Saturday, April 9, 2016
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
El Ano Nuevo-Cabo Style!
Ola mis amigos!
As a part of my new year's resolutions, I've decided that I'm going to pepper this blog with our life. Now you may be thinking: Bryan, that's what a blog is for... but ours has just been a nice thought until now. So sit down, strap in, and get ready for a ride (happening once weekly, probably on weekends).
New Year's 2016 found us climbing aboard a plane in wintry Salt Lake City and flying off to Mexico! Now you may be wondering how the heck two college students can afford such a trip, and if you're truly curious another page detailing how we do all this stuff for free will be posted in the coming months. Back to the trip.
We decided that we needed a break, school, work, life, it was all just too much ;) so a weeklong retreat south of the border ought to do us some good. We packed up our things, snorkels included, and made our way down to Cabo San Lucas. I was nervous at first, I mean you hear these stories about Mexico, cartels, El Chapo, you know the likes and I was worried we'd be walking into trouble. My fears were immediately lessened after we passed through the hour long line at customs and walked out of the airport doors into the shining sunlight. Those feelings I got when I spoke to latinos on my mission came rushing back and my tongue picked up the rolling r as if it was riding a bike. We got our rental car with ease and off we went to find our hotel. Now I won't say we didn't get lost while we were in Mexico, in fact, we got lost more often than I would've hoped, but it comes with travel. After learning the rules of the road (Mexicans don't stop at stop signs) and wandering about the city a bit, we finally found our hotel, Fairfield Inn Cabo. We got ourselves checked in and then went in search of food. We turned into the first little restaurant we passed by and were immediately welcomed, seating, fed and watered, and waited on hand and foot (we were the only people in the place). It seemed pretty authentic, the bright colors, the open air, the birds begging for table scraps, it was the perfect spot for our first stop.
After the meal, we decided to walk down to the beach, which wasn't too far and stroll along in the sand. We soon learned that the sand in Mexico is more like small gravel and if you aren't wearing sandals you'll soon wish you had. The rest of night we spent strolling along the beach and around the marina.
The next day started the real fun. After Ally's morning rituals, we headed out and found our first tour, Whale Watching! But not just touristy whale watching, Whale Watch Cabo! Small boats with no more than 10 people, all led by an actual Marine Biologist. Lisa, our german Marine Biologist educated us on everything whale. We even got to see a whale breach, something we were told doesn't happen every day.
That afternoon we spent eating and exploring. Who knew that Cabo had some of the best Gelato to offer.
On our way back home we thought we try for even more authentic Mexican, and stopped at a quaint little taco stand on the side of the road. The food was great, the atmosphere was fun, and the little dog begging for scraps at our table was the perfect added touch. It was great, up until we realized the keys had been locked in the rental car. Then the next hour and a half wait for the rental company to bring us another key was pretty dull.
We finally did make it back to our hotel just in time to get changed and walk to the marina for what Ally likes to call our Booze Cruise. An evening of free drinks, some finger foods, plenty of reggaeton music, and a catamaran on the bay.
At the stroke of midnight, the entire Medano Beach lit up with fire. We ate the traditional 12 grapes at each chime of the bell and then we boogied on down for the rest of the night.
Also, in keeping with the name of this blog I feel obligated to tell you though the boat was full of people our age, we somehow managed to spend the entire evening partying with a group of mid-50-year-olds. So in that sense, we were the youngest ones there.
While on the booze cruise, one of our older friends told us we simply had to visit two restaurants. One for breakfast and one for dinner. So we did! They were both great recommendations. The first was a little restaurant right on the beach, where the tables sat right in the sand so you could play with your feet in the sand as you ate.
The New Year's day was spent finding somebody to take us across the bay to Lover's Beach. There was a tad bit of drama with that one, want the deets? Ask Ally, I'm sure she'd love to fill you in on that.
The next day was the day I was anticipating with childlike wonder. SCUBA day! We went down to a shack on the beach and out we went. It was just the two of us, the dive master, and our boat captain. When I say boat, I mean more like dingy. They took us out and around Land's End, got us suited up and in we went! Straight down to a wreck, it was a cool dive, but there wasn't much sea life. There were also currents pulling at us and so by the end I think we were both tired of kicking. Our dive master showed us a small cave under the water and tried to coax us in, but Allysann wouldn't have any of it and so we didn't venture too far in.
The second dive was the memorable one. We were taken over to Pelican Rock, an area that the famous explorer Jacques Cousteau nicknamed the aquarium of the world. We went down 30 feet and there was a massive school of fish, sort of like the school from Finding Nemo. It was shimmering and sort of undulating, we probably could have spent the entire dive just staring at that ball but our dive master wanted us to keep moving. It was a good thing we did too, because we reached "The Wall" or the drop off into the bay. It's a wall that drops straight down 5000 feet below the surface, you couldn't see anything down in the darkness, and the vastness was breathtaking. At the wall, we also got to meet our dive master's little friends. Our dive master would tap on his goggles and up would swim a few fish as if they knew him, at the first sign of his apparent lack of food they would shoot off angrily. Luckily I had packed a little bit of tortilla in my wetsuit, the dive master called them back and as they feasted we got to pet them.
We don't have any video from the dive because your's truly forgot to charge the camera.
The next day we had to check out of our hotel. So I decided that was the day that we would make the longest trek up to the city of La Paz to do some swimming with Whale Sharks. The video speaks for itself.
After the swim, we drove back down to Cabo (after a fruitless search for a bat cave and getting the car stuck in a river bed) and checked into the Hyatt Ziva all-inclusive resort. I got us two free nights there and we planned on taking full advantage of the all-inclusive clause in the guest agreement. We had two days, they had 8 restaurants, they were no match for our stomach capacities! We felt like kings, and they kept treating us like them too, almost to the point of annoyance. You couldn't so much as look at a drink, or food, or anything for that matter without the employees trying to give it to you and if you wouldn't take it they would look at you as if you had just murdered their child.
Also, you haven't lived until you've watched Mexicans try and perform Disney and Abba.
After two short days of lounging and eating it was time to say goodbye to Mexico. We drove to the airport, dropped off our car, and flew back to the winter.
As a part of my new year's resolutions, I've decided that I'm going to pepper this blog with our life. Now you may be thinking: Bryan, that's what a blog is for... but ours has just been a nice thought until now. So sit down, strap in, and get ready for a ride (happening once weekly, probably on weekends).
New Year's 2016 found us climbing aboard a plane in wintry Salt Lake City and flying off to Mexico! Now you may be wondering how the heck two college students can afford such a trip, and if you're truly curious another page detailing how we do all this stuff for free will be posted in the coming months. Back to the trip.
We decided that we needed a break, school, work, life, it was all just too much ;) so a weeklong retreat south of the border ought to do us some good. We packed up our things, snorkels included, and made our way down to Cabo San Lucas. I was nervous at first, I mean you hear these stories about Mexico, cartels, El Chapo, you know the likes and I was worried we'd be walking into trouble. My fears were immediately lessened after we passed through the hour long line at customs and walked out of the airport doors into the shining sunlight. Those feelings I got when I spoke to latinos on my mission came rushing back and my tongue picked up the rolling r as if it was riding a bike. We got our rental car with ease and off we went to find our hotel. Now I won't say we didn't get lost while we were in Mexico, in fact, we got lost more often than I would've hoped, but it comes with travel. After learning the rules of the road (Mexicans don't stop at stop signs) and wandering about the city a bit, we finally found our hotel, Fairfield Inn Cabo. We got ourselves checked in and then went in search of food. We turned into the first little restaurant we passed by and were immediately welcomed, seating, fed and watered, and waited on hand and foot (we were the only people in the place). It seemed pretty authentic, the bright colors, the open air, the birds begging for table scraps, it was the perfect spot for our first stop.
My favorite part of the trip wasn't in fact the whales, though I did love them, it was in the first five minutes of the tour. As we were leaving the marina I spotted a sea lion hitching a ride on the back of a returning fishing boat begging for a snack. They are so smart.
 |
| The famous arch at Land's End |
New Year's Eve was a full day. We first made the hour drive north to the small and quaint town of Todos Santos and wandered about looking for the perfect souvenir, but to no avail. We also got to see our sought after Spanish Mission, get ripped off by a street taco vendor, and hung out on the beach where we saw, even more, whales playing in the surf.
On our way back home we thought we try for even more authentic Mexican, and stopped at a quaint little taco stand on the side of the road. The food was great, the atmosphere was fun, and the little dog begging for scraps at our table was the perfect added touch. It was great, up until we realized the keys had been locked in the rental car. Then the next hour and a half wait for the rental company to bring us another key was pretty dull.
We finally did make it back to our hotel just in time to get changed and walk to the marina for what Ally likes to call our Booze Cruise. An evening of free drinks, some finger foods, plenty of reggaeton music, and a catamaran on the bay.
At the stroke of midnight, the entire Medano Beach lit up with fire. We ate the traditional 12 grapes at each chime of the bell and then we boogied on down for the rest of the night.
Also, in keeping with the name of this blog I feel obligated to tell you though the boat was full of people our age, we somehow managed to spend the entire evening partying with a group of mid-50-year-olds. So in that sense, we were the youngest ones there.
While on the booze cruise, one of our older friends told us we simply had to visit two restaurants. One for breakfast and one for dinner. So we did! They were both great recommendations. The first was a little restaurant right on the beach, where the tables sat right in the sand so you could play with your feet in the sand as you ate.
The other restaurant was rated in the top 5 most beautiful restaurants in the world by tripadvisor: Sunset de la Mona Lisa. Because it was rated so high, we were unable to get reservations, but we did manage to get a table at the clifftop bar overlooking the restaurant. The food was still great. They even thought it was our honeymoon and they brought us out some treats.
The New Year's day was spent finding somebody to take us across the bay to Lover's Beach. There was a tad bit of drama with that one, want the deets? Ask Ally, I'm sure she'd love to fill you in on that.
The next day was the day I was anticipating with childlike wonder. SCUBA day! We went down to a shack on the beach and out we went. It was just the two of us, the dive master, and our boat captain. When I say boat, I mean more like dingy. They took us out and around Land's End, got us suited up and in we went! Straight down to a wreck, it was a cool dive, but there wasn't much sea life. There were also currents pulling at us and so by the end I think we were both tired of kicking. Our dive master showed us a small cave under the water and tried to coax us in, but Allysann wouldn't have any of it and so we didn't venture too far in.
The second dive was the memorable one. We were taken over to Pelican Rock, an area that the famous explorer Jacques Cousteau nicknamed the aquarium of the world. We went down 30 feet and there was a massive school of fish, sort of like the school from Finding Nemo. It was shimmering and sort of undulating, we probably could have spent the entire dive just staring at that ball but our dive master wanted us to keep moving. It was a good thing we did too, because we reached "The Wall" or the drop off into the bay. It's a wall that drops straight down 5000 feet below the surface, you couldn't see anything down in the darkness, and the vastness was breathtaking. At the wall, we also got to meet our dive master's little friends. Our dive master would tap on his goggles and up would swim a few fish as if they knew him, at the first sign of his apparent lack of food they would shoot off angrily. Luckily I had packed a little bit of tortilla in my wetsuit, the dive master called them back and as they feasted we got to pet them.
We don't have any video from the dive because your's truly forgot to charge the camera.
The next day we had to check out of our hotel. So I decided that was the day that we would make the longest trek up to the city of La Paz to do some swimming with Whale Sharks. The video speaks for itself.
After two short days of lounging and eating it was time to say goodbye to Mexico. We drove to the airport, dropped off our car, and flew back to the winter.
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