Hooliganting: san jose del cabo

Monday, November 25, 2013

Los Cabos: Zip Lines and San Jose Del Cabo's Art Walk

One of the favorite activities of Mexican vacation spots is zip lining. I love zip lining so I am no better than all the other tourists out there. All hotels have their favorite companies that they use through their travel services. This was the one tour that we booked through the hotel. Our first trip was cancelled due to rain and on this occasion, the driver couldn't seem to remember that we were supposed to be picked up. However, once that was sorted out, we were taken about 20 minutes down the road towards Cabo San Lucas and then turned into the hills. The zip lines were strung in between the canyon walls with hikes in between.

I loved this tour but for me, it wasn't about glorious scenery, it was about feeling like I was flying. It is so free. The guides were funny and humorous, and safety felt like it was well taken care of. I did notice that my key for my locker opened up someone else's lockers so the illusion was there Mexican style. This tour had the usual pressure for tips and to purchase tequila for the tequila tastings, but it was good value for money I thought. Canopy Costa Azul Eco Adventures was the name of the company - and we still had a lot of our day left afterwards so another plus! Oh, and all these images had to be purchased. Sigh.

The tequila tastings were also on site. There were four flavours to choose from and sampling was encouraged. However, I chose not to sample due to bad experiences previously. This stuff had no cane sugar and was made from the Agave plant directly so it was rather different. Maybe someday, I will be brave. Lol.

Since we still had daylight left, we relaxed by the pool and then wandered to San Jose Del Cabo to find the post office. We decided to participate in the San Jose Del Cabo Art Walk, so we also decided to dine at Habaneros. Great restaurant! We ran into friends at the restaurant and they had a musician come by to serenade us. It was lovely and the food was definitely worth the stop!

From here, we ambled into town only to discover that the usual art walk had vanished into thin air. The plaza was almost deserted. Still, we were there so we ventured further. This led us to exploring the open door of the church, and there on the curb was some art. Being me, I don't give up so we wandered further and found art shops and proprietors doling out free wine and goodies. The southern charm opened the door to a friendly fellow and we spent a quick few minutes looking at his artwork before having to escape. Kisses were free for southern belles anyway. GRIN - I was so chopped liver. It was awesome! From dresses, to sculpture, to jewelry to crazy artist and tacky tourist marts - this little hollow had it all. Fabulous.

Art in city hall

The crazy artist's paintings

Inside of the church

Outside of the church

Art in the street

A wee museum

Now, I have no idea what the Art Walk was supposed to be, but by 9:00ish things were winding down. There are lots of small restaurants and bars so we stopped for a chocolate martini before heading for home. All in all, a charming and eclectic day.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Los Cabos: Timeshare and San Jose Flora Farms

I realize that I have delayed this post, simply due to the fact that I like to write about traveling in some sort of cohesive time frame, and on reaching this day I was almost lost for words. This would be the day that we booked into the owner's meeting at the Grand Mayan Hotel in San Jose del Cabo. There are redeeming features of this day in the life of a traveler in Mexico, but the morning left such a poor impression that I feel I should at least mention it again in passing without being too nasty about it (but I would really like to be).

To elaborate on my first commentary http://hooliganting.blogspot.ca/2013/11/los-cabos-2013-grand-mayan-and-san-jose.html Do NOT ever agree to sit through a timeshare presentation at this resort. Both my friend and I were required to attend, so in good faith we walked down and went to the desk. I informed them that I couldn't make any financial commitments that day, nor could my guest. The timeshare people work on commission, so we wanted to ensure that our presenter had the opportunity to make a living. The manager persuaded us that they just wanted to show us the property and make sure that we were getting the most out of our stay. Fine. We did the tour and it was lovely. Mind you, this is after maintenance refused to fix a locked door and had been to our room several times. It is after all the tours we booked through the front desk had glitches. It was after we heard about theft at the gift shop and shady practices by their accounting. So, we weren't really buying the whole glitzed shebang of a tour.

Breakfast was pleasant but nothing spectacular, and by the time that was done it was already 10:00. Then, round two of presentation, following by financial heart attack numbers, followed by sales pitches started. You are forced to say I am sorry, we can't afford this over and over again and it is very demeaning. From here, you say no and get sent to round 3, followed by round 4, followed by a last ditch attempt at round 5. At 11:10, we left to return our rental car completely worn out.

Now, I had been through this before and knew we hadn't been given a decent gift to even warrant that behaviour and I decided a long time ago that unless you are actually able to purchase something, don't even waste your time. Discounts and payments are not worth 2.5 or 3 or 4 hours of your time. I walked out with my friend and we got in the car and went for a spin before we had to return the car. During that ride, I got my friends take and realized how insulting the crew had been. So, I went and demanded an apology for treating a guest of mine badly and of course, they never issued one.

To recover, we spent some time by the pool and went to the concierge to book dinner at Flora Farms. The concierge, by the way, was delightful. The rest of the hotel staff were good to us, just the timeshare sharks were not. So, he booked us in and we went for dinner.

Now Flora Farms is a MUST do if you can swing it. The location is incredible. The staff was awesome. Live music played and blended right in. The food was organic and incredibly tasty. They have a couple of shops and homemade ice cream. There is a vegetable garden and the most amazing bathroom. This was by far worth the $20 cab ride and the $100 price tag. I would definitely say this was one of the best meals I have ever had. I am still annoyed I wasn't able to finish it. Sigh. So, to finish off this post...here are some images as my words don't do it justice.