the girls visit Los Cabos

I just got back yesterday from a 4-day + 3-night girls getaway in Los Cabos. Ironically, given Cabo's party reputation, we spent the long weekend doing pretty much everything except clubbing, which was exactly the way we wanted it.

The Los Cabos area (aka Cabo) consists of Cabo San Lucas (more touristy), San Jose del Cabo (more authentic), and the 18-mile corridor in between:


We stayed at the Casa Dorada hotel in Cabo San Lucas, which is a pretty new place overlooking the Playa el Medano, one of the few swimmable beaches in Cabo. We had a two-bedroom suite (complete with two bathrooms, two kitchens, two balconies, and a jacuzzi) overlooking the beach. It was great waking up every morning to this view:


The first day was pretty chill; after checking into the hotel, we stood in line to get money from an ATM (unfortunately it was July 31st, aka payday), went to the grocery store, where we bought the first of many delicious mangoes. Then we walked around Cabo San Lucas a bit, had dinner at a local seafood place, checked out the Puerto Paraiso shopping mall, and went back to the hotel for some relaxing and card games.

The next day, we went to a glassblowing factory, where some of us (including me) actually got to blow glass! It was actually harder than I expected; for awhile nothing was happening, and then all of a sudden the bubble came out really fast. The guy kept telling me "more, more!" so I blew until the glass bubble exploded, and he gave me a piece as a souvenir. Some of us picked up some trinkets from the gift shop:


For lunch, we ate at Gardenia's Tacos, on Paseo Pescadores. The tacos were amazing; I had shrimp and BBQ pork, and the shrimp was fresh and nicely fried, and the BBQ pork was just the right degree of spicy. On the table were generous servings of cabbage, onions & cilantro, two kinds of salsa, guacamole, and lime, so we could add the condiments ourselves.


I also had a really good mango margarita there, and afterwards we decided to go and buy some of the tequila they had used (Jose Cuervo Traditionale). We ended up at a Costco-like place (day pass $2), complete with food samples and huge warehouse decor, and bought four liters to take home.

After hanging out back at the hotel for a bit, we headed to San Jose del Cabo by local bus. The bellboys tried to scare us into renting a car instead ("There's dog poo on the ground! And people holding chickens!") but we were skeptical so we took it anyway. It turned out to be perfectly fine; the bus driver was sweet and let us flag down the bus in the middle of the street, the bus itself was at least as nice as Muni, and at least one fellow passenger spoke decent English and helped us figure out when to get off. The best part was, the trip cost 23 pesos per person (about $2.30 USD) instead of $80 for a cab.

It was nice walking around in San Jose; in general things were much more chill than in San Lucas. Store owners would help us when asked, but they were pretty low pressure. We found prices in the stores were somewhat cheaper and more flexible, as well. The town square was cute and there were local kids running around, and overall it just felt less touristy, although not as rustic as the town we visited near Zihua, where they had apparently never seen Asian people. A few photos from near the town square:



For dinner, we went to the very sleek "C" by Charlie Trotter, inside the One & Only Palmilla resort. Compared to Chicago's version, "C" was actually prettier to look at, with gorgeous ocean views, and the food was more Asian-influenced. The resort itself was lovely as well (and had very good security):


My favorite dish was a "bento box" appetizer, which came with five small dishes; kobe beef which could be cooked on a small hot stone, tuna tartare, two pieces of rolled sushi, ceviche, and fried shrimp. Here's a photo of the presentation:


The kurobuta pork entree was so-so, but the beef shortrib cannelloni was yummy, and the desserts were good as well. We really liked their specialty cocktails; there was a cucumber margarita that was very refreshing, a virgin mojito-style drink, and I had a watermelon margarita.

Day three started bright and early with a kayaking trip at 8am. We took Baja Wild's "Three Bay Crusade" tour, which took us from Twin Dolphin Bay to Santa Maria and then to Chileno Beach. We first kayaked the mile between Twin Dolphin and Santa Maria, then snorkeled for awhile at Santa Maria, and then continued on another two miles to Chileno, where we snorkeled some more, until a tour boat full of snorkelers descended on us in the last few minutes before we were going to leave. The three-mile distance was the longest I'd ever gone by kayak, and the snorkeling was fun too, especially at Santa Maria where the beach was practically deserted and the fish were plentiful (and really close to shore). We also saw lots of pelicans and there was one sighting of a small ray, but I missed it. One person had a waterproof casing for her camera and was able to get lots of photos:




Due to some excellent scheduling, we were booked for spa appointments at the Esperanza resort that afternoon, which was perfect, as we were pretty tired from the kayaking. After getting cleaned up and making some mango smoothies back in our suite, we headed over to the spa early to take advantage of the hot tubs and steam room, before having our spa treatments.

The Esperanza was recently rated as the world's third-best spa by Conde Nast Traveller, and it was definitely the nicest spa I've ever been to, both in terms of decor and quality of services:



One of the girls (apparently knowing our group *very well*) had the foresight to order a huge tray of post-spa snacks for us to enjoy as we hung out in the common area, which we promptly demolished:


We were still able to eat our fair share a few hours later when we went to Nick-San for dinner, and we even had dessert at Haagen-Dazs while waiting out a late night thunderstorm before heading back to the hotel to play Bang! until 3am.

The last day was pretty short; we woke up late, got packed, ate more mangoes and smoothies, and headed to the airport. There was a fun incident where the taxi driver took us to the domestic terminal and we had to find a shuttle to get to the international terminal, but things went pretty smoothly after that.

Anyway, it was a great trip! I really enjoyed the tons of yummy food (upscale as well as basic local staples like mangoes and chips/salsa), lots of different fun activities, and of course, the excellent company. I'm thinking we'll have to plan a reunion trip sometime.