Ruminations of an Expatriate

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Sunday, April 8th, 2007...7:32 pm

More Cabo San Lucas

I had never been to Cabo San Lucas before my visit last week, which I shared with my neighbor and friend of thirty years, Life Long Harborite, and four of his relatives who I pleased to spend time with.

Cabo San Lucas, for those who don’t know, lies at the Southern most point of the Baja California Peninsula, where the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez converge. A bit Northeast lies San Jose del Cabo where Jesuits missionaries constructed a mission in 1730, in pursuance of their mission to evangelize the indigenous Pericues population, and which today serves as the municipal capitol.

I stayed in the Pueblo Bonito Rose, a luxurious hotel in which LLH has owned a time share for some years. The owners also have the abutting Pueblo Bonita Blanco and a couple of other similar hotels in the area. The Pueblo Bonitos are amongst a row of luxury hotels that line a fairly steep beach of white sand and are very well done. If you look closely just to the left of the two red and white columns at the far end of the pool you will see a large bronze statute of Neptune.

The staff of the Pueblo Bonito dress in differing uniforms depending upon their function or, in the case of waiters, in which restaurant they work. All staff who regularly deal with the customers speak English well and the resort provides English classes to those in entry level positions, such as housekeepers, to enable them to move into positions requiring English.

Ernesto, a daily fixture at the Pueblo Bonito with whom I became acquainted and who sells activities, such as diving, kayaking, wave runners, and etc., one day told me a story that involved the Beatles, Mother Mary of Cuatameco, Mexico, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. Whether or not the story is actually true, I think it’s a good story.

According to Ernesto, the Beatles, at some point, visited Cuatameco where there is reportedly a woman known as Mother Mary who has access to hallucinogenic mushrooms. The Beattles, so the story goes, consumed some of Mary’s mushrooms and later wrote the words “Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be, let it be.”

The beach fronting the row of resort hotels is plied daily by itinerant vendors selling all sorts of products, most notably silver jewelry, hats, and necklaces and bracelets of shells. The resort hotels do not allow the vendors to enter hotel grounds, while beach side restaurants are more tolerant of their presence.

Life Long Harborite and I seemed to be particular targets of the jewelry vendors who, when we declined the jewelry, always asked if either one of us might be interested their primary products, which did not include jewelry. The jewelry display enables them to get a vendor’s license that they must display, but their primary products are drugs. I suspect if a dim witted gringo like me understands this fact, the licensing authorities and police must surely. Another reason to love Mexico.

The town, which has become a very popular destination amongst gringos, sports a fairly large marina, a part of which, we discovered when we landed there in a water taxi, is private. Additionally, at least one cruise ship drops anchor each day and ferries its occupants into town.

The old part of town, away from the tourist areas, is a quite charming, authentic Mexican pueblo with a number of older, less expensive hotels and colonial buildings.

I haven’t visited any other part of the Baja Peninsula, but the part I saw from the airport in San Jose del Cabo to Cabo San Lucas is a desert, with low lying scrub and lots of Saguaro Cactus, some quite large, as is this one I ran across in town.

Cabo San Lucas is worth a visit, I think; but if you’re like me and prefer a more authentic experience you may wish to stay in one of the hotels in the older part of town.

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