The day before our departure we verified the bus schedule and our Cabo San Lucas reservations, packed our bags, and prepared Sonrisa by giving her our good-byes. Given her habit of accompanying us everywhere we go, I alerted her real owners that we wouldn't be returning from town on Saturday. Although they would be in La Paz the morning we left, they would tell the dog-sitter to keep our companion inside. That evening Sonrisa left our porch for the first evening in a week or more. I marveled that she understood our goodbyes and that her sitter was keeping her in.
As I prepared coffee at dawn the next morning, I couldn't believe what I heard: that familiar ear-flap of morning wake-up! Yep, there she was on our couch. When I opened the door I was greeted with unusual exuberance as if Sonrisa said, "I can't believe I get to see you again!"
In addition to my usual tardiness in getting out the door to travel, we now had a new complication: what to do with Sonrisa? Although she lives in the neighborhood, we'd never met the sitter and was told she is not an early riser.
As luck would have it another neighbor passed by and agreed to let Sonrisa out of our house and lock the door thirty minutes after our departure, tucking the key in the hiding place where the caretaker would find it. But that still didn't solve the problem of being in town in time to catch the bus. Should we go one of the shorter ways with known bad dogs? By the time we got to the decisive fork in the road, we were done talking and turned our feet down the longer fork. There was little traffic that morning, so once we were on the final fork to town and heard a vehicle rumbling behind us, I stuck out my thumb. More luck: a pickup truck with room for us and our packs in the back! I think our Mexican angels would have driven us to Todos Santos if we'd wanted to go that way. Instead they dropped us at the bus station just as the southbound bus arrived. We no sooner bought our tickets and stowed our packs than the bus left, five minutes ahead of schedule! We were amazed we just barely made it on time!
The hour-long bus ride passed quickly and then we were deposited in the busy metropolis of Cabo San Lucas. Quite a change from little Pescadero. Bruce tried out his new Uber app and by the time we lugged our packs out the door, our ride had arrived. Our driver was an enthusiastic young Mexican with few English words. He's lived in Cabo for 11 years and handled that crazy gnarled traffic as adroitly as a NY taxi driver might. He snaked through traffic and narrowing streets to find our place on the backside of the marina. Bruce, forgetting that he'd put the credit card in the Uber app handed our guide enough pesos to cover the fare and a generous tip then asked for directions to the car rental. Eying the bill Bruce had insisted he take, our driver wouldn't give us directions. "Drop your bags here and I'll take you there," he offered. And he did just that without asking for another centavo!
The car rental wasn't too far, but climbing the hill up from the marina with our packs would have been difficult. We appreciated the Alamo agent who was fluent in English and helped straighten out a snafu we'd had with our reservation for a car the following day. We were both glad we didn't have to add driving to our already crazy transition day. The pace was dizzying after our lazy Pescadero days. The walk back to our condo along the busy Cabo streets was a good way to adjust.
Our condo was one flight above the marina with a pleasant little balcony from which we could watch all the frenzied tourists chasing the vacation of their dreams.
Having denied ourselves trips to town in Pescadero for delicious Mexican meals, we'd promised ourselves to "live it up" while in Cabo and boy, did we! First, a walk-by tour of all the restaurants and bars along the marina led us to the best deal on margaritas. We followed that with flavorful Chile rellenos at a restaurant. What we hadn't figured on was the all-night "concert" we were "treated to" in our room. It seems all the bars figure you won't feel like you are in The Party City unless you can hear music coming at full volume from several bars at once. We hadn't counted on that perk when booking a place close to ATM's, restaurants and bars! As we turned out our lights Bruce wondered aloud how late they go to in Cabo. I ventured that we'd find out tonight. And now I can tell you, they go until 4am.
Yes, after a hearty breakfast the next morning, we were ready to pick up our car and get out of that crazy place! Shopping at the Mexican grocery store can be insane on a Sunday afternoon, but by getting there in the morning we avoided the crowd. This time we only needed groceries for a week and we'd saved every plastic bag we'd received at the smaller Pescadero store, so we were a little better prepared.
Bruce handled the drive to Cabo Pulmo like he'd done it before (he had, once) and taking the northern route we made good time. So happy was I to be in quiet little Cabo Pulmo, I had to stop at the beach and stick my feet in the water before going on to another dinner out and a quiet night in our Cabo Pulmo home.
Glad you had suerte.
ReplyDeleteI hope we get to hear about Cabo Pulmo.
Believe it or not, I had a few folks as me to keep going. So I will.
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