Welcome to Cabo!
The desert wind soaked us in searing heat as we debarked the plane and stepped onto the tarmac at Los Cabos airport.
A short walk later we found ourselves in a massed line of tourists that Mickey Mouse and Disney would be envious of. Looking back, I’m surprised that hawkers aren’t allowed to pitch their wares to the trapped throng of touristas. Customs is a necessary evil of international travel, and here it was particularly mean and nasty. There, before us were a few hundred souls, all doused in sunscreen, Corona T-shirts, sunglasses. Eager to reach the beach, they were. Mary and I counted our blessings, particularly the fact that we were inside in a semi-air conditioned enviornment.
The head of the line splintered into three smaller capillaries, which ended at two Customs stations. It was not until one had made their choice that you’d discover that two of those lines led to one particularly slow Customs Official. I watched him as he appeared to ignore the heckles of several line-lingers and dutifully check the papers of those coming to him. He was a young guy, and the weight (..or, more appropriatly, wait) of promptly processing people was mounting in him.
In any case, our line went much quicker and after over an hour of patiently waiting we made it through. We had one more hurdle to cross before heading to our hotel.
As we passed nearly silently through the final custom station, we were blasted by dozens of people soliciting us for rides, trinkets and time-shares. Their ultimate goal being to sell you a timeshare. Luckily, we had pre-arranged transfers to and from the airport. Through the confusing ruckus I spotted the man with the ‘Faro Nuevo’ sign; that was our ride.
The drive to our hotel took us close to 45 minutes and lead us through scrub land, and along the gorgeous Pacific coastline. The Baja Peninsula is a dry, arid place, very reminiscent of the Southwestern US. Think Tucson by the sea. The Pacific Ocean provided the western horizon, while the Gulf of California (A.K.A. the Sea of Cortez) graced the east. Cabo San Lucas is located at the very southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, and is literally at the point where the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez meet.
Our hotel, the Finisterra, was a hacienda-style palace perched on a ridge between a golden beach and the town of Cabo San Lucas. The hotel spilled down the side of the ridge onto a huge pool complex, complete with two towering Palapa huts, beyond that was the beach. It was here that we'd spend the majority of our time in Cabo, except for our daily sorties into town, or an adventurous trip to Lover's Beach.
posted by Joe @ 4:26 PM
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