It’s a gorgeously “set” place.
The first place we saw where a river valley had a stream feeding into the Pacific. Palm tree groves and GREEN GRASS lining entrances into resort complexes.
There are so many beautiful places in the world. I’m not quite sure how to classify this one.
I had the strange feeling the roads leading up to resorts felt like the roads one sees when driving away from an airport terminal, nicely manicured, very inviting, clean, and arranged just so. I’m sure a landscape architect has a name for this kind of setting or envoked ambiance. Because there was contrast- lots of it- from the dry desert cactus I had been seeing for the last month.
We received advice from a Swiss German overlander to avoid both Cabo and San Juan entirely. He seemed like a nice retired age guy- he actually had a grandkid and was really interested in our Cabunk sleeping arrangement for his grandkid. But avoid 2 cities entirely?
We decided to focus our time in the old town of San Juan del Cabo. We spent an evening experiencing the local galleries during an art walk.
Obviously I had no plans to find a top notch golfing facility. But I figured that kind of like a grocery store, every city tells a story. And this proved to be true. It was worth taking g the time to walk around the souvenir shops, find a locals lunch spot, and people watch while we checked out the art walk.
When we were traveling on the Carretera Austral in Chile- one of the most remote and least populated but very popular touristic roads (incredibly lush scenery, glaciers, massive rivers) I remember how starved we were for interaction and culture. And that’s where it hit me- even the smallest shop- a carved out front room in someone’s simple home, the single coffee shop in town, or the “post office”-which was housed in someone’s living room window was THE TOWN, and the culture of the place.
Tiny shops or the smallest of nuances enlightened me to how people lived in an area and made me consider- why did they choose to arrange things the way they did.
Initially I dreaded going into these minuscule shops (I still push Todd to go if I feel uncomfortable or fear getting ripped off- even though my Spanish comprehension is somewhat better than his) but I learned this is where it’s at- these are the spots and people who make this place. It’s either the penguins (in this case the whales and hummingbirds) or the people I’m going to be observing to learn about how people live here.
So, stop at the touristic town, but go to the food truck along the highway or shop at the open air municipal market because it makes you uncomfortable. That is where you learn about yourself and that is where you learn how others live or their customs.
Being uncomfortable and self conscious means you’re growing. And I just want to keep growing.