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Cabo San Lucas

 

We stayed at the Portofino Resort near the marina in Cabo which is actually owned by a Canadian company. It’s a small resort with twelve “villas” and we have a one bedroom on the lowest level. There is a really small parking lot here and most of the villas are up, up, and up the stairs so we are lucky in that regard and that we can fit and park Tigger in the lot right outside our room, the only one on the ground floor (we don’t have a great view but that doesn’t bother us). Most of the guests here are Canadian as well.

There is a pool & hot tub, BBQ areas, Wi-Fi, free long distance calls, 5 gallon water jugs, 10lb bag of ice in the freezer, a shuttle to Walmart on the second day here so you can get groceries, a welcome fruit basket, assistance with tours etc., lend out beach umbrellas & snorkel gear and have daily housekeeping that includes washing the dishes (there is no dishwasher). We are very close to the main part of town but not right in the hustle. When Fran was talking to Andrea, the manager, after we checked in, she said we could use their machines to do our laundry, free but we just had to wait till the staff left at one on Saturday and they don’t work on Sundays. Bonus!

the resort - Portofino

During this week in Cabo we did a lot of walking, checking out the marina area, the beaches including walking over to the Pacific side where you are advised not to go into the water due to the currents there, drove to Chileno beach where we snorkeled a bit, walked up and up to the Pedregal resort on a hilltop where there is a mirador with 360 views of Cabo, we took our kayaks out and rowed out to El Acro (the famous rock arch at the tip of the Baja) one morning; a hard row but a beautiful site; tested out a few bars for their beer and margaritas and enjoyed the hotel pool.

Speaking of walking, taking a stroll in Mexico (or just about any Latin American country or third world country) is not for those ‘zombies who like to walk and text’. The sidewalks are a challenge and you must always be watching your feet.  However, they do seem to make an effort to ‘accommodate the handicap’. You’ll see a ramp like this:

handicap ramp
But then you’ll come across this ten yards down the sidewalk:

sidewalk 1

Then you’ll encounter this:

right after you go up the ramp

And this:

not a lot of room to get around

Or this:

IMG_20151117_120714529

And you wonder how could a wheelchair actually travel on this sidewalk? You can rarely walk a full block without some sort of obstacle.

Doug saw a cardiologist for an echo and a checkup – and the Dacron graft that was holding nicely. We had this scheduled for January on our trip hope for the holidays but that would be in January and into the next year’s medical coverage. So we thought we’d do a little early and get it covered by this year’s plan since we hope not to hit our deductible next year.

Doug having his echo

We stocked up again before leaving Cabo and headed northwest to Todos Santos on Friday which is on the Pacific side. This is touted as an artsy, less touristy place than any of the Los Cabos destinations. There are some lovely surfing beaches nearby as well. The town is currently under some “renovations” including the main drag and most of the sidewalks. There are some art galleries here and there is the “Hotel California. This claims to be THE one from the Eagles song but it is not. They do, however, have a nice restaurant and bar area that plays Eagles music and of course, a gift shop.

We stayed in a rundown rv park near the centre of town as the weather was quite hot and we would need power to run the AC. There was hardly a breath of air that day and we wanted to be able to walk into town. El Litro campground did not offer much, just power and water, oh, and some hot showers. It was apparently damaged in the hurricane in 2014 and the owners do not have the capital to fix much it seems. It was cheap: only 150 pesos (less than $10) but it’s really just a dusty parking lot with outlets. There apparently used to be internet offered but the guy who had it died (?) and they no longer have it.

Just before pulling into the campground, we saw a sign that advertised a “sunset deck and exquisite restaurant on the beach” so after settling in, we thought we check it out and enjoy the day’s sunset. It was almost a mile up a dusty road in the heat and when we got there we saw it was open from 11:30 to 9:30 – great. However, the gate was locked and when a gentlemen came to assist up he said, they were not opening until maybe 5:15, 5:30 today. It was 4:00 so we weren’t hanging around in the heat. We did however continue down the road a bit to get to the beach which was quite lovely but being on the Pacific side and not sheltered at all, it looked pretty rough. Back to the RV we trudged and hung there for the night.

Saturday we were up and out of there enroute to La Paz. Doug was flying out on Sunday to Austin and we wanted to get Tigger washed and a few more supplies before settling into a campground for the week.

Getting Tigger washed is not too easy, even back home because it’s so tall. Here in Mexico, we had it done one before and it was about 100 pesos. We did ask around in Todos Santos but the minimum price was 200 and they couldn’t take it right away.

When we got to the outskirts of La Paz we found a place although it didn’t look tall enough. They guy said, “no you won’t go through; just park beside and we’ll bring buckets of water over”….. okay…..

where we had Tigger washed

It took a while and a few going overs before they got it down right but it only cost 140 pesos and we got in some walking. It’s nice not to be in a hurry the majority of the time especially when in Latin America because time is different here and “manana” does not always mean tomorrow, just not today.

As you’ve read, we’ve been to La Paz before but this time we decided to stay in the other rv park here; it’s closer to town, offers internet and is more secure. Fran will be alone for five nights and that was a big factor.

We got to Aqua Marina RV Park and the gate was locked. Good sign. The handy man let Doug come in and see the lady who runs it, Maria Louisa and he organized our booking and in we went. This is more like a first world place. It’s completely concreted with nicely laid out sites with fully hook ups, good Wi-Fi and hot showers. It’s just off the beach meaning there is a beach behind the park but there is no direct access but you can see it through the fence and palm trees. You need to walk out of the park and down the road a couple hundred metres to reach it. Some fishermen leave their boats there and there was a tiny float plane on shore as well. Maria Louisa is an 83 year old Mexican woman who married an American back in the 50’s. She and her husband ran a dive boat company here in La Paz for 45 years! They owned this park before he died and she closed it then but his son convinced her to open it again a couple of years ago. Her house is right in the centre of it and there are a few smaller ones that she lets out to family and friends. There used to be a pool but she said no one ever used it to so she filled it in. the front gate here stays locked all day and guests are given a remote to open it.

After settling in, we went for a walk into town along the malecon and had enjoyed a few beers. On our way back, Doug talked to a cab driver and arranged to be picked up the next morning at 5am for his flight(s).

Sunday morning we were up at 4:45 and went to the gate to meet the cab; he was not there; surprise surprise. Luckily Doug had him give us his number but when we called, Doug was sure we woke him up. So we unhooked Tigger and Fran was going to drive Doug to the airport. When we got back to the gate, there was the cab; he must live close by! So Doug took the cab ‘cause Fran felt he would get there faster as he’d know where he was going.

So the week of Nov 15th was spent with Doug in Austin and Fran in La Paz. Fran got Tigger nicely tidied and cleaned over the course of the week, got a few long standing to do’s done, bought ferry tickets for next week, got laundry done and caught up on website photos etc.

We arranged to have our mail delivered to Austin while Doug was there and ordered a few things from Amazon. Doug usually travels light with just a backpack when he goes to the US but this time he took his carry on suitcase to fill with “goodies”.