Mexican Riviera Cruise - Cabo San Lucas

(By Jim)
We didn't have much planned for our day in Cabo. None of the ship's tours appealed, so we decided to walk around, see what we could see, and then head back to the ship. It was beautiful as we came around the rock formations at the mouth of the harbor.

We tendered into the port, and then started walking around the marina. We kept getting approached by touts wanting to take us fishing, glass bottom boat rides, sell us a timeshare. Finally, one of the time-share guys pointed us in a way to get out of the marina area and into town. Unfortunately, the part of town we found wasn't much.

After some harsh words between us, we found a bench to sit on and a pharmacy where I got two cold Coca-Colas.

Cokes in Mexico taste like Cokes used to in this country, because they use sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. [Skip the next part if you’re not interested in economics. You won’t miss anything, really.] Why is this? Cost. One of the side effects of US agricultural policy are sugar import quotas and tariffs to support the US sugar industry, concentrated in south Florida with sugar cane, and in the Midwest with sugar beets. So, sugar is more expensive here. On the other hand, we subsidize corn farmers and so their products are cheaper. Now, it will be interesting to see what happens to the price of high fructose corn syrup when we start using more corn for biofuel production.[All Done!]

Anyway, we decided to cut up some of the side streets, which brought us to a sporting goods shop, Minerva Baja Tackle, one of the premier outfitters in town. Cabo is known for big game fishing, and I spent some time browsing their large boat tackle before buying a hat for my father. Afterwards, we popped into a cigar store and café where we chatted with some American ex-pats who were getting their residency permits that day. They told us that the value of the yachts in Cabo had passed Monte Carlo, and it was the most valuable yacht basin around. I'm not surprised. I saw a bunch of boats that I knew were at least $500,000, and God only knows how much more. I decided to pass on Cuban cigars; I had my Montecristos with me and didn't need any more.

We popped into the jewelry store that the ship was promoting, got a free trinket, and then headed back to the marina. On the way, there was a stand set up by the local zoo; where for a donation of $20 you could get your picture taken holding a baby lion or tiger. Barbara got hers taken with the tiger. They weren't getting a lot of business, so they let her play with the tiger for a while, and even put it on her head!

After that, it was time to find the one thing I did want to look up. Barbara had been told about a tequila store and bar called Tequila Treasures run by a guy named Geovanni. We entered right about the same time he was opening, with the Village People on the stereo singing "In the Navy". The tequila selection was impressive. I had tried a lot of them, but there were at least 2 dozen more I hadn't seen before. I tried four while Barbara had a couple of beers. My favorites of these were the Ancestra tequilas, both the reposado and the añejo.

After that, it was time to head back to the boat. We wobbled back, and chilled out on the balcony of our cabin. I got some great pictures of the sunset and the rocks from there.

I wish we had known more about Cabo. What we saw didn’t make much of an impression on us and we didn't like it much. That was probably because we didn't get away from the port area. Next time I'll know better what to do, like planning a sport fishing excursion before we come, or wearing our bathing suits out and taking a panga out to go snorkeling. Or take a taxi to just drive us around the town and the neighborhood. Anything to get away from the port area.

Fortunately, this planning problem wasn't duplicated in Mazatlan. To be continued…