Weekend in Cabo

My husband and I spend a long weekend in Cabo. We went for our one year anniversary and had an amazing time. Check out below to see what we did to give yourself some ideas for your next Cabo adventure.

Our first day was eventful to say the least... Right when we landed a tropical storm rolled in, Olaf! We were ordered to stay in our room all night. We barely had time to buy "dinner" at a local convenience store. Our dinner consisted of popcorn and a block of cheese. All night we felt winds and the occasional power outage. We were told to stay away from windows and electrical boxes. It was a very memorable night! Fortunately for us, nothing was damaged. But other people and businesses had to deal with power outages, no AC, and broken glass. 

Hurricanes aren't very common in Cabo, so the likelihood this type of thing would happen to you isn't very high. But I felt it was worth mentioning as they can be very dangerous. Our flight almost had to turnaround and every flight after ours was canceled. We went in September and knew bad weather was a possibility. Lucky for us, we had amazing weather the rest of the trip.

It isn't something we'd ever normally do, but felt surviving hurricane Olaf needed a tequila shot for breakfast. When in Rome! This is when we felt our Cabo vacation truly began. COVID restrictions were set in place during our visit, so masks were required in all indoor locations. I also noticed there wasn't a lot of breakfast places. This may have been because not everywhere was open, but I think it's worth noting you may be eating at the same place like we did.

Our breakfast place of choice was called Mama Mia. It was located directly on the beach outside of my WorldMark timeshare condo. It was the only breakfast near Playa Las Palmas, so a lot of people walking on the beach came by to get breakfast too.

The beach our hotel was known as a non-swimming beach. The waters are too rough, so no one was allowed in the water. But it was still nice for beach walking and ocean watching. We liked it because not a lot of people were ever there which made it very peaceful.

We stayed in San Jose Del Cabo and not Cabo San Lucas. Jose has more of an "old town" feel and with lots of golf courses. It's also closer to the airport. While Lucas is more of the "party town" and is where the cruise ships dock. Both have things to see, so we went back a forth a lot. They are about a 30 minute drive away from each other which was kind of a bummer but we made it work.

We decided to not rent a car because of the crazy COVID rates, so we just used Ubers. They were surprisingly cheap and easy to get. Just be prepared for your driver to not know any English. The drives to and from Jose and Lucas was about $10 each way. 

Cabo San Lucas had by far the better beaches for swimming. This sadly comes with a lot more people using them. There are also a lot of walking vendors trying to sell you things like bracelets, hats, and the occasional illegal drugs. Just ignore them unless you see something you really want. Most of the things they are selling you can buy it town for a better price or quality. We would just politely decline every time they would ask. Except someone to walk by every five minutes. If you have someone who won't leave you alone, just say that you don't have any money. That always worked for us. 

The beach we spent an entire day at and I recommend is El Medano. The water was amazing, the sand was amazing, and there was plenty of beach front restaurants to pop into for drinks or food. We grabbed drinks from The Hungry Shark. The staff was super friendly and the drinks were delicious. We didn't get any food but it looked like the had some good Sushi.

A little further down the same beach we had dinner at The Sand Bar. We loved the food here! Also the sunset was absolutely beautiful. We tried a few other places but the wait was too long. The Sand Bar was a bit of a walk down the beach, but we were able to sit down right away because less people made it that far down the beach. 

On a different day we went back to Cabo San Lucas to Scuba Dive. The waters weren't great at all. We could barely see. They said it's usually good visibility. We just didn't have good timing as the waters were still a little turned because of the hurricane. Regardless it was still cool. We saw some fun fish and the "sand waterfalls" are really cool to see. We were a little hesitant when we first got to the location because there was a lot of sea lions in the area. But other divers told us not to worry about them. And they didn't bother us at all! 

This was also the location of the famous arch. You can only access views of the arch via boat. They have ton of different tours that'll bring you to the arch for a photo. It's only a five minute boat ride from the marina, so it's very easy to get to.

Later that night we acted like we were 21 again and went on a party sunset cruise. They offered us free margaritas, beers and fajitas. They had a DJ and a "tequila shot ninja" who made my husband take a tequila shot with him. They took us around the bay to check out the coastline and sunset. 

As the night went on, the sun set and the night sky started to show. Everyone on the boat had a very fun time and we were glad we went. They have tons of these cruises offered online and I now know they are all the same. Don't overthink it. There's a high chance all seven tours you find will all be on the same boat. If you are up for a party, I recommend checking it out!

Back in San Jose, the overall feel is very "old town". We spent one afternoon at the townsquare where usually there is shopping and dinning all around. We weren't sure if it was because of COVID or the hurricane, but when we went this square was dead. We only saw a small hand full of people and only some of the stores were open. Most of the shops were pretty similar with tourist tee shirts and crafts. We were able to get a few gifts for friends back home. 

Also in the center of the old town square was this cute photo opportunity. Of course I had to stop as get the Instagram worthy photo. Behind the photo spot is an old church you are allowed to walk inside of.

There wasn't much inside the church. But it was cool to read about the history in the area. We only stayed inside for a minute out of respect to a man inside who was praying. 

It was also very very hot when we went. Inside and outside. Even inside of the shops and dinning areas. Basically there was no escape of the heat. If I were to go again I would have went a little later in the day when the temperature was a little lower.

One street over from the main square we happened upon the cutest place to eat, Los Tres Gallos. This place was amazing and if you happen to go to Old Town in San Jose I absolutely recommend eating dinner here. It's a little fancy so we felt a underdressed, but still had a great time.

I'm not kidding, this restaurant was everything my husband and I needed while celebrating our 1 year anniversary. The staff, the food, the drinks and the atmosphere was amazing. I was offered my own personal purse rack, they gave us a mini burner that kept flies away, we had a mariachi band play us two songs of our choice, I got a sample of wine for ordering the special, and they gave us a free Flan dessert for our anniversary! Also surprisingly affordable for the amount of work they put into your experience. Your experience may be different then mine, but because of how we were treated, I 100% recommend this place to anyone looking for a nice dinner in San Jose.

Before we were able to fly back to the states we had to take a COVID test. Are flight was on a Monday, so are hotel couldn't do the test for us. They didn't do testing on weekends. This was pretty annoying, but we were able to make it work. Instead we had to go to the local hospital. We were pretty hesitant at first, but inside the building it was very nice and updated. Everyone spoke English and was able to get our tests processed in less than an hour.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading. If you're looking for other travel ideas, check out my other travel posts.

Thanks!