9 - 14 February, 2007
Cabo San Lucas, Baha California Sur, Mexico
---population: 150,000
Villa Serena Trailer Park
Dear Friends of Barbara and Charlie (B/C) ...
[map]Humphrey again. This email covers the drive from to Los Barriles down the coast of the Sea of Cortez to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the peninsula, 66 miles. We stayed here six nights.
Along the way we passed the Mexican monument marking the Tropic of Cancer (22.5 degrees north latitude) which we crossed here marking entry into the tropics and tropical temperatures.
A clarification of names. Cabo San Lucas is at the western end of “Los Cabos”, resort development stretching from San Juan Del Cabo on the right, an older laid-back town, to Cabo San Lucas, the modern tourist mecca on the left. The RV park was about 7 miles east of Cabo San Lucas and 15 west of San Juan Del Cabo, just east of Costco.
The area marks the convergence of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific. In the 16th and 17th centuries the gulf side was a favored hiding place for pirates who plundered Spanish galleons. The early 20th century brought commercial fishing and when that petered-out, in 1974 the Mexican government began development of Capo San Lucas from scratch as a tourist center. So all the ritzy hotels, shops and crowded yacht harbor that you see in San Lucas, all to world-class standards, is only about 30 years old.
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San Juan Del Cabo. We’ll start here. The town is built around the ubiquitous Catholic church, built 1720 and now beautifully restored; with typically narrow streets, very appealing tree-shaded shopping lanes, and “Shooters” a pleasant roof-top restaurant/bar overlooking it all. Here B/C are having lunch with Al and Terri.
Charlie at lunch at the Gardenia Restaurant in Cabo San Lucas with (right to left) Claudia and Jerry our Wagon Masters and Marita and Bill our Tail Gunners. Gardenias is famous for its tacos at reasonable prices for Cabo San Lucas. Charlie’s distressed look was caused by the announcement that they were out of cactus tacos.
The area marks the convergence of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific. In the 16th and 17th centuries the gulf side was a favored hiding place for pirates who plundered Spanish galleons. The early 20th century brought commercial fishing and when that petered-out, in 1974 the Mexican government began development of Capo San Lucas from scratch as a tourist center. So all the ritzy hotels, shops and crowded yacht harbor that you see in San Lucas, all to world-class standards, is only about 30 years old.
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San Juan Del Cabo. We’ll start here. The town is built around the ubiquitous Catholic church, built 1720 and now beautifully restored; with typically narrow streets, very appealing tree-shaded shopping lanes, and “Shooters” a pleasant roof-top restaurant/bar overlooking it all. Here B/C are having lunch with Al and Terri.
Charlie at lunch at the Gardenia Restaurant in Cabo San Lucas with (right to left) Claudia and Jerry our Wagon Masters and Marita and Bill our Tail Gunners. Gardenias is famous for its tacos at reasonable prices for Cabo San Lucas. Charlie’s distressed look was caused by the announcement that they were out of cactus tacos.
Barbara and others went on a shopping tour to Todos Santos 40 miles north of Cabo San Lucas which was holding its annual crafts show. Alternatively there is the more traditional but upscale Marina Mercado Arts & Crafts Market at the Cabo San Lucas small boat harbor. Barbara noted that just about all of the crafts displayed were shipped over from mainland Mexico. Cabo San Lucas has a number of high-style stores, a modern two-story down-town mall, a Costco, Home Depot and soon a Walmart.
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Cabo San Lucas has a lot of tourist things to do beyond shopping. One attraction is to take a small glass-bottomed boat out to see the fish, view the old cannery of 75 years ago, visit Lover’s beach for sunbathing (notice how Barbara caught Charlie blending into the geologic rock formation), watch the kayakers and ultimately the see roosting pelicans.
Note the cruise ship in port; Cabo San Lucas gets 1-5 daily.
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A highlight of the stay was a catamaran sail at sunset. Charlie was very interested in the number of trimarans in the harbor both private (from up and down the West Coast and Mexico) and those used locally for sailing tours. For some reason he didn’t find the tri he designed and built 40 years ago in Seattle. Here Barbara has gained Margarita confidence sitting on the net between the halls talking with Al and Terri. Then the obligatory picture of B/C in the wind; the temperature was in the tropical 90‘s but the sea breeze made it a little chilly. The rock formations at the very end of the of the Cape, the advertised sunset and lastly the paved malacon around the yacht harbor on our way home from the cruise.
Next: La Paz, the beginning of our return north.
… Humphrey for Charlie and Barbara
Note the cruise ship in port; Cabo San Lucas gets 1-5 daily.
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A highlight of the stay was a catamaran sail at sunset. Charlie was very interested in the number of trimarans in the harbor both private (from up and down the West Coast and Mexico) and those used locally for sailing tours. For some reason he didn’t find the tri he designed and built 40 years ago in Seattle. Here Barbara has gained Margarita confidence sitting on the net between the halls talking with Al and Terri. Then the obligatory picture of B/C in the wind; the temperature was in the tropical 90‘s but the sea breeze made it a little chilly. The rock formations at the very end of the of the Cape, the advertised sunset and lastly the paved malacon around the yacht harbor on our way home from the cruise.
Next: La Paz, the beginning of our return north.
… Humphrey for Charlie and Barbara
