The day we were to head to Cabo San Lucas and our timeshare unit at Grand Solmar our rental car wouldn’t start. Because Cabo Pulmo is so remote and there are no street addresses, per se, Hertz’s roadside assistance could not assist and in typical Mexican car rental fashion didn’t bother to let us know. The owner’s manual was in Spanish, so I downloaded one in English just to make sure a jump start wouldn’t fry the electronics and Karl was kind enough to drive over with his jumper cables to get us on our way. This should have been an omen.

I had a fish pedicure again, with tiny fish nibbling the dead skin off of my heels and toes. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.

All of the greater Cabo San Lucas area was affected mightily by Hurricane Odile. There were many Youtube videos showing the water destroying the pools and crashing through glass doors at Grand Solmar, but we’d been receiving updates saying all was well and they were open for business. Well, the guest rooms were open, but three of the five swimming pools were closed and construction noise was ever present in our unit as well as at all of the open pools. They gave us no warning until a week before our arrival, and little in the way of apology.

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The staff we’ve come to know were all outstanding as usual, and we questioned a few about how their own homes and families fared during the storm. They said that the Bulnes family (who own the resort) sent them home with food and clean water and paid them while the resort was closed, so I’ll give them a pass on the less than ideal conditions during our stay.

It was a quiet week; I read, wrote and swam. I had a fish pedicure again, with tiny fish nibbling the dead skin off of my heels and toes. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. Steve worked on his music. We ate some truly memorable meals. At the beautiful Edith’s Restaurant I ate grilled lobster, tuna and prawns while Steve had sea bass Veracruz, and we shared a banana flan cooked like a tamale with a caramelized sugar “cage” of vanilla ice cream.

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We hit Nick-San’s for sushi. Twice. Abel, our sushi chef, took good care of us with sashimi serranito, maguro lime roll, and a spicy tuna special among the treats. I know I could sell their cilantro sauce by the gallon and make a killing.

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We made our annual trip to Alcaravea for the best Italian on the planet. We visited Baja Cantina on Medano Beach where the bar with swings for bar stools has been rebuilt. Color me happy, as in Happy Hour all day and more sushi while sitting on a swing. And crazy college kids for entertainment.

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One of the highlights for me was my morning walk from the resort into town and through the marina. At 7AM the only folks you see are American tourists jogging or walking in exercise clothes and a few locals opening up shop for the day. And an occasional spring breaker doing the walk of shame. Five college guys stopped me and very politely asked if I new anywhere that was open for breakfast. I did, and gave them directions to a place in the marina. As they walked away one of them yelled back, “By the way, your English is awesome!” Kids; you gotta love ‘em.

So while our time at Grand Solmar wasn’t the highlight of this wonderful trip I was grateful for warm weather, amazing fish, and delicious food and learning that our friends Samuel, Emanuel (whose wife had a baby just after we left last year), Abel and Yazmin came through Odile with jobs and their families intact. And we know next year the place will be back to normal.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s Mexican sojourn. Until later… La vida es bella.

Deborah