A Couple in Cabo

My husband and I wanted a weekend to rejuvenate. With direct flights from Atlanta to Cabo, we chose to visit Mexico. The Melia Cabo Real was our first experience at an all inclusive resort. In all honesty I think paying for food, beverages and lodging up front is a mixed bag. While it was truly wonderful to not have to carry around a wallet--we wore wrist bands--I also thought that sometimes the quality of food and drink seemed a bit compromised. Still, we had a good time here.

What was our room like? Spacious with a tiled floor and a king-sized bed, our room had a nice balcony from which I sipped coffee, read a book, and gazed across the Sea of Cortez. The bathroom was plenty large with lots of counterspace though I heard another guest with bad knees complaining about having to step over the side of a tub to take a shower. My husband found the mattress to be a wee bit hard, but I thought it was quite comfortable. We had a mini-bar that was stocked with Mexican beers, bottled waters, and soda.

What was the swimming like? While you could walk down to the beach, the sand there was hard and granular on our feet. A small cove surrounded by gray rocks swarming with tiny black crabs allowed us to wade into the cool sea, but riptides and rough waters made swimming apart from this area unsafe. With that said, my husband rented a jet ski and had a great time playing farther out where fishing boats were anchored close to shore. We also paddled a very stable kayak beyond the rocks where we could gaze down into the blue waters and see the rock shelf drop away. The POOL on the resort grounds was very nice with a swim-up bar and a jacuzzi nearby.

How about the restaurants? As part of our plan, we were allowed to eat in the two nicer restaurants one night each. The Japanese food was okay though the wine was lacking. (Your choices are "red" or "white.") The other restaurant was more continental. Again, just okay. The best meals we had were breakfast when fresh fruit was spread out in the open-air restaurant by the pool. A couple of Mexican dishes were in the buffet then. I loved the resort's salsa.

Extras? The golf course was first-rate though the pricey greens fees were extra. A full service spa offered wonderful massages.

Bottom line? I liked sipping pina coladas and relaxing in the sun. Supposedly there is a shuttle into nearby Cabo San Lucas, but I never saw it running. We took a cab for $25 once, and then we took the city bus for $1.50 per person from then on. Resort service was friendly. The grounds were pretty. The environment could feel "resort artificial" at times, but the best thing about staying here was that our vacation was easy.

Sometimes all you want to do is relax.

While in Cabo we booked a tour with Desert Park. We were picked up at our resort and driven to the location where the tour began. The "home base" for Desert Park is very close to the Cabo Real Golf Course. We were advised to wear long pants rather than shorts. We were given colorful bandannas and goggles to wear over our faces. My husband and I decided to use just one ATV, so we learned the cost of the tour we took was based upon the number of ATVs rented---$75 per machine---rather than the number of people in our group. Our guide gave us a crash course on how to shift, brake, and accelerate. We were instructed to drive around a loop course to get comfortable with the controls, and then we were off into the desert!

I have to say I didn't think I'd like doing this all that much, but I had a great time holding onto my husband's waist, looking at the expansive blue sky, waving to the bulls and cows owned by a local rancher, admiring the twisted, smooth trunks of the white trees that grow here despite the area's lack of water. We stopped a couple times for photo ops and water before getting to a rocky "oasis" where a natural spring that seemed more like a leaky faucet than anything else trickled from the earth. Here our guide talked to me about the tarantulas and snakes that make the rocks their home while encouraging me to try out my broken high school Spanish. He was fluent in English though it was obvious he was still learning. We laughed together at the ways we misused each other's native tongues.

After the Oasis, we were given the choice to go for a walk on the beach or to ride the ATVs around a bit in a sandy pit area obviously engineered for this purpose. While it wasn't running at the time of our visit, there is also an ATV tour that allows people to scale down a rock face to end the journey.

When we made it back to the home base a little less than two hours later, all of us were filthy with dirt. Surprisingly, we weren't hot. Just more geared up for a dip into the Sea of Cortez.

I had a great time doing this, and I would suggest it to anyone. Tours run almost every hour on the hour, so it's not hard to fit into a day. You can get more information about Desert Park at their website: www.desertpark.net.

Cabo Wabo is owned by Sammy Hagar. Of course, I didn't know who Sammy Hagar was... Van Halen, sure. But Sammy Hagar?! When I admitted my musical ignorance to my husband, he immediately started singing, "I can't drive fifty-five!" while playing air guitar. As if that would help me. (Oh, brother...) Still, we made our sojourn to this famous bar as soon as we got into Cabo San Lucas. After all, it's supposed to be the hot spot to get a drink and catch some tunes.

What was it really like? We arrived a bit early, but we didn't want to eat upstairs in the restaurant. After making our way through the main bar with all its Sammy Hagar memorabilia ("Oh, right... I DO remember THAT guy..."), we ate downstairs near the bar while being serenaded by a small band of three musicians. The music made having a conversation difficult, but I had to admit the singer was pretty talented. We were also amused by the bridal party who were out celebrating what appeared to be impending nuptials. However, the best thing of all here was the pizza. Very yummy stuff, let me tell you. It was served fairly quickly---much faster than the food upstairs---and was a reasonable price.

As the night wore on, the crowd grew larger. Getting a drink at the bar underneath a myriad of hanging bras became a bigger production. We squeezed forward to dance to cover songs in a small area in front of some tables before the BIG live band was scheduled to came on stage. We snapped a couple of pictures of some men who were so BIG themselves that we SWORE they had to be professional football players from the United States. It was all in good fun, but I started to get claustrophobic. Maybe I'm getting too old for certain types of entertainment...

Bottom line? If you want a big crowd, Cabo Wabo promises to give you one. Sammy Hagar supposedly plays occasionally on his bar's stage, and you never know if he'll show up to "wow" you. I personally liked the pizza the best, but I was glad we were able to see this bar. Stop by for a drink. Why not? You're a tourist. Embrace this fact and have a Corona.