This morning we receive a letter from Captain Maroje Brajcic announcing something we have been expecting for days: our stop in Nicaragua is canceled. We have been hearing about the political protests and the street violence, and figured that Oceania would opt to play it safe and skip this call, especially after the news that an American was shot dead there. So we can add that to our list of reasons that we have missed visits. Oh well. Stuff happens.
We arrive in the port of Cabo San Lucas right around noon as scheduled. On our way in, we immediately notice that the hills are bone dry. After cruising around French Polynesia and visiting Hawaii, such desert landscapes are a real eye-opener. I would really like to know how a city this size hosting hundreds of thousands of tourists annually can come up with enough water to sustain everything.
On our way in, we pass by one of this community’s most famous landmarks, El Arco, a magnificent arched rock formation also known as Land’s End (a photo of it heads up this post and another one is below). Apparently it’s a good spot for viewing sea lions. If we were taking a boat trip, that would be an interesting destination.
We will anchor in this port as there is no cruise dock. When we arrive we see that Insignia will have a neighbor, the 113,300-ton, 950-foot long Carnival Splendor that carries 3,000 passengers. Downtown Cabo will be packed this afternoon. We’re curious about all of these cruise ships now that we have been on one for so long. We notice that the tenders that take people to shore from the ship aren’t the lifeboats like we have seen so often. We suspect that Carnival has so many ships calling on Cabo that they have a shore-based collection of tenders. And with 3,000 passengers, they have a bunch of them.
Because Cabo San Lucas is such a resort town, we opt for an entertainment excursion rather than one that provides information. This one is called Salsa & Salsa, where we will make salsa and learn the basic salsa dance steps. There are 25 of us on the excursion, 80% of whom are women. The description of the tour says that we will first make seven different kinds of salsa. Then we will dance.
It takes about fifteen minutes to get to the resort where this will take place. Cabo is desert. The town is a fairly new member of the Mexican resort communities, and it shows. The roads are being built with overpasses at major intersections to accommodate much higher traffic than we are experiencing. The Mexican government is building for the future, we suspect.
The resort is down an unpaved road and isn’t fancy, but it’s clean and overlooks the ocean. We are all seated at tables of eight in an open (but covered, thankfully) terrace area. The table is full of bowls of ingredients and we will work in pairs preparing the salsa.
But first we have margaritas. Of course these are optional, but only one of the participants opts out. Then there is a shot of tequila and Grand Marnier. More margaritas are offered. All this time our hostess Stephanie is explaining what we will be doing as assistant Melissa and another adorable young girl without a nametag pour margaritas.
Now we begin to make salsa. We have all our mise en place in little bowls, plus a mortar and pestle. We make red salsa, green salsa with roasted garlic and tomatillos, guacamole, pico de gallo, all the while the margaritas are flowing.
After the last salsa is finished, we are led to another area to learn the basic steps of the salsa dance. First most of us get in a picture with our hosts. Then about twenty of us learn a few steps. Stephanie is very patient, and some people actually get the hang of it. Steve is not one of them, and when we are actually supposed to blend the step into an actual dance, Steve bows out. We watch as four or so couples do a pretty good job of it.
We have been out in the open for about four hours, and it has been hot, even under cover. It is time to end this. Stephanie and her assistants have done a great job, and ask us to review this tour on Trip Advisor. Eventually I will do that. It was a great deal of fun and we did actually learn something. We hop into the bus and head back to the dock for our tender.
The area near the dock is packed with people – and pharmacies. It seems like every third shop is a pharmacie. We have been told that many people come to Mexico to buy their drugs, and we see much evidence of that right here in Cabo.
Time to head back to the ship. We see yet another advantage to sailing on a small ship. Our tender is at the dock and we can board immediately. There is a line of at least fifty people waiting for the Carnival Splendor’s tenders.
The place is very busy and very hot. We are glad that we came and saw Cabo San Lucas, but it is unlikely that we will return. We can check it off our list. The view of the rocks is nice though. We meet Kari and Larry on the outside part of the Terrace Café and have dinner. We felt very cruise-y! We sail out at 8:00pm. We set our clocks ahead one hour tonight, so we lose another hour. Can’t be too many more of those changes now.
