A Few Days in Cabo

So I am back from my mini vacation in Cabo, a slightly darker shade of white, tan would be too strong of a term, and I’m sipping a new wine I discovered on the trip AND it’s 4:40 in the afternoon – I am really enjoying this no working thing!
After hearing so much about Cabo over the past few years, I decided that I needed to go and check it out for myself. Overall it was a lovely trip, very relaxing and great weather so it achieved it’s main purposes, but I am here to provide you more detailed than that! I am committed to providing you with the real scoop on wherever I go, so without further adieu……
The highlights of Cabo are definitely the weather, the days and nights are perfect, clear, not too humid and sunny and a little cooler in the evening – I couldn’t have requested better weather. It’s also a really easy place to maneuver, I know some people are apprehensive whenever leaving the country but this is not the case, they take U.S. dollars everywhere and if your Spanish is no more than the menu at Taco Bell, do not fear you can still easily converse. While there are no real huge cons to Cabo there were a few things that annoyed me (shocking I know), first being the prices, Cabo is not a cheap town and while I was expecting bargain basement deals it is still Mexico so I thought it would be at least reasonable, not the case, be prepared to drop some coin when there, on dining especially. Also related to dining, at times I was frustrated with the service there, while people appeared very eager to help sometimes there was just not enough understanding there, waitstaff especially.
We stayed at the Hilton in an area called the tourist corridor which is basically the strip of beachfront in between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. I actually think this is the ideal spot to stay in if you plan to leave your hotel on a regular basis (which we did). The Hilton was nice, great view of the ocean from their sweeping veranda, bar area and a nice infinity pool with good poolside accommodations and service. We did have the pleasure of staying at the Hilton at the same as the Creative Memories (aka crazy scrapbookers) annual sales trip so while our poolside company wasn’t my ideal it did make for some interesting people watching – who knew the world of scrapbooking was so full of intrigue ?
The two towns that make up ‘Cabo’ are Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, we checked out both and my favorite of the two is San Jose, it’s a little smaller and a little more authentic than San Lucas (i.e. fewer crappy t-shirt shops). While the towns themselves aren’t too much to write home about they make for a fine hour or two of wandering around, checking out stores, stopping at bodegas, etc. We ate two dinners in San Jose, one at Mi Cocina which was good, lots of fresh seafood and a few tasty authentic Mexican dishes and offered a flame-lit courtyard for dining. The other was Damiana, and while the food was just so-so the romantic back patio covered in plants and twinkling lights, complete with mariachi band provided great ambience making the dinner worthwhile. In San Lucas t-shirt shops, touristy bars and silver shops abound but it’s also a must to check out the main tourist attraction, Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo, if not for glimpse of Sammy jamming with the locale talent (we didn’t see him) then at least for a few beers in a fun people watching setting. We spent one night in San Lucas for dinner, a sushi joint of all places but it was surprisingly good (or maybe it was after a few cervezas) but nonetheless a fun casual spot to grab some fresh sushi after wandering around town all day.
There are a number of things you can do in Cabo, golf, para-sail, snorkel, deep sea fish, swim with dolphins, etc. Sadly, we did not try any of these out and were permanent sun bathers poolside (this was mainly my fault due to a travel injury – don’t ask!) But to be honest I think Cabo is best suited to relaxing by the pool and enjoy some beverages, if you are a big water sports person there are definitely other places I can recommend. Besides everyone needs to just have some R&R and be a pool potato sometimes.
So after several days laying by the pool we came to the close of our trip and my absolute favorite evening in Cabo – a dinner at the One & Only Palmilla.
The Palmilla is also located just down the road on the tourist corridor and it is actually the place we had planned to stay at when planning our last minute trip but word must be out on how fabulous this place is because we weren’t able to get a room, which after being there I can easily see why. The entire Palmilla resort is gorgeous, Spanish style architecture and landscaping with a prime hotel location that is just feet away from the rocky coastline and surf. The pool area is small but immaculately kept, I can only imagine that laying poolside you feel a bit like Cleopatra (where is my palm fan ? feed me grapes!). We went to the Palmilla because we wanted to check out what we were missing but mainly to go for dinner at C, a Charlie Trotter restaurant. Being the foodies we are (the other part of this ‘we’ being my boyfriend who has requested not to be named by name in here- because SO many people are reading this : ) we felt that we had to check out the Trotter’s spot and see how our local Chicago boy was doing in Mexico. We were more than pleasantly surprised. C is none of the reserved, formal French style that Trotter’s flagship is, rather the décor was cool, blues, silvers, whites and very modern, like dining inside a contemporary ocean. While the menu looked fabulous we opted for the tasting menu, being the true gluttons we are, the chef comes out (not Charlie) and requests your likes/dislikes and then goes to town. I won’t bore you with our whole menu but some highlights were a truffled risotto, possibly the richest dish on earth, along with a mini short rib in coconut foam that tasted like dessert, seriously it was the first meat I have ever had that was good enough to be dessert – how is that possible! We left feeling fully sated and wandered around the grounds which in the evening are lit entirely by candle, I can’t remember the last time I was in such a romantic place (Paris aside) I did not want to leave, the evening felt perfect, if I ever go to Cabo again I will only stay at the Palmilla.
So Cabo in a nutshell, great weather, a bit expensive, more chill than active and partying but still worth checking out.

Book Review: Memory Keeper's Daughter - Two Stars

Although I missed my monthly book club last week when I was in Cabo I still diligently finished the March selection, Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Let me begin by saying that I was really looking forward to reading this book, so many people I knew had read it and raved about it, so I suppose, as is the case with most things with me that I put expectations upon this book that were much higher than this poor little novel could ever live up to, and the overall result was that I was not very impressed with this selection.
For those of you that have not yet read the book, here's the story in a nutshell, mid 1960s Louisville, Kentucky, when a newly married couple is expecting a baby. Norah, the wife, goes into labor a little early in the middle of a snowstorm and as a result her doctor husband and a lone nurse are left to deliver her baby. They deliver a healthy baby boy and then while Norah is still out of it, they also deliver a second baby girl with Down's syndrome, the doctor, deciding that they couldn't handle this grief due to his past with a sickly sister, asks the nurse to take the girl to a nearby institution. The nurse a single woman in her 30s and slightly in love with the doctor cannot comply and instead leaves town with the baby to start a new life.
As you can imagine the secret that the doctor lives with is a heavy strain on him, his marriage and his relationship with his son, the remainder of the novel follows the family, detailing what this decision does to their lives as well as following Caroline the nurse and her life raising the doctor's daughter and how it shapes her future for the better. The story is highly readable and enjoyable enough, my complaint though is that this is such an obvious plot, and the neatly wrapped up ending is also a bit to trite. While the concept of the progression of a lifetime of events set in motion by a single act is a very intriguing plot technique, it just falls flat in this book as nothing highly original or telling is developed from the story in this case. Overall, I'd recommend as a read but only after you've exhausted all the 'must-reads' from your bookshelf.