Lazy Afternoon, Simple Dinner, Lazy Morning

Los Cabos Travelog #16
Viceroy hotel San Jose del Cabo - Wed, 8 May 2024, 9am

It's another taking-it-easy morning here in San Jose del Cabo. Like yesterday morning I awoke early (sunrise is 5:40am) and relaxed on our deck overlooking the pools. And it's not just this morning I'm taking it easy. Yesterday after coming back from our snorkeling trip I was pretty wiped. I took a nap for an hour or two before dinner.

Dinner last night was on our own. While some of my colleagues went looking for expensive food, likely to use up the dining allowance, Hawk and I kept it simple. Like I've said before, we're generally not fans of fancy food. We found a local-style place within easy walking distance and walked over there. I ordered a plate of two tacos while she got a plate of two small mushroom quesadillas. We split a dish of guacamole to enjoy with our chips. Altogether it was a light meal and not very expensive; about $25 all-in.

Light meals seem a bit strange to us as US-ians. We've become accustomed to the gut-busting portions normalized over the past 25-30 years. I still remember what meals used to look like, though. These were adult sizes in the long-long ago. Which means they left us room to enjoy a modest dessert afterward. 🤣 We split an order of churros with chocolate and caramel sauce at a cafe on the walk home.

Well, back to the here-and-now. It's rolling up on 9am Wednesday morning. That means the lazing around on our deck is coming to an end. In a few minutes we're going up to the lobby to meet our group for today's activity— ATV rides in the desert!

ATV Ride in the Baja Desert

Los Cabos Travelog #17
Baja California Sur, Mexico - Wed, 8 May 2024, 3pm

Today we went ATV riding in the Baja desert. It was another of the A-or-B activities arranged for my company club trip. I think the "B" activity was a spa treatment, so yeah, I was totally going with Option A. Hawk, too.

A bus took us to a spot over an hour away. Fourteen of us were aboard for the activity.

After the difficulty I had with snorkeling yesterday you might wonder if I'd want to try another physical activity. Hell yes! It's not the physicality.; it's my familiarity with the equipment. While I've never driven an ATV before I have been driving 4x4 vehicles for 27 years. I'm very confident with reading trails and picking the right line through obstacles. As I took the while after a quick briefing on the controls, I thought to myself, "This is like a Jeep and a lawnmower had a baby."

The photo above/right of me in my gear is the only one I have from this activity. The guides told us multiple times not to try using phones or cameras during the trip. "You'll need to keep both hands on the wheel and pay attention to driving," they advised us. Which was totally reasonable. But it was also because they were taking pictures for us to sell at absolutely hideous prices. How hideous? Over $100 for a digital download of 20 or so pics they made. $72 for single photo printed as a souvenir. Fuck no.

The ATV I drove was a two-seater, front and back. I had wanted a solo ATV but Hawk didn't want to drive. Thus she rode as my passenger for the full hour.

While we were out on the trail we saw other groups in the same area. Other outfitters offer ATV rides, too. And some offer a much more classic 4x4 way of traversing the desert....



I was amused we saw camels in the same area as Hawk had spotted beach camel rides a couple weeks ago when we were planning activities for our Los Cabos trip. I was way more interested in ATVs than camels, though. "Compared to ATVs," I warned, "Camels are stinky and mean."