‘I’d like to see a cloud so the sun could go behind it and come out again,’ sighed a jaded traveller. He got his wish on the very last day
Joseph Kula
Province
A lot of activities to choose from in Los Cabos: horseback riding on the beach, taking a sunset cruise with pirates aboard the Buccaneer Queen and getting married.
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico – Brad Pitt and I have something in common: we have both found that dream sun destination.
During the filming of Troy, Pitt, with his Hollywood millions, stayed in a palatial home with a view to die for high up on a hill overlooking the Pacific at the tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. I, on the other hand, have had to make do with an all-inclusive package at a five-star resort on the Sea of Cortes, just a short WaveRunner ride away from the fabulous homes of the the rich and famous, including those of Sylvester Stallone and Madonna.
But, hey, the sunsets from my balcony at the Riu Palace are just as spectacular and the margaritas just as tasty.
What brings out the stars and thousands of other winter-weary folk to enjoy la vida buena (the good life) here in Los Cabos is the sun.
Even when other resort destinations such as Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo got a soaking after a brush with a series of tropical storms, Los Cabos stayed mostly dry.
Because it’s a basically a desert between two seas, the long finger of land known as Baja California, receives less than 10 inches of precipitation a year. And there seems to be a permanent high situated overhead, deflecting tropical storms.
After five consecutive days of nothing but blue sky, one jaded travel agent on our familiarization tour with Sunquest Vacations out of Vancouver and Calgary had enough:
“I’d like to see a cloud just one time so the sun could go behind it and come out again,” he sighed.
The holiday resorts at Los Cabos — there are 17 capes in all — are like pirate treasures popping up here and there along the Sea of Cortes (which is actually a moniker dreamed up by some PR person as it is really the Bay of California).
And although most of them spill onto wide expanses of cream-coloured, sandy beaches, red flags warn visitors not to swim because of the strong undertow.
But, with seemingly acres of pools with swim-up bars, palm-shaded, bougainvillaea-draped grounds and sumptuous buffet areas open to the gentle sea breezes, who cares.
To swim and snorkel it is best to go up the coast a bit toward Jose del Cabo.
For 20 pesos ($2 US), I took a local bus to inviting, family-friendly Playa Chelano (Chilean Beach), where, with local kids and a few tourists, I swam and snorkelled to my heart’s content as zebra fish used my legs as underwater pilons as they darted here and there. Not quite Caribbean-style see-to-the-bottom snorkelling but, hey, we all can’t be Jacques Cousteaus.
But I knew that I had come to the right place when the water in the ocean was warmer than in the pool at the Riu Palace.
From the resort, a six-peso (60-cent) mini-bus ride took me to the marina at Cabo San Lucas, where I hopped on board a glass-bottomed boat to the Friars, standing like rough-hewn statues from antiquity.
Named for the missionaries who tried, unsuccessfully to convert the native Pericues and stop their polygamous ways, the Friars stand guard at Land’s End.
It is here that I found Lover’s Beach where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortes come crashing together to form the weird and wonderful rock formations.
The area is a tourist magnet. Beneath the glass was a kaleidoscope of marine life. And when the boat operator threw some bread overboard, a feeding frenzy ensued.
“Those are Mexican pirhana,” he said with a chuckle.
Then, far below, air bubbles began to appear — telltale signs of scuba-divers searching for Nemo.
The boat took me past a colony of noisy sea lions — jostling for position on the rocks like so many linebackers — a flotilla of peckish pelicans and cruising cormorants.
Lover’s Beach, with its famous hole-in-the-wall type window to the Pacific as a backdrop, has a more sinister name in Spanish: Playa de los Muertes (Beach of the Dead) because it has claimed more than than one reckless swimmer.
During the Spanish colonial period, pirates used to hide out in one of the caves, ready to pounce on treasure-laden galleons as they tacked along the coast with riches from the Orient.
To get a feel for that era, I took a sunset sail aboard the Buccaneer Queen, a tall-masted ship that was built in Long Beach, Calif., in 1964 as a movie set.
As we sailed past the pirate hangouts of yore, we were treated with a fun re-enactment of those swashbuckling days when Sir Walter Raleigh and Cavendish struck terror in the hearts of the Spanish captains.
The attack came as the last rays of the sun sank beneath the horizon. Burly men dressed in Jolly Roger attire swung through the air just like in the movies. There was a clash of cutlasses and a woman in our party was taken captive. Aaargh!
Her would-be rescuer was made to walk the plank, plunging into the dark waters below. Aaargh!
Back at the marina the next day, I enjoyed a leisurely stroll past trendy restaurants with alluring names like Museo de Tequila, and toney shops set into terraced gardens, with the soothing sound of waterfalls, making the area an oasis in the desert of the Baja.
It’s quite a contrast with the vibrant, bustling downtown area of Cabo San Lucas, that becomes even more frenzied at night when the party animals descend to night spots such as El Squid Roe, the ubiquitous Margaritaville and the positively ingeniously named Cabo Wabo, owned by Sammy Hagar of Van Halen and Montrose fame.
Most nights, bands hailing from the U.S,, Europe, Mexico and Australia take to the stage, although Hagar himself has been known to entertain from time to time.
Before the revellers and sun-worshippers showed up on the shores of Baja California, there were the anglers, lured by some of the best game-fishing grounds in the world.
First it was John Steinbeck who landed on these shores in the 1940s, followed by the likes of John Wayne, Zane Grey of western pocketbook fame and Ernest Hemingway.
Every year in October, Cabo San Lucas hosts the world’s richest series of marlin fishing tournaments. But you don’t have to time your visit for that month as big-game fishing is available all year round.
You don’t have to be an avid sports fisher to enjoy a marine experience. A whale-watching excursion is another must-do if you are visiting from now until March, as the same grey whales that you might have seen migrating through B.C. waters to get to their summer haunts in Alaska, head down the California and Mexican coasts in the fall to reach their feeding and calving grounds in the plankton-rich lagoons on the Sea of Cortes.
So as the reputation of Los Cabos as a major fishing destination grew, big hotels followed and even the president of Mexico — also an avid fisher — got into the travel business when he and other investors built the first major hotel, the Finisterra, some 30 years ago.
With fancy digs and an endless summer, the elite of Hollywood — who also liked fishing — were hooked.
For families, the all-inclusive is the best bet. Most resorts, such as the Riu Palace, have programs and beach activities for all ages. There’s horse-back riding along the surf, jet-skiing, beach volleyball, scuba-diving and Latino dance lessons, not to mention pool-related fun things to do for the little tykes.
And Los Cabos has more golf courses than you can shake a club — all along the east coast from Cabo San Lucas to Todos Santos (where you will find the famed Hotel California popularized by The Eagles in their hit song.
But caution is in order. Accidents do happen, even in paradise. During my stay, two members of a wedding party were involved in a jet-ski mishap. One person lost control, was T-boned by the other with resulting internal injuries. The bill to airlift the injured party to a hospital in San Diego was enormous. Needless to say, travel insurance is a must.
The entertainment at the resorts is first-class. The nightly performances at the Riu — ranging from rock to folk music and superb dance routines — had the holidayers whooping and clapping. And the cervezas, margaritas and other exotic drinks kept coming.
Ah, la vida buena.
For shopaholics and souvenir hunters there are plenty of bargains to be had but you have to go to downtown Cabo San Lucas or up the Tourist Corridor to San Jose del Cabo to get them. The flea markets offer the best deals but be prepared to bargain. For high-quality merchandise, check out the Puerto Paraiso, a multi-levelled mall with shops, movie theatres and restaurants.
Or, you can do what some of the travel agents in our group did: They admitted — without a blush of embarrassment — to taking a taxi and heading out of town a bit to (gasp!) buy tequila at Costco.
But I didn’t come all this way to shop at Costco. I came here to to get a feel of the place. To see what brings the timesharers, the spring-break crowd, snowbirds from Canada, rockers like Hagar and actors like Pitt. And what I saw convinced me that Los Cabos is indeed worth consideration as a sun destination.
The stars glitter and the sun shines in Los Cabos — a perfect spot to hang out in winter and savour la vide buena.
And, by the way, some wispy clouds did show up the last day we were there — and our jaded travel-agent friend had his wish granted.
IF YOU GO
– Getting there: Sunquest Vacations has seasonal packages with daily service from Vancouver via Calgary starting at $1,779.
– Best time to visit: October to June, when the thermometer ranges from a low as 10 degrees C at night to a high of 28 degrees C in daytime. Temperatures from June to September can be searing.
– Accommodations: There is a wide range from timeshares, to apartments to all-inclusives such as the Riu Palace, where rates range from $187 US per person per night. The offer is valid until Dec. 25.
– Currency: $1 Cdn = 9.5 pesos.
– Info: For more information on Los Cabos, visit online at www.visitcabo.com; for Mexico, see www.visitmexico.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006
