Los Cabos: Cabo San Lucas and Sonia

These were the images that flashed on the screen at the hotel, just prior to setting out for the day. You see, I can be a terrible optimist. After waking up reasonably early on the Sunday, we wandered out on the deck and then had breakfast. The clouds were heavy on the horizon and there was no promise of a beach day per se. Instead, I grinned over to my intrepid traveling pal and said something along the lines of "It rains, we get wet." Lunch was assembled and instead of wallowing in the hotel, we wandered down to the desk to see if our zip lining tour was going to go.

Those images flashed up and after about 30 minutes, we heard that zip lining was not happening due to the weather. From our point of view, there was a light mist and nothing much happening so, between us, we decided to catch a bus to Los Cabos. $20 for a taxi or 54 pesos for a bus ride. Having a healthy sense of adventure mixed in with a practical budget mind, the bus was appealing.

Yes, we had directions. Yes, we still missed the turn to the Mega and purple flower and so walked the long way around to the bus stop. Then, the clouds opened up and the rain poured down. Warm, windy and wet, our clothes were soon soaked and hair dripping. But, the bus pulled up and we ran for it.

The bus to Cabo San Lucas from San Jose takes about 30 minutes or so, depending on the stops. Plus, the adventure comes into play once you realize that you have no idea where you are, where you are going, or where the bus driver intends to go. The stops are just a guideline. Of course, we missed our stop and finally had the sense to get off when the other adventurous American pair got off the bus with new directions to take transport back the other way. JR were fun and just as lost as us.

The next bus took us back into town where we saw the stop we should have used. For the record, it is right across the street from the fire department.

The Fire Department has some interesting feature vehicles and is apparently a tourist stop complete with gift shop and coffee shop. Of course, we don't have a map and we don't have landmarks so we decided to try and find the beach. The beach in the rain...by now, you know I have no sense. 

Do we go this way?

So, off we went. All four of us were now traveling in a pack. We were in fact heading towards Medano Beach but due to the weather, and a very insistent pedicab driver that was vehement that we were going the wrong way, we never did get there. Instead, we were persuaded to get into his cab (all four of us) and let him pedal towards the Marina. The bike had an epic failure with the chain coming off and the pedicab was finished. So, his friend decided he would try and for the fun of it, we let him.

pedicab bike ride

So, we found ourselves deposited in front of the Hard Rock Cafe. We shopped and then JR decided to find a bar and we went exploring the Marina. We walked through and around soaking in the sights. We found the artisan market and spent the rest of our morning haggling for wares. I think the lack of people due to a closed waterfront meant that we got some better deals than usual. However, it was dry with bathrooms and that was all we needed. In fact, the rain had been on and off and so we ate our lunch perched on the steps of the market where it was dry. We shopped our way around the waterfront to get back and tried to dodge the worst of the rain. The rain circled in and out and was very unpredictable.

The rain was about to pour.

With the weather looming, we opted to try and get to Cabo Wabo to have a drink and relax for a bit. The sky laughed at us and the rain poured out of the sky, turning perfectly good roads into rivers.

A river ran through it.

The water was knee deep in the middle so we bounced our way along street corners and wound up at the Cabo Wabo as perfect contenders for a wet T-shirt contest. I think dripping on the floor actually cleaned it.

The funniest part was meeting up with JR again here. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out and drying out. More shopping ensued and then we decided to bus back to the hotel for dinner and drinks on our much appreciated DRY deck.

Lessons learned: Get a map. Get directions before setting out and it rains, you get wet. VERY wet. The weather forecast was pretty much accurate.