Cabo San Lucas

Waking up in Paradise

It has been almost two months now since we left on our journey. I now know Cabo pretty good in my own little “gringa” way. I think I know why so many people go somewhere on their boats and just stay. It is such a relief to not be “getting ready.” To not be in the surge of working. When we first left LA I was not feeling One Hundred Percent and then after we arrived I got seriously sick. But after that there is this strange feeling, and it takes a while to sink in. A version of the “White Guilt,” I suppose? A feeling that maybe this life is too good for anyone and I am too blessed, or worse: there has been a great mistake and this is not your life. At all. But I keep waking up here and the sun is like a warm blanket every day. But, undeniably, it is time to move on to another port.

I will not miss the jet skis that make the waves slap against our hull and smell like the 405 or a three dollar fee at the dinghy dock to park our dinghy for the day. I will miss the short dinghy ride to either bars or snorkeling. At this point I have heard every type of entertainment from the Hotels and Bars on the beach that I can recite the whole thing. He says, “Where you from?… Oh, San Diego? Go Chargers!” or “San Francisco? You gay, man?” or “DJ, Musica! Everybody make some noise!” And on the other end of the beach there is a lilting voice of one very nasal gentleman who sings everything from The Beatles to Cat Stevens. He really likes to slow the tempo wayyyyy dowwwwn. So all the songs have the same nasal quality. There is a tempo to this place and I can feel the heart beat and like my own breathing all of these noises have faded into the background and I am left with only the pulse to guide me.

Andrea and Joel were gone for three or four days and Brett and I enjoyed each others company and laid low. When they came back it was time for our New Years Celebrations and Andrea and Joel got a slip for Fearless. We had hot water, electricity to burn and unlimited water for washing. It was a real luxury being able to take a hot shower with as much water as I wanted on the boat. And then getting ready to go out like a normal LA girl was great. We had been hanging out with the New Zealand Sailing Team and we ended up tagging along to the place where we knew some of them had bought tickets. It was a place called Passions, it is a club in a hotel that is on the beach, in the bay. We invited the guys to come over early to get the party started since we had heard that this place was very expensive and planned on getting our “Swerve On” while we were still paying grocery store prices. So on New Years Eve, 2007 I entertained the America’s Cup Team from New Zealand in my home and got at least one of them puking drunk. Sorry, Yogi.

I was just trying to be a good hostess and so when his drink was light I made it a little heavier. Maybe a little too much Yeager. He was doing so well. And then he wasn’t. Regardless, we partied on the boat for a time and then got to Passions a little before 11pm and it was shoulder to shoulder packed. So we regretted leaving the boat at first but then, after midnight, everyone disappeared and the crowd was cut in half. Then we started to have some fun. We found some bean bags and made a little location for ourselves on the patio. There were fireworks and a warm breeze and great friends. What more can a person ask for.

Andrea and Joel were leaving on the 2nd so we only had one more day to enjoy their company. It went by way too fast and I was really sad to see them go. I will forever remember the steam room at Las Ventanas, where we went on Christmas, and the lovely day that we spent there. The little excursions out without the boys just about rescued me from a life of being surrounded by men who talk of nothing but boats. It was a breath of fresh air. So I was sad to put them in the taxi, but all good things must come to an end and we had to let them go and clean up.

At about 11am I put them in the taxi and said good-bye. Brett and I flew into action. There was all the laundry to do and the boat to wash: in and out. Brett’s parents were coming the next day and the boat had to be provisioned and clean. So I got going on the laundry and Brett got going on the boat. The laundry machines here operate on American quarters. So I have to have American money to get a service in Mexico. This is not the first time this has happened so I don’t know why I am surprised. While I am doing the laundry my glasses disappear. My Gucci glasses. My glasses that I have had for two years and just got the lenses replaced so that I could take them on this trip glasses. Those glasses. I think that maybe they got caught up in my laundry and they are in the bag. They are not in the laundry room, did one of those other women steal my glasses? Would they? They didn’t seem the type but I could not find my glasses anywhere! So I left.

I went back to the boat and we finished cleaning her and got her back on the hook for our visit with Brett’s folks. At the end of the cleaning we put the laundry away and there were no glasses. It was more than I could bear. I know that a person is not defined by their possessions and that vanity is shallow but….. I need those nice glasses. I feel cheep in five dollar glasses. I can shop at Target and Santee Alley for my clothes and I can wait for my favorite shoes to go on sale but when it comes to glasses I need the ones that are fantastic. It is a pointless obsession and Brett is morally opposed to any object that costs over one dollar and does not improve the performance of the boat so his comment was only that “You should be grateful that now they are gone and you do not have to worry about something that was so important to you.” and “Now you can be free of it.” I did not take these comments in stride.

In the end Brett gave me $300 and told me to replace the glasses since he could not stand to see me so incredibly sad. Then the next day he went to get his parents and I struck out to find my new glasses. I looked in three high-end glasses stores but could find nothing that compared to my Gucci’s. I was so dejected that I went and took one last look… I went back to the laundry and made my last desperate search… and there they were! Stuck in the wedge between the dryer and the wall, with only one golden side that could be seen from the top. I tried to find something else to spend the money on but in the end I decided that I should just relax and count my lucky stars. When Brett arrived back in Cabo with his parents I was in a very good mood.

We took the dinghy back to the boat and everyone got settled in. We went to the beach and had dinner at the Mango Deck, a place on the beach that has good food and two for one drinks. They were pretty wiped from the travel so we went back to the boat and played cards at night. The next day we were not so lucky. Susan started to feel a little sea sick, possibly from the rocking of the boat or maybe a reaction to the medicine that you take to avoid sea-sickness (Nausea seems like a strange side effect for a drug that is supposed to stop nausea, but there it is printed on the package. She did not feel well as soon as she touched land, which is usually how it works with sea sickness.) So we decided that we would split up: Brett and his dad would go to San Jose and park the boat and Susan and I would stay at the hotel and have a margarita, lounge by the pool and join them in San Jose when they arrived.

We got a nice large bed by the pool and ordered expensive drinks and appetizers. The “people watching” here was great and we sat in the sun and yakked away like school girls. After a time we went into town and did a little shopping and then right when we were trying to figure out our next move the boys called: they had arrived. So we took a taxi to San Jose and I had my first taste of this town. It is a little quainter than Cabo, a little more reserved, a little plainer and a little more expensive. We had a nice lunch and returned to the “Marina in the Middle of Nowhere.” We had no idea what this marina would be like when we made our reservation but it was one hundred dollars a night less expensive than Cabo so we had taken it, sight unseen. When we arrived it was a beautiful marina, nice steady piers and great security. The problem was that this marina was so new the taxis had no idea where it was and it was an eight dollar cab ride to anywhere. Sometimes it is more important who you are with than what you can do so we were happy to rest here with hot showers and unlimited water, again. Boy, I’m getting spoiled.

We were cleaning up on the second day in the marina and we saw that a package of tortillas had been ripped open and some had been eaten. I looked for any mouse droppings but could find none. But it was undeniable that we had some sort of animal on board. We were very concerned about the mouse and so Susan and I went shopping and got a mouse trap (and some nice clothes for Susan! Girls will be girls!) The mouse trap was the only kind available here and it was a sticky tray that was about twelve inches by four inches. The idea being that the mouse gets caught in the sticky stuff and can’t get out. We put the mouse trap up by the tortillas that had been eaten last time. We had success. At midnight we heard a noise. Brett bounded out of bed and alerted me to the noise and I blearily looked up and stumbled out to see what was up. My first impression was, “That is one big rat!” But as soon as Brett reached for the beast it let out an all too familiar noise for a cat lover and I was reduced to a complete mess. I never wanted to hurt a cat! Then Brett called out for his mother: a veteran animal lover and rescue worker. She jumped into action and since I was still in my unddies and did not want to get dressed I jumped back into bed. I was so sad and I kept thinking of that little kitten all night. Brett assured me that they did not hurt the cat and that there was not too much sticky stuff left on the cat so I guess that it is all right. Cats beware: you are not safe on Fearless!

After we put Brett’s folks in a taxi it was back to the two of us again and we worked like mad to get the boat clean and moved her back to Cabo to get some last errands done before we went north for good. We have done our last time share in Cabo. On our last timeshare we arranged to trade for massages (instead of cash) and we spent this day at the resort, roaming their private beaches and laying in giant loungers on the beach. It was a great day. I have discovered another fun pastime: masquerading as a hotel guest. Go to a hotel and buy a drink and hang out by the pool, the ocean etc. There are some gorgeous hotels here and the service is always great so I so love to go and pretend like I am a snotty little rich girl for a day. It is a new chapter in life. I am not sick or under the weather anymore and I am free to enjoy myself as I see fit. I have read a ton but have not yet started any of my other projects that I brought with me. I still have to get out the paints, the guitar, or at least the pen and paper for an bit of writing that is not my journal. All in good time, right now I am content to wake up in Paradise every day.