iViva la Mexico!

The word "Cabo" always made me think of overbleached blonde, tanorexic Minnesota girls - the kind who say "Us girls love to party in Cabo." Unfortunately a friend of ours used to date one such specimen and if I had to base my judgment of Cabo on her choice in travel destinations, I never would have gone. Luckily, we are friends with another couple who are expert travelers and about 2 years ago, they suggested we get the Starwood Amex card. It has awesome rewards and we've been able to stay at W hotels in LA, San Diego and Montreal using points, get super late check outs, upgrades to suites and they offer amazing discounts on all Starwood hotels, which enabled us to stay at the Westin Los Cabos at a reasonable rate. Our friends spent New Year's at the resort and told us how amazing it is. George Clooney was staying there when they were, and they saw whales. I was sold. I had a free flight to Mexico on Sun Country (best airline ever) from flying back and forth to San Francisco so many times with Jeff last year and we had freezing Feb temperatures in MN, so it was a no-brainer to spend a few days in the surf, sand and sun. Our trip to Los Cabos turned out to be one of my favorite getaways ever. I will summarize in a list of highlights since lists seem to be my new prose. But basically, if you can - Just Go There!!

1. WHALES, WHALES and more WHALES: I was hoping to see a few whales during my stay and thought it would be a miracle if I saw one breach. We arrived Wednesday night after dark and I could barely contain my excitement knowing there were whales right there in the Sea of Cortez. Just had to wait for the sun to come up to see them from our ocean view terrace. I popped up at 6 am (highly unusual for me), made coffee, put some mellow music on the iHome (all hotels need to have these so I can play my iPod, seriously) got in my comfy robe and slippers and started whale spotting while El Jefe slumbered peacefully in the heavenly bed. The sunrise was absolutely gorgeous and it only took about 2 minutes to spot the first blow hole spout in the distance, which made me ridiculously happy. Like tears in my eyes. What is wrong with me?? From that point on, I literally saw hundreds of whales during the 5 days we were there. It was a virtual cacophony of blow hole spouting, lobster tailing and breaching - almost musical to watch. I had read this is the prime time to see grey whales as they head south from the Pacific to the Sea of Cortez to give birth but really was not prepared for the number of whales I would see, and their close proximity to the shore. Later that day we took a walk on the beach and I saw my first whale tail. I knew a breach wasn't far behind and got to see many of them later that day while lounging by the pool with a strawberry daiquiri, under an umbrella, reading whodunits and listening to my smooth electronica mix. My 6 hours of staring at the ocean hoping for a breach finally paid off when a pod of whales breached about 20 times in a row - visible from the shore, each ending with an enormous splash. After a while it became so routine that people on shore only got excited when there was a really big whale breach and splash. I had been on several whale watching tours and never saw anything but the blow hole spouting so I was overjoyed to witness these majestic creatures breaching in the wild. We also saw many mothers teaching their calves to breach, so we'd see a gigantic mama breach and spout and then a lil' tiny one do the same. It was the cutest ever. A whale themed nursery might be in order at some point.

2. The Westin Los Cabos: Famed Architect Javier Sordo Madaleno managed to bring the surrounding desert and sea together in perfect harmony with his design of this magnificent property. Bright pinks, yellows, adobe oranges and turquoise surround you at every turn and the infinity pools seem to disappear into the deep azure Sea of Cortez. We enjoyed a tennis match on the grass/sand courts (where I beat El Jefe handily and enjoyed yelling out the score in a British accent) and putting on the mini-golf course during the day, in addition to our daily lounge sesh either under an umbrella right on the beach, or at the pool. At night we sat by the bonfire on the beach, drank margaritas at La Cantina or sipped tequila on the rocks on our terrace while listening to the waves crash below. With our Starwood card we got an amazing breakfast buffet and happy hour included and I'm quite glad. Enjoying a spread of fresh berries with cream, melons, pastries, huevos rancheros, bagels with lox, fresh squeezed oj and strong coffee on the patio overlooking the ocean and watching whales swim by was a great way to start each day. We made it to the happy hour twice and they were glad to make any fruity concoction I could think of from pina coladas to rum punch, along with chips, salsa, guacamole, taquitos and flan. It was not a lo-cal trip by any means. But a tasty one.

3. Swim Up Bar: The heated, adults-only infinity pool with a swim up bar was the perfect place to enjoy delicioso frozen strawberry margaritas while whale spotting under the palm trees. I'm a total pleasure junkie, so the more relaxing things I can do at one time, the better. There were several other pools and hot tubs on the property and I managed to take a dip in each one. Floating in an outdoor pool looking up at the clouds and palm trees is something I was lucky enough to be able to do growing up every summer in our backyard pool, so any chance I get to do the same now, I highly appreciate.

4. Venturing into San Jose del Cabo: After 2 full days at the resort, we were getting a bit restless and wanted to check out the surrounding towns. I was definitely more interested to check out San Jose del Cabo, one of the oldest towns in Mexico, and only about a 10 minute cab ride. We started with lunch at the Tropicana where I had a very strong cadillac margarita and chicken enchiladas with rice and beans. One of the best meals I have had - it was perfection. Walking around the charming little Mexican town, we discovered the Mission of San Jose del Cabo that had been around since the 1700s and was gorgeous. Soon we stumbled into the Districto del Arte, filled with colorful bars, restaurants and art galleries. None of the establishments looked magnifico from the outside but once we went inside we discovered gorgeous terraces, palm trees and classic Mexican architecture. We popped into a few galleries, enjoyed vino blanco outside in the warm early evening air and listened to live musicians singing and walking through the streets with their guitars. As night fell and the candles were lit, the area took on a magical glow. The arts district reminded me a lot of the Gothic District in Barcelona - one of my favorite places ever.

5. Exploring Cabo San Lucas and El Arco on a Wave Runner: We wanted to check out El Arco de Cabo San Lucas where the Pacific ocean meets the Sea of Cortez, and figured the best way to do that would be on a wave runner. We rented one for an hour and zipped around which was a total blast. Jeff drove and I hung on for dear life - he is muy loco. We saw seals flipping around in the water and lounging on rocks and got close to the marina to see the town. Somehow my photos from this adventure got deleted unfortunately. After wobbling off the wave runner we took a water taxi over to Cabo and discovered the complete cheese factor and Americanization walking by places like Cabo Wabo and Squid Roe, which we did not go in. There was a Hard Rock Cafe. And a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Ay dios mio. We went to the info guide in the town and he directed us to a completely authentic Mexican restaurant called Mi Casa and it was perfecto.

6. Riding ATVs in the Desert and Along the Coastline: Several friends mentioned this adventure was a "must do" and we waited until our last day when we were fully relaxed to embark on the tour. We got up early Sunday morning and the shuttle took us from our lobby to San Jose del Cabo to hop on our "semi-automatic" ATVs. I was a bit nervy at first because I can't drive a stick and was not sure how to do the gears, but it wound up not being a big deal. The guide put me in the right gear and off I went. I was a little slow at first but once I got the hang of driving my own ATV, I found a need for speed. We had to wear helmets, goggles and neckerchiefs tucked in to cover our noses and mouths bandita style since we were speeding through the desert and sand dunes along the coast. It was a 3 hour tour and we got to explore some beautiful coastline and cacti filled desert. The beautiful landscape is perfect to explore on an all terrain ATV and I highly recommend this tour.

7. Authentic Mexican Food: Far and away the best carnitas, guacamole and home made corn tortillas I've ever had - and I have eaten a lot of Mexican food - was at Mi Casa in Cabo San Lucas. Muy, Muy Delicioso.

8. Creepy Balloon Animal Mime Ladies: While at Mi Casa, we had two somewhat creepy ladies in mime make-up (see above) come up to our table to make balloon animales, despite the fact that we are adults and don't have any children yet. Our food arrived as they were mid-balloon so they rushed to make me a cactus flower and Jeff a pretty amazing little parrot that he tried to keep on his shoulder. Jeff later added his red napkin as a poncho which we thought was hilarious - maybe due to the ginormous margaritas we were drinking - and we gave our balloon animals to some little kids before we took a cab back to hotel. There we retreated to our terrace for the nightly tequila-on-the-rocks-listening-to-the-waves-crash-on-shore sleeping pill.

9. Hearing the Waves Crash Along The Shore As We Slept With The Sliding Glass Door Open: Most relaxing thing ever. In the morning someone would play a new agey flute and it was the perfect combo to wake up to. I got up early every morning to make coffee and whale spot before breakfast.

10. Spending 5 Days With My Wonderful Husby, Totally Off The Grid: Best. Thing. Ever. I highly recommend..with your own husby/wife.