Mexican Riviera Part One: Cabo San Lucas

This will be the first of a four-part series that recaps a Mexican Riviera cruise that BowlingWidow and I recently returned from. Today will be about Cabo San Lucas with blogs to follow for Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and, finally, the overall cruising experience.

The Baja Peninsula, approaching Cabo San Lucas
After a day and a half at sea that began in San Pedro, CA, the Royal Caribbean ship Vision of the Seas set anchor just off the tip of the Baja Peninsula. The cliffs, rock formations and beaches we noticed as we were arriving were simply beautiful. We were taken by tender from the ship into Cabo San Lucas (or Los Cabos as it’s commonly called). Los Cabos is a fairly small town population-wise (around 55,000) that has surged in popularity, particularly among young partiers on spring break, over the last several years.

.........................................................A beach near Cabo San Lucas....................
We had a couple of hours before we were scheduled to leave for the Mexican cooking class that we had signed up for so we set out to explore the town on foot, as most every part of the town is within walking distance.

There were two clear things we noticed upon disembarking from the tender boat at the harbor. First, there were a few heavily armed Federal police roaming around, presumably to protect visitors from the bad guys and generally “boot evil” as my friend Captain ILL would aptly put it. This was a theme that showed up at every port we visited.

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Los Federales son mas macho de todos
Second, literally every 10 feet we walked there was somebody aggressively trying to sell us a glass bottom boat tour, jewelry, hats, have our picture taken with an iguana, and so on and so forth. It was like the opening credits scene in the film Airplane! in which the main character, Ted Striker, was hurrying through the airport terminal being accosted by everyone from the Hare Krishnas through Jews for Jesus. And, sadly, even when we went to a place with a deck to get a refreshment, several kids (some as young as around five years old) were making the rounds trying to get patrons to buy necklaces and other little items. It was heartbreaking that they were doing that instead of going to school, learning and playing with their friends (this was on a Tuesday morning). But that’s reality, and that’s much of Mexico. The country is correctly described as one of contrasts with the very well off and the dirt poor often living side by side.

Our cooking class took place at a local restaurant called Desperados. We started by learning the proper way to make a Margarita (and of course drank the results). We then moved to the salsa area and made some incredible fresh salsa using a molcajete, a mortar and pestle tool made of volcanic rock that smashes the ingredients. Gotta get me one of those for Christmas! For the main course, it was Pescado Marinado Envuelto en Hoja de Platano. Translated, this was sea bass marinated in an achiote based mixture, wrapped in a banana leaf, and fried 6-8 minutes on each side. Again, with the help of our instructors and another Margarita we were able to cook up an amazing dish.

Culinary genius or just following instructions?
Finally for dessert, and using the same pan, the class of eight amateur chefs created some crepes with egg, flour, vanilla, butter, milk and sugar. It was then topped with goat caramel milk called cajeta.

When it was all said and done, we were well fed and needed the sightseeing walk to the tender boat that would take us back to our floating hotel.

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The tasty results of our labor
Aside from the culinary experience, which we both agreed was a top-notch land excursion, we felt a bit out of place in Cabo. I’m sure there’s good night life and that it’s earned every bit of its reputation as a party town. Rock and Roller Sammy Hagar even has a restaurant and night club here. But we tend to go to bed at around 10pm and get up early, even on vacation. And no doubt the beaches are some of the best in the world. But we ain’t beach people. And then there was the matter of having a target on our backs for the hundreds of street vendors that are everywhere you go in Los Cabos.

It was a great day, but in all honesty our first port stop in Mexico goes into the books as our least favorite.

On to Mazatlan!

Gene Jonas: Hall of Famer

As I contemplate writing about our recent venture to Mexico, I was alerted of some breaking news that needs to be acknowledged.

A few blogs ago, I wrote about my personal bowling history and mentioned that a childhood friend and neighbor of mine, Kent, and his family took me bowling for the first time when I was around four years old. I didn't go into specifics as to who exactly organized the trip and actually taught me what needed to be done to get the ball down the lane and topple those hated pins.

But I will now. It was Kent's older brother, Gene Jonas, whose passion for bowling was the catalyst that got me hooked.

I just received word that Gene was recently inducted into the Lewis County (Washington) Bowling Association Hall of Fame. It's a pretty exclusive club, with only five members in all. Gene is from Port Angeles but has been a fixture in the Centralia/Chehalis bowling scene for nearly 40 years. He's currently the manager of Fairway Lanes and has no sign of slowing down at age 62.

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Gene Jonas (right) goes into the Hall of Fame

What about his bowling career? Not bad. He has 3 career 300 games to his credit and averaged a sizzling 222 during peak years. These days he's still competitive hanging around the 200 mark.

For me personally, there are four things I'll always remember about Gene in addition to that inaugural bowling trip. First, he and his brother-in-law Mike "The Kid" Nelson used to tease us younger kids and tag us out mercilessly in baseball "pickle" games in Kent's front yard. Second, he has an enormous capacity to eat the worst junk food in the world and not gain any weight. Third, I've never seen the man with a hair out of place. He makes Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski look like a caveman.

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Fourth, and most dear to me, while he was managing a bowling center in Port Angeles, he acknowledged my only 300 game by noting it on the reader board next to the main highway in the town I grew up in. This was despite that fact that I bowled that game in Everett, 80 miles and a ferry boat ride away.

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The P.A. Lanes sign: thanks, Gene

Thanks for that, Gene. And congrats to you. Bowling may not be what it used to be thirty years ago, but the business of bowling and the sport itself is richer for having people like you involved in it.

The newspaper account of Gene's entry into the Hall can be found here.

Off to Mexico

Our ship has nearly arrived. There it is in fact, The Vision of the Seas. We're off to Long Beach, CA later today and depart tomorrow for the Mexican Riviera (Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta) for a week. We hope to come back with lots of cheaply made items to impress our family and friends with as holiday gifts. And we also hope to have lots of good experiences and stories to tell. None of which will involve a Mexican jail.

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Bon Voyage,

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BowlingJoe and Bowlingwidow

What An Election Night

I didn’t think that I’d live to see this day. The people have spoken and we’ve elected our first African-American (as well as Caucasian-American) president. All parents in this country can now look their kids in the eye, tell them they could grow up to be President, and actually mean it.

There is a lot to be done though. Fixing an economy that’s stressed and in shambles. Creating avenues so that everyone will be able to afford health care. Fixing an education system that has grown increasingly ineffective. Getting out of a directionless war that has gone on longer than World War Two. Repairing relationships and credibility that need to be restored in a global community that gets smaller every day.

But instead of this all seeming hopeless, I’m starting to get the feeling that there’s a sense of possibility on the horizon. I’ve never seen the optimism and enthusiasm that I’m seeing with our young population. The apathetic and disenfranchised have woken up, much to the dislike of a large but diminishing population who liked it better when they were down.

After eight years of failed, self-serving myopic policies and a clueless president who will be gone in 75 days (not that I’m counting or anything) it’s time to move on. I’m not sure what the next four years will bring but have no doubt that it’ll be a whole lot better than the last eight.

Yep, I haven’t felt this good since I bowled my 300 game five years ago.