2026 Hotel Aereopuerto

We've been in Mexico a full week now and that week was full of a variety of experiences.

Our first week in Mexico began with a stay in the luxurious (by Mexican standards) Hotel Aereopuerto.  Visible from the sidewalk outside the "Arrivals Terminal" it stands a tall and proud rectangular building with few architectural details.  It does, however,  have everything we need for our first night in San Jose del Cabo: an airport shuttle, a restaurant, a bar, a swimming pool and nearby car rentals and Oxxo.  After several stays here, we now know some of the ins and outs.  

Hotel Aereopuerto

Our first time staying at Hotel Aereopuerto, we rode the shuttle from the airport.  The next day we rode it back, checked in at the car rental desk, then rode their shuttle to the car lot, right near our hotel!  Nowadays we know the walk to the hotel in the warm Mexican sun feels perfect after hours in airplanes and airports.  Our first year we attempted the walk, we were stopped by fences and a gate separating us from the hotel.  Luckily, a car stopped at the gate and using a remote control, opened the gate.  We scurried through before the gate closed, feeling quite fortunate to have timed our arrival just right.  It was on our way to the car rental that we watched a pedestrian simply push the gate open!  And we discovered that all the car rentals are within a block of the hotel. Another nice walk in Mexican sunshine.

This year we laughed with the woman walking the opposite direction who helped us open the gate about how heavy it was.  Since we were a little early for check-in (no early check-ins here) we stashed our bags and headed for the Oxxo.  What's an Oxxo you ask?  Picture a Town Pump with shelves of tequila behind the register and you'll have it about right.  Yes, they have mix there, too.

At Hotel Aeropuerto they have glass glasses in your room and ceramic coffee mugs.  On the door to the swimming pool, there is no sign forbidding glass in the pool area.  On the gate to the pool from the parking area there is no lock requiring a room key and no warning about slick tiles or lack of lifeguard.  This is life in a society where people don't seem to sue each other.

A trip to the bar after dinner felt like a welcome home.  I first poked my head in to see if there were still a bar and I saw a familiar face "Te recuerdo, " I started to say and the bartender finished my sentence saying,"Del ano pasado." We have fun helping each other with our languages.  I'd looked up the word for retirement (jubliado) because last year he told us he was saving so he could retire and he corrected my pronunciation of my new word.  I like how it looks like jubilant.  Wonder if they share a latin root?

After our free breakfast the next morning, I thought to ask the kitchen guys if they had any cardboard boxes I could take.  One of the "outs" we learned on a previous trip is the lack of bags at the grocery store!  One year we filled our trunk with loose groceries...and I mean filled it!  Another year, I bought a couple of giant garbage bags from a guy in the parking lot selling them for some alcoholic recovery organization.  The cardboard boxes from the kitchen worked much better.

Our load of groceries from San Jose del Cabo

At the car rental place I added another word to my Spanish vocabulary with the help of one of the bilingual guys behind the counter.  I wanted the word for groceries.  He gave me "mandaba" and explained that is a Mexican term referring to not only groceries but also your grocery list. It translates as "command", but in Mexico it means groceries.  It reminds me of how one word can hold part of a culture.

It wasn't until our second day in Mexico, after we'd done our mega grocery run that we made our way from busy San Jose Del Cabo to the quiet beach town of Pescadero.  As we made our final turn to our little bungalow we spotted Canadian friends Peter, Joyce and Beryl on their rooftop deck.  We honked and waved, saw Joyce return a wave, but wondered if they recognized us in our rental car.  The next morning when Peter wandered by and stayed for a coffee that we knew they'd seen us.  Finally, on Thursday night, I got to fall asleep listening to the ocean.  After coffee with Peter Friday morning we drove to town for produce and frozen chicken.  Saturday morning we made the harrowing drive back to Cabo to return the car.  Imagine driving one of the busiest roads in Baja with the usual aggressive Mexican drivers and a passenger reminding you regularly of the speed limit.  Suffice it to say, we were both majorly relieved once all the rental papers were signed and we rode back to Pescadero on the comfortable, air conditioned bus, watching a Richard Gere movie.  The walk from the bus station to our bungalow allowed us time to reacquaint ourselves with the neighborhood.  It feels good to be back in our Mexican digs, ready to slip back into a simple Baja routine.