Baja, Mexico

I still felt horrible when we got to Cabo San Lucas on 8/24. Thank goodness Lu felt better. The next day I decided that I was not getting any better so Lu took me to the doctor's office just outside of the resort gates. Medical care in Mexico is cheap, right? Apparently it is not when it's directly adjacent to a tourist resort. I was thouroughly examined by a very competent, English speaking physician who was knowledgeable and kind. I got a shot in my butt and a bag full of meds and we were off. Miraculously, I did feel exponentially better by that evening. Since I felt so much better didn't mind spending the $250 on good medical care. Let's vacation!!

Our room was very marginal. It was clean. The bed wasn't too bad in the comfort department, but we paid for an "upgraded" room with an ocean view. We were disappointed until we went out on the balcony. Our view was gorgeous. 

The staff at the resort was very kind and helpful. We immediately hit it off with our waiter, Francisco. He ordered our dinner for us every evening. When I say he ordered, I mean he ordered. We asked him to bring us something fabulous and he delivered. Every. Single. Night. Pan seared sea bass, prawns, and grilled heirloom tomatoes. One of our top meals of all time, and the seaside setting was unmatched. It was one of those perfect moments. 

Every day was beautiful and comfortable. We enjoyed our time at the resort sitting under the umbrella and reading a book. 

On Monday we checked out and took our rental car up the Baja Peninsula. I had never driven anywhere outside of the United States in my life, but Lu had driven in Mexico and other countries many times. It was time for me to put a new experience in my bag. I drove all week long. I don't really know what I thought would be different from driving in the US, but it was pretty much the same as driving in the US. The biggest difference to me was the surrounding terrain. It was scrubby, dry dessert. The cactus were as big as trees. The setting looked like a scene from the old Road Runner cartoons. 

We drove to Todos Santos. There's not a whole lot there. We tried to go to an "off the beaten path" restaurant for lunch, and we almost got the car stuck on a narrow, dusty burro path. Heading back to town to find another lunch spot we found the original Hotel California. You know, like the old Eagles song. 

We finally arrived in La Paz where we scored a really nice room with a marina view for only $40 a night. There's not a lot of beauty or appeal to La Paz other than the water, but the people were extremely kind and friendly. On a side note, driving in La Paz was a challenge for me. Even the Federales rolled through stop signs, and when I say "rolled through" I mean they might touch their brakes and just go. It took a bit of adjustment to get used to it, but in time I was running stop signs with the best of them. 

After a few days in La Paz we had to drive back to Los Cabos in order to fly back to Texas. We took a different route to get there so we could see more of Mexico. Under GPS guidance we drove on a paved highway through the desert which promptly turned into a manicured dirt road, which turned into a rough, rutted dirt road, which turned into an impassable, rough surface that I couldn't even classify as any type of "road". We turned around and after much anguish an cussing at the GPS we found our way to the Cabo airport. What should have taken us around 2 hours ended up taking almost 4 hours. Luckily we started early that morning and our flight was over an hour late. We got into Houston late that evening and got a comfortable room for the night. 

After a good night's sleep we drove back to Corpus and stayed with Lu's family for a few days. It was really nice to see them and we were both feeling great for the first time in a while. 

We flew out of San Antonio to Vancouver, BC. It was another full day of travel. It was only then that we had finally felt like our global trip had begun.