Mexico, Part 1

Our trip to Mexico has come to a close! It was an interesting contrast of major successes, and minor challenges, although they certainly seemed more significant at the time...

We left Denver on Friday without a problem, and got our rental car. The route to our destination was through San Jose del Cabo, a few miles further to Cabo San Lucas, and another hour along the Pacific coast to a rural area outside of the small town of Todos Santos. We took an unintended detour through Cabo San Lucas that yielded a view of the famous rock formations at the tip of the Baja Peninsula! Then we were on our way again.

Unfortunately luck was no longer with us. We drove the remaining hour, and proceeded to spend TWO AND A HALF MORE trying to find our lodging! We tried everything to understand our written directions, driving up and down rugged one lane dirt roads with no signs anywhere. At one point we were in the middle of a farm, pleading for just a morsel of information from the Mexican workers, which yielded a hilarious contest of wits that could be on some sitcom. Finally our last creative attempt took us step by step to our casita, right before dinner. (Our plane landed at one.)

So we joined our friends for fish tacos, while the sun set over the Pacific, and there is nothing that can restore a good mood more quickly.

Alas, our luck changed again when I decided to call it an early night. Dave escorted me back to the casita, where I promptly discovered a nasty cockroach in our bathroom. To make matters worse, we were in the bedroom five minutes later when we both witnessed an even more unwelcome visitor -- a GECKO climbed up our wall and out to the roof of palm fronds! So my first night sleeping in the soothing whisper of the Pacific, I tossed and turned under a claustrophobic mosquito net. Turns out that we were to see this gecko every night, and by the end of the trip we had named him Sammy Hagar the Gecko.

Anyway, Saturday we joined friends for an excellent breakfast in Todos Santos (I had the "breakfast sandwich," which was very fresh if not particularly Mexican), and went through some tourist shops with my girlfriend Amy. We stopped at a roadside strawberry stand before returning for our suits and a quick drive to the beach. Soon it was time for the wedding.

We all got dressed, and were staying so close to the wedding site that we could stroll to it down the beach. Matt and Jolene (the couple in question) had the clever idea of taking polaroid photos of everyone to accompany their comments in the guest book. The wedding was lovely, right next to the ocean. A few times we even got to see flocks of pelicans flying over the water during the ceremony. I thought it was particularly touching that they had planned the wedding for Earth Day, and the ceremony was more in tune with nature than religion.

After the wedding we hustled to the Pescadero Surf Camp for the reception, a small cluster of tent shelters where some of our friends were staying, a place ironically nowhere near the beach. But apparently all you need for great atmosphere is some nicely set tables with candles around a swimming pool, because it was perfectly festive. More fantastic local food, a visit by some dive-bombing bats, one friend with a reaction to ceviche that was hustled to a local clinic, and some funky world music later, and we were on our way back to Sammy Hagar for the night.