All That's Left...

All that is left of my lovely sunny trip is this half eaten (but still not stale - good thing the ingredients are all in Spanish cause if i could read them i'm sure i wouldn't be eating them) bag of tortilla chips and some faded tan lines. I think I ate 2 or 3 bags of these very fattening chips while in Cabo, they are sooooo good.
So after a week of a pretty hefty cold (which I have since passed on to poor Sasso) I am getting back into the swing of things. I am working on 2009 Places I Have Never Been and am thinking about places such as Laos, Austin, Santa Fe, Positano, Versailles, Portland OR, Sierra Leone, Tipperary County in Ireland and so on. (If you've ever been to these places and want to share stories or pics just send me an email.) I'm working on some new products, reworking the shopping portion of the website and attending one of the "big gift shows". Something I'm doing in the next couple weeks (hopefully) is hiring an intern. If anyone is interested/knows anyone that may be interested you can check out the full description here.

Also, it is really snowing here and I'm going to be procrastinating shoveling for the next few hours. Here is the view outside our door (unfortunately we didn't know it was going to snow today and we left mr grill outside to suffer) and here is Mr Mischief looking disgusted. All he wants is to go outside. He really is the optimist because he asks to go out every half hour or so thinking all the snow will be gone, but alas... it is not. He is stuck inside all day with me.

Chowing down in Cabo

When we first arrived Sasso, J.J. and John made a trip to Mexican Costco (Sasso loves Costco and always has his card on him) and stocked up on water/drinks and breakfast/lunch foods for everyone. So the few times I tore myself away from the pool was for dinner.


#1 The Giggling Marlin: We ate here the first night after everyone had spent hours traveling. I think I would have enjoyed this place about 10 years ago and with a few tequila shots under my belt. I'll eat just about anything but I didn't eat my meal here, the chicken scared me. There were grown men in their tiddey-whities on the dance floor. They also hang people by their ankles while they are doing shots. Their motto is "If our food, drinks and service are not up to your standards please lower your standards." (above photos from withoutta crown and mudsugar via flickr)

#2 Amarone: Well this was our second choice. Our first choice was some seafood restaurant and when we got there we were in line behind none other than John Mayer (dressed in the usual black zip up hoodie - the same thing I was wearing - he looked much more rested then he usually does on PerezHilton.com). I admit I was a bit starstruck and had to bite my tongue to not tell him how i think his blog is pretty funny. When we went to get a table we were told Mr. Mayer had taken the last one. C'est la Vie. So we ate at this nice Italian place instead. I don't remember too much of my meal cause I was busy having a panic attack (something I'm a bit prone too) brought on by too much sun and not enough water. I do remember finishing off some nice red wine though. Well, I remember when Sasso spilled the last bit on the table. We made him go think about what he had done under the sparkling palm trees.


#3 Mi Casa: Oh how I loved this place. The food reminded me of one of my favorites, Ole in Cambridge. The restaurant was open air, had a crazy Mexican clown who made balloon animals, a dancing lady, Day of the Dead dolls, a band and amazing atmosphere. I had some mole, Sasso had some great ceviche and I think J.J. just had a big bowl of melted cheese.


#4 Sunset da Mona Lisa: This is where we ate our New Year's Eve dinner. It was a lovely setting, right at Lover's Rock at the tip of Cabo. All 10 of us sat down at sunset for a four course meal and wine. We were there for hours.... (above photos on right by the photog boggey)
My only Cabo regret is that I didn't venture into the non-gringo area for some authentic cuisine. Next time...

Resort Living

Let's talk a bit about resort living, something I never experienced until my trip to Cabo. I always equated resorts with places like Sandals or ClubMed and to be frank they seemed a bit cultish to me. Well, until I got to ours.
When we stepped off the plane in Cabo I couldn't believe how "hilly" and desert like it was, beautiful. We went through customs where we pressed a button on a stoplight to see if we were going to get searched, thankfully we got green lights. After turning down all the shouting taxi drivers outside the terminal's door we realized that JJ wasn't picking us up and we in fact did need a lift. We hoped on a shuttle bus and headed off on a 2 hour ride that literally stopped at every resort in Cabo before it got to ours. When we got to the Pueblo Bonita Sunset Beach Resort they informed us that we were not staying at the hotel but at the Villas up on the hill. That sounded pretty exciting. We hoped on another shuttle and it swept us up to Villa #5 at the Montecristo Estates.



What's so great about a villa you may ask? Well for one it sounds so dramatic, "Come to my villlllllla dahhhhhhling." But besides that... here are a few things, well for this villa at least.

#1 Villas have private infinity pools overlooking the entire resort and beach. Lay in the right spot and it looks like the pool stretches into the ocean. In the morning and you can see the spouting of whales.


#2 Villas have staff. Not the infection, but people who take care of you. They have a concierge that helps you with reservations, cleaning woman who are sweet as pie and fold everything from napkins to toilet paper into different creatures, and death defying pool boys who stand on the infinity pool's ledge each morning. This was a bit weird at first, I did not grow up with cleaning ladies or pool boys, hell we didn't even have a pool. When seeing a random person roaming around the house I first assume they are there to rob me, then I think maybe they are lost, then my stomach drops cause I think maybe I am in fact the lost one, but then when I see them picking up a towel I left on the floor I realize that they are working and I instantly feel guilty and want them to sit down so I can clean up my own mess. But by the end of the trip I got pretty used to it and I only wish that I spoke more than 5 words of Spanish so I could have gotten to know the staff a bit more.


#3 Villas are sah-weet. They have things like fountains in the foyer, living rooms with cathedral ceilings, private jacuzzis, master bedrooms with mosquito netting and sliding doors that open you bedroom up to the infinity pool and an ocean view.


#4 Villas are just a short ride away from the resorts main pool. Complete with lounge chairs, swim up bars, happy hours and waiters that let you eat poolside. I think we ate lunch here at least 4 times. Both Sasso and I reminisced about how when we were young our families wouldn't let us eat poolside cause it would have cost them a small fortune, so we took full advantage this time around. It was so fun.


#5 Villas are a hop, skip and jump away from the luxurious spa where a lovely woman (with super strong hands) named Maria will rub away all the stress you have and then fill you up with cucumber water and send you to the woman's lounge to sit in the jacuzzi. (I wanted to use the swiss shower but it looked like a medieval torture device that Darcy and I couldn't figure out so I passed).
Sasso and my new goal is to work really hard so that when we grow up we too can afford a villa in Cabo, then we'll also be nice and let our children's friends celebrate new years there.

80 Degrees to 8 Degrees

Well we are back from a lovely-lovely-lovely trip to Cabo. We got to make some great new friends and spend lots of time with old ones. I feel like I got all I could out of it... even though we only left our villa like 3 times. Tequila shots - check, Tacos - check, Whales - check, Spa Visit - check, Celebrity Sightings - check, crying at the air port cause you don't want to go home - check.
I think subconsciously I was weeping because I knew it would take us 21 long hours to get from my luxurious Cabo bed to my mediocre Boston bed. Taxi ride from resort to airport - Cabo to LAX - LAX to O'Hare - O'Hare to Boston. Ugh. Though I did learn a few things on my long journey back East: You can soundly sleep on the floor of LAX for a few hours with just some ear plugs and a eye mask. Immigration in LAX is kind of a Cluster #*!@, though seeing soap stars helps kill the time. Just because you book a direct flight does not mean the airline will not pull the beach sand out from under you and send you otherwise. The skyline of Chicago is absolutely beautiful and that lake DOES look like the ocean!
I have lots 'o pictures to share and some amusing stories. I'm running a bit slow because of a very unlovely chest cold I took off the plane. Or perhaps my lungs are just protesting their return to the freezing temps of Boston....

Currently Imagining: Cabo

In the last 2 years many of Sasso + my family members and friends have moved all over the country. It was somewhat of a mass exodus from New England, the kind that makes you go… “Wait why is everyone leaving and I’m still here? Do they know something I don’t?”
So lately most of our trips have been visits to St. Augustine, San Francisco, New York City and soon Portland, (as Sasso says, we are very lucky that everyone moved to some kick-ass places). But alas, we are going to be doing some traveling this fall and I AM SO EXCITED.
One of our trips will be 8 lovely days in Cabo San Lucas with some good friends.
Right now I’m imagining Cabo because I'd like to do a pattern about it before I leave. I’ve been doing some research and I picture riding in a small boat amongst the migrating whales, taking a surfing lesson, riding mad-max style through the desert in dune buggies and of course sitting on the beach.
I’ve been reading Steinbeck’s “Log of the Sea of Cortez” which has been really great. It seems like everyone, their uncle, or their husband has been there recently and had a good time. I’m not big on touristy vacation spots but I think this maybe what we need. Leave a comment or send me an email with any Baja tips and expect to see a Cabo print not too far off. Then I can go there and see if I was right on or totally off base.
Images from top: hanging out with the whales from sogonow.com, the "Log from the Sea of Cortez", the beach, and dune buggie-ing at wideopenbaja.com.