Baja California

I took a short vacation with my family to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the Baja California peninsula, which is divided into the two states of Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur.  Cabo San Lucas is in Baja California Sur and is one of the large towns in an area known as Los Cabos. The other large city is San Jose del Cabo, which I took a tour to. The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet at Land’s End in Cabo San Lucas. My tour guide told me that vacationers to this area are mainly Americans and other Mexicans. Europeans tend to go to the Cancun area of Mexico. Los Cabos is only a two–hour flight from Los Angeles.

The Hilton Los Cabos

We stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos. There are numerous hotels and condos in the Los Cabos area––the resort area is huge, very modern, and very pretty. Our hotel was on the Pacific Ocean side. Some hotels are on the Sea of Cortez side. There was much construction going on near our hotel, both to fix hurricane damage from Hurricane Odile in 2014 and new construction of 5,000 additional hotel rooms. I was to go to Los Cabos in 2014 but there was so much damage from Odile that our trip had to be canceled.

Hilton Los Cabos

The grounds and beach at the Hilton. A beautiful resort. There are a number of resorts also in this area. The only negative thing about these resorts is that they are an expensive taxi ride to the town of Cabo San Lucas where the food is much cheaper than at the hotels.

Hilton Los Cabos

The beach.

Hilton Los Cabos

Setup for a wedding on the beach.

Hilton Los Cabos

Horses on the beach which you can ride.

Hilton Los Cabos

Friends.

Cabo San Lucas

We took a taxi from our hotel to the town of Cabo San Lucas and walked around the area. The marina.

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas has many restaurants and many inexpensive ones such as this one that serves “the best seafood tacos in town.”

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas has a multitude of souvenir shops not only for vacationers here but also for the many cruise ship passengers that come into port. The Mexican peso was down in relation to the U.S. dollar and we were getting 18 pesos to the dollar, so souvenirs were on the inexpensive side. You can use American dollars for all purchases and prices are given in both pesos and in dollars. In fact, I didn’t see even one peso while I was here.

See http://www.peggysphotos.com/cabo–san–lucas/ for more photos of Cabo San Lucas (Slide Shows, Central America, Mexico, “Cabo San Lucus”).

Combo Tour

The third day I was in Los Cabos I took a combo tour that combined a tequila tour, a glass–bottom boat tour, lunch, and a ride up to San Jose del Cabo. We started out with six of us: two women from Utah, a man from Kentucky, a couple from Oklahoma, and me, though we didn’t stay together for the whole tour. Our first stop was at the Tequila Lighthouse in Cabo San Lucas. Our tequila guide explained to us how tequila is made (see Slide Shows, Central America, Mexico, “Los Cabos: Tour”).

Tequila Tasting

The next part of our tequila tour involved tasting a number of different tequilas. A nice way to start the day! Our guide was drinking along with us. He definitely has a very nice job.

Boat Ride

Next on my tour was a glass bottom boat ride through the Cabo San Lucas harbor and the Sea of Cortez. We lost the two women on our tour as they went off to do watersports. Photo: sailing through the harbor.

Boat Tour

We passed this beach in front of an abandoned factory.

Pelican

There were numerous pelicans along the harbor.

Glass-Bottom Boat

We stopped to feed bread to the fish, which we could see through the boat’s glass bottom.

Lover’s Beach

We next stopped at Lover’s Beach to pick up a passenger, but the passenger didn’t show up. We watched some people getting off the boats here. They were left off in the water, not on shore, so if you want to stop off here, wear your bathing suit and put everything you are carrying in waterproof containers.

Sea Lions

There were also many sea lions here. These are taking a rest.

El Arco

El Arco, the arch that is seen in many Cabo photos.

Neptune’s Finger

Neptune’s Finger, another rock formation seen in many Cabo photos.

Mariachi Band-1–MOVIE

The man from Kentucky went elsewhere and the three of us left had lunch in Cabo San Lucas, then had a few minutes to walk around. I found these mariachi players in a souvenir mall nearby.

Mariachi Band-2–MOVIE

Cielito Lindo.

San Jose del Cabo

We next drove up the coast on the Sea of Cortez side to San Jose del Cabo, the other large town in Los Cabos. We drove past about 20 miles of beaches.

Mision de San Jose

Our next stop was at the Mision de San Jose, which was founded in 1730, but reconstructed in 1918 after being damaged by a hurricane. This was the end of the tour and we were driven back to our hotels.

See http://www.peggysphotos.com/los–cabos–tour/ for photos of the Combo Tour (Slide Shows, Central America, Mexico, “Los Cabos: Tour”).