Last port! Cabo San Lucas – we’ve been here multiple times, and have always found something interesting to do outside the confines of the Cabo towns.
Today is no different. We have a car rented and are going to head to Todos Santos, about an hour’s drive north of Cabo. First things first – the tender. We get priority tendering because we are Elite Captain’s club, but even being early to the lounge, we are the 2nd tender called. Then we have to walk about 20 minutes to the Avis office (because the little car rental place we used to use on the pier is no longer in operation). So, it’s our morning exercise, and it’s and easy walk – all flat around the harbor, past the place we had drinks last time where they tried to extort money from our friends because they said we didn’t pay (PS – we paid the bartender, who either conveniently didn’t remember or just flat our took the money), then on past the yachts in the harbor, the multitudes of restaurants and bars and finally onto the main road to the Avis office.
Paperwork complete, we were on our way in no time, traversing out of the city and up into the undulating hills and valleys that make up the Baja peninsula. It’s an amazing drive up through the Baja, with the Pacific on our left and the mountain range to our right. Once out of the “suburbs,” the road opens up onto a 4 lane highway that whisks you northward to Todos Santos and La Paz beyond.
It only takes about an hour before we are in the little artists community that contains the Hotel California (yes of Eagles fame), and we are parking on the far side of town in front of Tacos y Mariscos – our chosen lunch spot. From here, we can explore the town (it’s only about 10 square blocks) then come back for lunch and return to Cabo. The town itself is very compact – a couple of blocks of retail (mostly artist studios selling amazing pottery and art – at amazing prices! Totally not the normal Mexican pricing at all) and the Hotel California – which of course we take pictures of and wander in through their lobby, just to say we were there! We further explore some artist studios, then wander over to the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Pilar and the lovely plaza opposite, before retracing our steps to the restaurant, passing through the Casa del Cultural – a small museum with Nationalist murals – and the dropping off point for all the ship’s tours.
Argh! We are out of there in a heartbeat, making our way back down the street to Tacos & Mariscos, where we have the place to ourselves as we hung out on the umbrella’d patio, relaxing with our Modelo Negra beer snacking on a massive serving of chips with 3 types of salsa. The food starts arriving, first the fried fish quesadilla which I mistakenly thought was a fried quesadilla – not just fried fish inside - so we thought, why not try something different? Well, it was yummy, but it was huge, and filling and we still had our main meals to come. Fortunately we had ordered 1/2 servings of cerviche - “jumble” for Ed (a mix of fish, shrimp, octopus and scallop) and mixed for me (just fish and shrimp). If these were 1/2 orders, we’d hate to see the full order! It was all fantastic, but too too much food.
We retrace our route out of the back end of the town, and onto the main highway for our return to Cabo. We make a pit stop however at Art & Beer – of course! How could we not? This is the coolest, quirkiest little roadside bar/restaurant combined with an art gallery. It is a collection of palapas with huge desert art pieces strewn about, accessed by a board walk that meanders through the desert property. It is run by Lourdes Campos and her partner Alfredo Ruiz – and that’s about all we know about them! I read somewhere how they ended up here, and Alfredo began to create the “yard art,” but the details totally escape me now – and anyway – what does it matter? I do know they have no electricity, no telephone and no wi-fi – but otherwise – it was just a totally cool place for a pit stop.
Lourdes was behind the bar when we arrived, served us our really pricey beers (which also really cover your entry fee for the art garden) and we headed out to the palapa thatched dining area to sip our refreshing drinks while looking over the cool artwork everywhere in our sight range. As we relaxed, Lourdes comes up with…horrors….a huge plate of cerviche! It wouldn’t have been all that bad if we hadn’t just eaten that humongous meal, but we were stuffed and now had to try to consume this – delicious – but not necessary food! It comes gratis with the beers (which actually makes the exorbitant price of the beers a little easier to justify), and we did our best to try to eat every morsel. Sigh.
Taking as much time as we could, we finally finished most of the plate, then tried to walk off our fullness in the art “garden” – or more appropriately “desert.” Alfredo is definitely talented – and prolific. There were tons of amazing sculptures. mostly in iron, situated willy nilly about the property. There were suns and moons and planets and abstract cube like things growing out of the cactus fields. A huge adobe patio engraved with Art & Beer stood to the side of the garden, with the wooden boardwalk curving around it. It was really totally amazing.
There was also a 2nd floor patio atop an inside art gallery where you could get the whole scope of the art placement, and see just exactly how far out into the desert they are really located. The middle of nowhere! With the town of Pescadero just a few miles down the road. It must be spectacular out here at sunset and then at night, but I sure wouldn’t want to drive back into Cabo in the pitch dark on these roads. Highway or not – that would be a little scary if you ask me.
Fortunately, we don’t have that issue as we have to get in gear and get back to the rental agency and the pier before 3:00pm. So, we pay for our beers and take our leave off down the highway toward civilization. About 40 minutes later, we hit the first clogs of traffic and wind our way around the main part of Cabo, avoiding as much traffic as we can, to get to the rental car place.
We hike back along the marina, passing the bar that tried to rip us off the last time we were here, and then into the pier area proper, where we had our traditional final Mexican beer at the Rolling Stones bar, listening to loud rock and roll music and sunburned American tourists try to by a case of beer for the bus ride back to where ever they were staying. Amusing!
Then its back to the long lines for tender, the 15 minute ride to the ship and our last 2 nights aboard.
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