street . One of our favorites(we went their 3 times) was this little place called “guacamayo” named after a bird native to Mexico. They had great pork tacos with Pineapple onions and a lot of cilantro. In fact almost every dish in Mexico included cilantro.
Being on the Tip of the Baja Peninsula, Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo felt like they were cut off from the rest of Mexico. We took a 4 wheeler ride up a small portion of the Gulf side of the Peninsula, and found a lot of open undeveloped land dotted by small little housing groups of four or five houses every so often. We also drove up to Todos Los Santos, on the Pacific Ocean side, to see the Eagles inspiration for the song “Hotel California.” The trip that way was a windy road with beautiful scenery but not much in the way of development.
The land of Cabo was quite interesting; it is a mountainous region with a lot of hills rolling into the ocean. However there is tons of construction going on in the area, be it a house or a resort. It is hard to tell however where the construction ends and the land begins, for the hills themselves look more like dirt piles for construction then natural formations. They are sparsely covered with growth. Lot of them look like they would take a major erosion hit if there was any kind of heavy rain. However we were told it never rains in Cabo more than a light sprinkle which the earth quickly absorbs.
Being one who had never seen the Pacific Ocean until now, it was an interesting site. Much more violent then the tame Atlantic, but from the shore the waves didn’t look that bad or big. The Water on the shore line is about the same color as the Atlantic but gets a nice sea green color quite fast further out to see.I did try my hand at body surfing on a boogie board(with 1 flipper), and found that the waves and the currant are a lot stronger then they looked. I didn’t do too well. I rode one wave a pretty long while, it was fun but felt really reckless for I had pretty much no control. The next wave I tried knocked the board from my hands and pretty much dragged all the way in. Being taken by the wave wasn’t a fun experience; in fact it was a bit scary. The board was attacked to my wrist and being pulled by the wave. I knew I wasn’t strong enough to fight it, but it takes a lot of energy to stay on the surface of the water, as well as not to be flipped about and hurt that way. After the wave let go of my board I was spent. I knew after that I couldn’t safely continue so I made my way to shore; which in itself takes a lot of energy. That was my only real foray into the Pacific that didn’t include a boat.
O
ne of the big things I was looking forward to in this trip to Cabo, was the food. I really enjoy American-Mexican restaurants, but always wondered if it was really the real deal. Well the answer is, yes and no. The food in Cabo seemed a lot simpler then the stuff you get in America, while still tasting a lot better. One main difference is most things like fajita’s enchiladas and quesadillas by default come with soft corn tortillas rather than the floor that you mainly get in America. Also one thing that I ate a lot of and thoroughly enjoyed was Ceviche.Ceviche is something you put on round tostados or saltines akin to chicken salad. It is made up of some form of seafood like, shrimp, calamari or my favorite marlin. Fruit acid is then added, mainly lime and the like, which cooks the seafood without it ever touching heat. You add a lot of salsa components onions, tomatoes, cilantro and whatever else might go well. It is eaten a lot with avocado, but I don’t care for that at all.
While there were things like Applebee’s, Chili’s and McDonalds, in Cabo, we forced Gerardo to take us only to the restaurant’s the locals go to. It was quite interesting to note that in the city of San Jose del Cabo, there were little outdoor restaurants on just about every street . One of our favorites(we went their 3 times) was this little place called “guacamayo” named after a bird native to Mexico. They had great pork tacos with Pineapple onions and a lot of cilantro. In fact almost every dish in Mexico included cilantro.
