Life in Cabo

It’s been a fairly busy couple of weeks, we are now in our last few weeks here and have to be sure we have done all that we wanted to do! Not surprisingly Robin convinced me to do two more time share presentations – one for $200 plus a $50 dining coupon, the other for excursions – whale watching & a premium sunset dinner cruise!

 

on the 2nd sunset cruise

We used one of our whale watching trips so far – an amazing day! A fast inflatable boat, lots of waves and several humpback whales showing off for us!

sea lions

humpback whale spyhopping

humpback flipper

the splash after the breach!

cool fish

We went on two different sunset dinner cruises, both on the same boat, the Cabo Rey. First one was the Mexican fajita dinner – lots of fun, dancing to the live band, good food and unlimited drinks! The second time we had upgraded to the premium dinner & show – well worth it. I had a filet mignon; Robin had shrimp – much fancier and an excellent dinner, followed by a show of dancing & singing, plus the live band and open bar! The cruise took us along the main beach in Cabo, past the sea lion rock, the famous Arch, and around to the Pacific Ocean past several huge resorts.

 

us in front of the Cabo Rey

The Arch

live band on the top deck

sea lion rock

Cesar de Borga, singer

Jalisco dancers

Since we keep eating and drinking we decided that we should join the aqua sizes at our pool held every weekday – starts the day well and we both are enjoying it.

We hit the beach about once a week or so, I finally got out snorkeling at Santa Maria beach, lots of colorful fish but strong waves as well. I had to work to keep from getting pushed onto the rocks.

 

Playa Santa Maria

A Oaxacan Mexican market sets up near here, lots of jewelry, candy, toys, clothing and strange food – Robin had to buy a bag of chapulines – dried, salty grasshoppers! He even got a few of the neighbors to try them (not me), the rest are now in with the birdfood (and they don’t even want them)!

amazing variety of candy!

blown glass earrings

chapulines (grasshoppers)

also available in  a chile, garlic flavor

We have fewer choices for movies in English at the “cheap” theatre but we did see The Shape of Water – a bit strange but entertaining (and air conditioned).

The community that we are in puts on a few events for all – we went to the Appy night recently – lots of food and conversation. Next week is a crockpot dinner.  We are never at a loss for company at Happy Hour – our other RV neighbors (3 couples) are all lovely folks plus there are usually a few of the permanent owners at the pool at 5. Life is tough!

We still had a large tote full of balls (basketballs, soccer, football, softball) to give away plus a couple backpacks. We headed into a barrio along the edge of the large arroyo that flooded in Oct. – poor people truly living in pallet houses and plywood shacks. We stopped wherever we saw kids and gave each of them a ball, before we knew it the car was mobbed by a lot of kids – we could have easily given away a car full of stuff! The kids were all quick to say thank-you, one little guy looked thrilled to get a full size football. It felt good to be able to spread a little joy, wish we could have done more.

the barrio we visited with the balls

We made one more trip into the mountains, fossil hunting – found lots of shell fossils and fossilized bones, got lots of exercise climbing up & down the rocky hillside. We spent a lot of time slowly covering the area and were rewarded by a good find – another shark/megladon tooth. This one is broken and really weathered but still cool to find!

shell fossils

shell imprints in rock

shark/megladon tooth

The weather continues to be marvelous – 24-30+ in the day, down to 14-18 at night. Certainly can’t complain about that. We are enjoying watching the birds in our site – most days we have hummingbirds, hooded orioles, gila woodpeckers (these all eat from the hummingbird feeder!) as well as cactus wrens, doves, mockingbirds and finches - keeps me busy taking photos. We continue to Live the Dream!

 

gila woodpecker

hooded oriole having a bath

mockingbird

cactus wren

Exploring, Beaches and Time shares

We had a fairly quiet Christmas, we spent Christmas Eve here at the pool enjoying pizza and singing carols with all of our neighbors. We started off Christmas Day by going out for breakfast then later going to a friend’s house for turkey and all the trimmings with some wonderful company. Their house seems to be a magnet for birds so a few photos were in order.

Christmas decorations at the mall

Al & Diana's for dinner, love their carved chairs

and their cactus cupboards!

We have started what Robin calls a “job” – going on time share presentations “for the money & free stuff”. We “endured” 2.5 hrs sitting through many questions and listening to their spiel, but then to be rewarded with $200 US cash, 2 tickets for whale watching & 2 tickets for a sunset dinner cruise! Also includes a breakfast buffet, not the worst way to spend a morning.

Villas del Arco, the time share presentation location

We continue our Wednesday tradition of going to the movies, Jumanji and The Greatest Showman recently.

We headed off north of San Jose, into the desert fossil hunting – Robin found a fossilized Megladon (shark) tooth very near to where we found one last year! Lots of fossilized shells and whale bones as well, a bit hot though – 32C!

climbing up & down the hillsides

whale bone fossil, the hammer is over a foot long

shell & bone fossils

looking down into the valley

the new Megladon tooth (smaller) & the one from last year

I had my Mastercard “scammed” – the fraud department picked it up – it was used in Puerto Vallarta for over $200, and then declined when they tried again. Not sure how they do this but lucky that we always bring an extra credit card along, since this one had to be cancelled.

We have been enjoying the lovely pool here, now heated, as well as heading to the beaches. We spent New Year’s Day along with hundreds of others at Chileno Beach and later at Medano, watching the 3 cruise ships in there. We have both joined the small group at our pool doing aquasizes every weekday morning, starts the day well.

Chileno Beach

Medano Beach

Somehow we haven’t had time to sit down and get “crafty” – but we finally did spend a day being creative. Robin carved a spirit wood and I made 3 wind chimes using driftwood and beads.

There is a casino near the marina in Cabo (these days who doesn’t have a casino!), which we tried out for the first time. Rather confusing as you play with pesos but the machine displays points which are different. Didn’t really have a clue what I was doing (Robin doesn’t gamble, he hates losing) but it kept us entertained for a good while. Spent about $25 and cashed out $10 so not a complete loss.

We like to keep busy so we visited a glass factory as well as an interesting Mexican handicraft shop. Makes for a few good photos.

We spent a day with our friends, Barb & Bill taking a drive up the coast on the East Cape road, partly paved; partly a terrible dirt road but it got us to a beautiful beach. We were treated to a display of whale tail slapping and breaching as we enjoyed a cold beer and later said hello to a wild burro along the road. We finished the day with a good meal of barbecued ribs in San Jose.

This morning we booked another time share presentation (reluctantly) and have spent the day relaxing, reading and loving the weather – 25-32C daytime, down to 16-20C at night. Living the Dream!

 

a very noisy Gila woodpecker