Papa Noel en Cabo San Lucas

Merry X-mas and a happy new year retrospectively. I just want to leave some words here about my X-mas time in 2006. Arielle came over for about 3 weeks. Before we actually started our trip to Mexico on the 25th of December we were visiting some places around San Jose like the observatory in the mountains surrounding the Bay Area and the Byington vineyard in the hills of the redwood forest where I got a really nice vine for my parents. Hopefully it will make it all the way to Germany. On X-mas itself we had a kinda secret Santa thing at a friends place where everyone picks a name and gets a present for this particular guy. Well I got a poker game and a fart machine ... so far about the reputation of my person over here ;) That was quite nice and a appropriate replacement for the traditional German X-mas. Next day we finally left "cold" Cali for warm and sunny Mexico. Our destination was Cabo San Lucas. For those of you who don't know where that is...here is a map. Its the very tip of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. When we arrived I was able to catch a brief look through the window of the plane in order to admire the terrific scenery of huge mountains and large desert fields. Once we took a step out we could feel the heat I was missing so terribly. It was sunny, no clouds, hot ... all in one... amazing. We left the airport with a shuttle we booked before. Afore we were gathered by Mexican shuttle drivers that try to persuade us to go with them instead. As I will tell later, Mexico is a place of brisk trade...for a bargain or overpriced. People chase you hoping that you buy something and to be honest...its damn expensive here. Anyway, we arrived our hotel in Cabo San Lucas, barely 30 miles southern of the San Jose Del Cabo Airport. And like in a bad comedy there was a construction area right in front of our hotel. The ocean view I actually paid extra for was nothing but some nice steel and concrete. With some luck you could see through the wires up to the original hills and beaches in the background. But the cherry on top was the noise that started exactly at 7am in the morning along with the construction workers starring into our room. That's hilarious. Never mind, we changed room and got a really comfy replacement room with a nice view and quietness in the morning. Besides this little shock in the beginning, our trip was just fabulous. At the same day we had a walk at the beach which looked like a little party mile with lights, fire and music. Moreover we were running through the waves with water that was so warm, clean and blue. There were always vendors present that tried to sell you some blankets and blinks for a lot of money. They started ridiculously high but you were always able to negotiate them. Arielle is still mad because we didn't get that turtle blanket for 15$ in our very first night. WHATEVER! The next day we went into the city to get some money and to do some shopping. I got this typical cowboy head and and and.The streets are kinda interesting, everything looks slightly shabby as you may expect it from Mexico but the more you approach the beach the more it gets American-like including the prices :). In the afternoon we took a water taxi to the really famous Lover's Beach which is just accessible that way. Between two big rocks at the tip of Baja there is this little strip of white sand which connect the two ocean. Right two ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortes/Gulf Of California are hitting on each other, lovely called kissing, that's why it's called Lover's beach apparently. No question, it is also romantic. On the one side you have big waves crashing into the rocks, strong currents pulling you from the shore into the water, twisting you several times before you are even able to take a breath again...quite exciting and guess what...I was jumping into this inferno of course. Man, usually you have to pay for such a thrill. And so it happens if you just walk 10 meter over to the other side there is a smooth and gentle water absolutely suitable for snorkeling and swimming. Before we went out for dinner in one of these restaurants along the beach we usually took a jump into the hot whirl pool of our hotel. The next day we took a tour through one of these hotels to get some bargain for horse-back riding and jet ski. Its funny, San Lucas people pay a lot of attention to see if you are married in order to sell you time shares. Everywhere we went people asked us if we are married. In the beginning we said no and the most common answer was "so it is your sister" or "why not" coming along with some unambiguous asking looks down to my person. In the end we just played married which was fun and moreover saved us a lot of money. So around noon we took off to ride some horses on the beach. Wow. I know its sounds sissy but it was really cool. Its kinda hard to stay on the horse once it started galopping. We were going down the beach and people were staring at us...even worse , they were crossing our way. I mean, if there is a horse approaching it doesn't mean to jump into the way...crazy people. It was fun and my butt still hurt 2 days after. It seems there are no rules or restrictions in Mexico. I mean something like this wouldn't be possible in America or Europe...too dangerous. Afterwards we rode some jet ski and the same story...No rules. We were running these jets across the whole beach, in front of boats and people driving kayaks. It was sooo crazy, I was beating the sh*t out of this machine while Arielle was getting far away from me since she thought I gonna kill her :) Damn, I love speeding over the ocean. Besides these decent rides :) were were going through the arch of Lover's beach which actually was prohibited but hey, I didn't get these jets to cruise around. Amazing to see this kinda natural masterpiece inhabited by some sea lions which stink like hell if you get too close. So far it was really fun. At night we chose another restaurant at the beach...the mango bar where Arielle got into a competition with some other guys about drinking beer as quick as possible. How she got into it? Because she can't close her mouth and needs to defend the female world. POOR GIRL, she lost against some gay guy named Jose or so. Her penalty was a lap dance for her husband...ME in particular... in front of the whole crowd. Justice has won :) . On our last day we ordered a trip on a sailing boat to some bay where we snorkeled a bit. It wasn't that nice as in Australia but still really impressive. We enjoyed the scenic, the ride on the ocean and of course free drinks (oje oje, the tequila sunrise kicks a**). In the end we planed some para sailing but we were too much tired to do anything so we canceled it. All together we experienced a lot and we had a great time. Mexico is definitely worth a trip. It is kinda pricey but the service is incredible. Even tho the bars were kinda small there were always 3 to 4 waiters around cleaning our ashtrays and so on. They really pull out a leg for you :) how we German would say figuratively. We returned on the 29th of December into the cold San Jose where the shower provides hot water on demand :)