San Jose del Cabo - May 2005

Michael and I spent 4 days at the Westin on the Corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo in Baja California. It was a vacation for pure relaxation, resort style. This vacation was not about the "real Mexico"; we just wanted a pretty place to relax. This is something we don't do very often on vacation; so of course, we overpacked. Our vacation actually started with a drive down to San Diego, where we would stay the night to depart from San Diego International on Sunday morning.

Saturday - San Diego Bar Scene
We stopped for lunch in Solana Beach at the Pacific Coast Grill. Very tasty place - I had the Almond Crusted Tomato sandwich. We got down to the Westin Horton Plaza around 3:00. There were some terribly tacky people checking in, but our room on the 15th floor was very nice with a view of the bay. The hotel is located in the Gaslamp Quarter; hence, we were in walking distance of tons of bars and restaurants. We stumbled upon a Jazz Fest that was taking place on 4th. $40 entrance fee?? I don't think so, with tons of bars to go to featuring live bands for free! Our first stop was at Hennessey's. Then we went to The Bitter End. Our next stop was at the Martini Ranch where we had bloody Marys and martinis and listened to David Patrone, crooner extraordinaire. There was also some sad guy, claiming to never had drank martinis before. About an hour later, after we had returned from a much needed pizza break, this same guy was loudly hitting on some totally uninterested lesbian looking ladies. He even added his own special something to some of the songs. What a drunken fool! So after that, it was time for a nap. Dinner time came around 9:00. The streets were already filled (I'm sure Jazz fest and Memorial Day had something to do with that). We went to Mister Tiki Mai Tai Lounge and had some good pupus and more drinks. Our waitress was a friendly Amazon and a brunette Scarlett Johansson look-a-like kept the passers-by at bay. Very fun people watching.

Sunday - Arrive in Cabo
Flight to Cabo, uneventful. We arrived at the Westin to complimentary margaritas. We got lunch at the beach restaurant and immediately relaxed into Mexico time. After lunch we walked around the hotel to check out all the good stuff. The tennis court was grass (never played on grass before) and was in direct sunlight for most of the day. We considered playing at night, but somehow never had the desire by the time night fell. Then our room was ready. Wow! I never use this word seriously, but it was awsome! We had upgraded to a suite and man, was it sweet. There was living room space that we didn't ever use; I did sit on the couch just so I could say in my mind that I had used every space in the room. The balcony, as promised by their website, had a large jet tub and a bed and a spectacular view of the ocean. The bed was, of course, heavenly. The bathroom was the king of bathrooms. I love a good hotel bathrooms (other bathrooms of note have been found in Kauai and Rome). There were two sinks on the vanity and a shower big enough for at least 8 people. We unpacked our swimsuits and headed immediately down to the pool bar. It was a bit cold in the pool so we took our drinks to the sand. They have guys there that will set up the beach chairs and an umbrella and table anywhere you want on the sand. So we relaxed the rest of the afternoon away. After a shower, we headed over to the Rocks Bar which is attached to a restaurant carved into the cliffside. As we had our drinks, we could hear some club music wafting over from above. Some construction was going on next door to the hotel during the day, so maybe the workers were partying down! There aren't very many restaurants to choose from for dinner, so we went back to our room and ordered room service. In our giant room, there was also a dining table for us to eat the best room service I've ever had. I had sea bass with sauteed spinach and Michael had chicken tacos. After dinner we filled up the jet tub on the balcony and took in a soak under the stars. It was a great end to our first day.

Monday - Walk down the Beach
We started the day with our complimentary breakfast. Not too bad of a spread for a free perk! We decided to see how far we could walk along the beach. So we started going south. The waves continued to be big pounders against the shore very cool. As we walked past the Palmilla golf course, I started to chafe. Damn saltwater got all over me when a wave crashed in on us. So I had to take off my shorts and continue the rest of the walk with just my bikini bottoms. So we were passing by the Mira Mar hotel and noticed that the ocean water had turned a yucky shade of green with green foam. We came upon the beach in front of the Hilton. Our first greeting came from about 2 dozen large black crabs all over some rocks. Then we had finally found some water in which we could swim. I do love to watch crashing huge waves, but after a long hot walk, I really wanted to get into the water. The water was great and still had quite a bit of undertow. The supercool feature of this beach were a couple of ultralights taking people for sweet rides. I thought about it, but we had no cash as we had just set out for a little stroll. After our swim, we continued down the beach for another half mile and came up on a hotel with no name, but it had a beach bar. We got a couple beers, then caught a cab back to our hotel. Since we spent all our cash on beer, I had to run back to the room and get money. I don't know if the driver understood my sad Spanish, but I left Michael as collateral and we gave him a big tip. After we got back, we walked over to this nice little cove, brought our own drinks and lazed the afternoon away watching some really big waves crash just a few yards away from us. It was funny to watch people challenge the waves. This pair of guys got totally rolled, but one still held up his drink, losing his hat and sun glasses in the process. We all applauded. As my spa appointment time got closer, we cruised over to free buffet and then parted ways when I went to the spa. All in all, my facial was a relaxing experience and the steam room and sauna were great. The waiting area was out in the open, so that part wasn't totally relaxing. I think I would return for a massage, probably. Anyway, I found Michael just waking up from a pleasant nap on the balcony. We decided to go down to the 9-hole putting green down by the ocean. With a couple of beers, it was pretty fun. After walking around the couple of restaurants, we opted for room service again. This time Michael got the sea bass and I got seviche, black bean soup and a Caesar salad. All the food was spectacular once again.

Tuesday - Snorkeling at Chileno Bay
We started the day with another free breakfast. Then we took a cab down to Playa Chileno. It's a nice open swimming beach that is supposed to have good snorkeling and kayak rentals. It no longer has kayak rentals and the snorkeling is mediocre. The Hotel Cabo San Lucas, which is on the bay is undergoing renovation, so that could be why there are no facilities available. The beach itself is pretty and it was nice to lounge at and swim around. The water is a bit cloudy for snorkeling and the coral was lacking. So our plan had been to catch a cab outside the hotel. Since the hotel is closed, we went back to the parking lot hoping we could flag down a cab on the street. Luckily, there was a security guard from the hotel in the parking lot and he called a cab for us. We were back at our hotel in no time. We headed back out to the little cove and relaxed until it was time to clean up for dinner. We had made reservations for the only fine dining establishment at the hotel, Arrecifes. Before dinner we took a quick soak in the balcony tub and watched the sunset and other people eating dinner at Arrecifes, as we had a full view of the restaurant from our balcony. We went over to the restaurant early and had a couple of drinks before dinner. I saw that they were serving food in the Rocks bar that night. I wonder why they weren't serving food on Sunday... eh, who cares, we were there for a good dinner. We were seated and the server opened the wine we had brought so it could open up. The corkage fee was steep, but still cheaper than a bottle that good would have cost there. The view of the night sky from the restaurant is amazing; I guess a lot of people want to be there for sunset, but we had a pretty nice view of that from our balcony. So the meal and the service were impeccable. Now my fine dining expectations for Cabo were pretty low; I've had good food there, but nothing spectacular. This meal blew me away! It's now on my top 10 list of all time great meals and it deserves its own paragraph.

Tuesday - Dinner at Arrecifes
Michael started his dinner with s salad of mixed greens, roasted tomatoes and goat cheese quenelle. I started with a lobster and asparagus salad. The lobster was perfectly cooked and was held in place by asparagus tips arranged vertically into a circle. Next, we both received an intermezzo of raspberry sorbet. For his entree, Michael chose Red Snapper with a garlic cream sauce accompanied by sauteed baby vegetable s and tomato risotto. I did try the snapper and the sauce was luscious. However, I didn't find out about the tomato risotto until after the meal; Michael had scarfed it down without giving me a try. For my entree, I chose Lamb Chops with a pumpkin seed crust and red wine sauce accompanied by mushroom stuffed tomatoes and potato cake layered with gouda and bacon and sauteed baby vegetables. The lamb was cooked to a perfect medium-rare and was a a good size portion. I could share and not have leftovers or be hungry. The potato layer was absolutely decadent and creamy with the bacon contributing the correct amount of saltiness. The mushroom stuffed tomato melted in my mouth with earthly and tangy flavors. Wow, could this meal get any better? We looked over the dessert menu and made our choices. Michael chose the banana and apple crepes topped with caramel sauce and I chose a quartet of creme brulee: vanilla, fudgy chocolate, lemon and coffee. The desserts were full of flavor, but not over-the-top filling. We finished our wine and agreed that we had just experienced a fantastic meal. We strolled back to our room and watched the stars before we fell into blissful sleep.

Wednesday - Depart Cabo
Our last day in paradise. I got up early of course and read. Around 9, I woke up Michael and we got cleaned up and went to breakfast. After breakfast we took about an hour stroll on the beach to check out the cool waves for a last time and took a bunch of pictures, which turned out a little funny because the camera was set to indoor mode. Anyway, we packed up our stuff, jumped on the shuttle van and went to the airport. The flight back was quick and uneventful except for some old chick who was recounting her Cabo bar crawl and intoxicated flirting and brief nudity to the passenger next to her. Hopefully, Michael will stop me if I ever get to that point. Anyway, the only fun in customs was another old lady who had her 3 dogs with her that had some stupid names, but she just called them her babies and was totally in love with them. Yet again, Michael will stop me if I ever turn into that. I think I only have that potential due to my lack of having children. Maybe I'll just turn into a fish lady and take them with me wherever I go. (I don't like pets that require too much care). So we stopped for dinner and returned home to find out that a bunch of houses in Laguna Beach had crumbled. Glad we don't live on a hill.

Pictures of our trip