Ruminations of an Expatriate

Not being a “professional” wrestling fan I was unaware of the popularity of wrestling masks, until I moved to Xalapa.  There are shops here which sell nothing but these masks, which many of the Cabo San Lucas tourist shops also sell.

Life Long Harborite’s son and his son’s buddy, who were along on the trip, couldn’t resist.

I mentioned in an earlier post that while in Cabo san Lucas I stayed at the hotel Mar de Cortez, named, for those who may not know, for the body of water which separates Baja California from the Mexican mainland.

Hugo is the bartender at the hotel, and quite an impressive fellow he is. The bar is owned by a very pleasant women, whose daughter and grand children own and operate the adjacent excellent restaurant, Spencer’s.

Having regularly visited the bar during happy hour, which runs from 11:00 to 6:00 each day, I was able to enjoy a number of conversations with Hugo. He is in his early thirties; speaks English very well; lives in San Jose del Cabo, the location of the international airport into which one flies when visiting Cabo san Lucas; is married; and has four children, daughters of 13, 8, and 5, and a son of three. Hugo’s wife works three hours a day, four days each week for an architectural/construction firm and sells Avon products. He indicated that his wife earns more money than does he; and told me, with a laugh, that he had tried to convince his wife that he should stay home to be a house husband but that his wife was not convinced.

One day while Hugo was telling me that he enjoys snorkeling, I remarked that, judging by the size of his arms and shoulders, he must also spend time at the gym. To which he responded that he plays professional baseball for the local Baja Sur team and coaches youth baseball teams. He indicated also that he had earlier played for three different teams of the 22 team Mexican professional league, of which the Yucatan Leones and the Mexico City team are the perennial favorites.

Hugo told me that he works at the bar everyday except Fridays, which he and his family spend camping on a remote beach not far from where they live. He reported that each Thursday his children excitedly prepare for the next day’s camping excursion by loading the camping gear in the family car. Thursday evening they depart for their camping spot, where they spend Friday playing soccer and baseball on the beach and where he spends time snorkeling to catch fish and shell fish which they cook on a camp stove on the beach.

He also told me that each year he returns with his family to his home town North on the Baja coast of the Mar de Cortez for a week of partying with his extended family. He spends much of the week snorkeling for sea snails, scallops, lobster, and other seafood which he packs into coolers for the trip home, and freezes. The seafood provides food for the family for four months.

The evening before I departed, as he was leaving for his one hour bus ride home, Hugo sought me out to bid farewell. He is one of those persons who renew one’s faith in humanity, and meeting him was one of those serendipitous travel experiences I will always remember.

I returned home to Xalapa this morning, after sleeping through the Xalapa station stop on the late night bus from Veracruz and ending up at the end of the line in the Tlaxcala station. I had no idea where I was when awakened by a nice lady who informed me that we were at the end of the line. Fortunately there was a bus just leaving for Xalapa which I was able to catch.

Cabo san Lucas is really not my type of scene, being too big, too popular, and too expensive. None-the-less I had a great time visiting, and engaging in reprobative behavior, with Life Long Harborite, my good friend and neighbor of thirty years; his wife, brother, and son; a friend of his son; and another couple.

I stayed with LLH’s brother, son, and his son’s friend at the Cortez de Mar, a very nice “budget” hotel (by Cabo standards anyway), with a wonderful staff, a great restaurant, a bar where the 2 for 1 happy hour runs from 11:00 to 6:00; and a nice swimming pool. The hotel is located in the more tranquil center part of town, away from the behemoth resort hotels and in the midst of a number of very good restaurants and more reasonably priced shops.

Seated next to me yesterday afternoon on the AeroMexico flight out of Cabo was a remarkable, and very polite, young fellow who struck up a conversation immediately upon taking his seat. He had been sent on a circuitous route on his flight from Edmonto, Alberta, near where he lives, first flying to Cabo, on to Mexico City, and ultimately to Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

José is nineteen, was born in Juarez, and has lived near Edmonton, with his adoptive parents, for the last couple of years. José has never met his biological father and last saw his mother when he was three and placed in the orphanage, operated by a religious group associated with a Pentecostal church. He indicated that life in the orphanage was miserable and that he and the other children were not treated well. He has three sisters from whom he had been separated when placed in the orphanage, but with whom he has regained contact and whom, amongst other relatives, he will visit in Juarez for the next eight months.

When José was five, a Canadian couple came to the orphanage to work for a couple of years. The couple ultimately adopted José before returning to Canada, though were not permitted to take José out of the country. A number of times over the ensuing years José was permitted to visit his adoptive parents but never permitted to leave permanently to live with them.

José left the orphanage when fifteen and spent a couple of years in a gang, during which time, with the help of friends, he applied a number of tattoos to himself, all very tastefully done. (When was the last time your airplane seatmate showed you their tattoos?)

Eventually José made contact with his adoptive parents and moved to Alberta. He now works at constructing condos near a ski resort and studies law online. He indicated he intends to become a lawyer and to work as a private investigator.

He indicated also that he is writing a book recounting his life; and that he had contacted Oprah, who encouraged him in his endeavor and indicated that when complete she would look over the book and decide whether to publish it.

I bought José a beer upon our arrival in Mexico City and helped him with making his connecting flight. He expressed to me a number of times his relief at being back in Mexico and away from the Canadian cold. He thanked and hugged me upon parting.

José is indeed a remarkable young fellow, whether he has actually lived the life he described to me or just very creative at making up such a tale.

I bought this box from one of the itinerant Cabo San Lucas beach vendors.  The box is turned from Lemon tree wood and hand carved by members of a local family who have each signed the bottom.  The inside of the box carries a strong aroma of lemon.

The vendor asked what name I would like carved on the box, I wrote out the name of a Cuban friend, and within 3 minutes he had carved the name using a small knife with a curved blade.  He first carved vertical slices that would separate the letters and then quickly carved each letter.

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.

About the coolest place I happened upon during my visit to Cabo San Lucas is the Mi Casa Del Mariscos restaurant, which for you non Spanish speakers means My House of Seafood. Though the food was excellent, for me the building itself was the most impressive aspect of the experience.

The entrance to the building gives the impression of a nondescript, one-story well worn building, with a covered portal accessed by a short, semicircle drive that accesses two adjacent streets that converge at a corner. Once in the door, however, it becomes immediately apparent that there is much, much more to the building than is suggested by its exterior.

The entrance is flanked, symmetrically, by small jewelry and art stores accessed from the interior. The art store is in turn flanked by a fairly long registration desk.

Beyond the desk lays a room, with a octagonally vaulted ceiling with stained glass windows fitted in each of the eight sides. A fountain centered by a stone sculpted mermaid, vested in bright green moss, lies in the center of the room, directly below the apex of the octagonally hipped roof. The front wall of the room displays a shallow pond containing a maritime themed sculpture collage, composed of fish sculpted from sheet metal, stone sculptures, a magnificent piece of coral, and sculpted odds and ends.

The three steps down from the registration desk accesses the interior courtyard containing the dining tables and multi-colored dining chairs. The typical Spanish colonial courtyard structure consists of a series of what I believe are Roman arches. The arches support a second story consisting of a balcony, perhaps 10 feet wide, and rooms to the rear. The balcony provides additional seating arrayed along the wrought iron railing that provides protection from a fall to the courtyard below.

The restaurant is decorated with an odd conglomeration of pictures, paintings, chandeliers, religious art, sculptures, and ceiling fans of different vintages and styles, but it all seems to fit.
Each panel of the ancient wooden bar is illustrated and the bar is fronted by bar stools sculpted from all thread, large nuts and bolts, steel plate, and a variety of other materials. The second story is covered with a palapa roof in which the structural members are roped together, rather than connected with mechanical fasteners.

The food was very good. For lunch one day I had some very tasty tostadas with avocado, lettuce, octopus, shrimp, and pickled vegetables. Life Long Harborite judged the slightly customized clam chowder to be the best he’s ever eaten. For my final dinner in Cabo I ordered an equally delicious salad with breaded scallops.

If you’re in Cabo San Lucas be sure to stop in to gawk at the magnificent edifice, examine the artfully conglomerated decor, and to enjoy the fine food and drink.