More Adventures in Cabo

It is tricky to rent and drive a car in Mexico when the entire Baja is preparing for the G20 in July. After finally renting one for a couple of days we set out on our most recommended path to Todos Santos. Nearly every night the gringos in town compare notes on the best eateries, beaches, villages, and so forth. We have sat in on so many of these discussions (often at the hot tub each night) and have found that Hotel California keeps coming up. This is the hotel from that old Eagles song, though that too brings up more debate. On our way to Todos we planned to stop at a beach about 11km south of there and let our little one stretch his legs and play on the sand a bit. Well after going through a half dozen frightening checkpoints where scary men wearing black walk out onto the highway and point at your car and direct you to the side of the road we were a little shook up. These men were everywhere. They carried assault rifles, or some type of scary looking gun, and wore bullet proof vests. Also the highway was actually a half dirt half concrete road with no definite boundary between lanes. Thankfully we had a DVD player to keep Sebastian happy, but it only worked the way there.

It took so much longer than google maps estimated and was nauseating. Thankfully we found the random bumpy dirt road to the beach (playa Los Cerritos) and hit the jackpot of all beautiful beaches. We watched about 3 dozen amazing surfers dodge rocks on the waves, and ate another delicious lunch of shrimp stuffed avocados while our son played. This place was so cool. But it turned late and there was no way we were going to fit in another stop. It is so hard to remember that when everyone recommends these beaches and restaurants that they certainly don't have a toddler with them who is still in diapers. 2 year olds aren't too excited about lounging in a chair and watching the surf.
Later that night we ate on an organic farm (Floras Farm) in the desert which was totally new for me. The brought me my salad that had carrots, avocado, jicama, Swiss chard, lettuce and tomatoes from the veggie rows only 10 meters away. So fresh and delish! We have truly been spoiled with the food here in San Jose del Cabo.

At this point we have reached a bit of a bump in the road because my husband had to take a last minute flight home to MN due to some tech issues, so my son and I have gone back to walking the hills of our neighborhood. We hope to return to our scheduled vacation in the next few days once my dh returns with a couple more laptops since he is still developing iOS apps while we are here. Yes, that means I am writing this on an iPad which is insane since the touch screen annoys me and the images are wonky. I hope before this trip is over I will be blogging about a future trip to the Baja mountains which I am planning for next weekend. Fingers crossed.

18 liters of Mexican milk

We have arrived in San Jose del Cabo!  Day 1 of 29 glorious days and we were greeted with heat, for us anyhow.  It is currently 79 here but feels insanely hot.  We ate sandwiches on our new garden terrace overlooking both the Sea of Cortez as well as the infinity pool here and I had to remove my elbow from the sun because it was stinging!  Shows how MN pale I am.

There was the usual confusion at the airport of who was driving us back to our condo.  We waited around a half hour eventually making an expensive phone call to our resort.  Our driver ran up with our sign even though he claimed to have been here 20 mins, no worries we had been enjoying the surroundings.  Sea, desert, and mountains all in one.  Cacti EVERYWHERE.  All of the local houses were small gray cubes and rectangles.  

We love our condo.  Beautiful stainless steel appliances, granite surfaces, luxury bedding, yet the towels are literally mismatched secondhand beach towels.  Strange considering all the other work they put into the details, but this is Mexico.  We have great flat screens, artwork, and furniture throughout the condo yet there is speaker wire hanging out of holes in the walls.  We were a little surprised to see a 3rd bedroom here, that had not been advertised.  Thought there were only going to be two, I guess now we could accommodate guests if any were to venture down to the southern most tip of the Baja peninsula.  Funniest of all was the plethora of Mexican dairy products waiting for us upon arrival.  We have 18 liters of UHT milk, both whole and "light" varieties.  Also 1.5 liters of strawberry yogurt drink.  I had put in an order for groceries for us and somewhere in the translation they thought I wanted a TON of milk even though I only asked for a half gallon of whole and skim milk.  Not sure how we will finish 18 liters but it makes me laugh.  

It is only nap time and I still have the rest of the evening to play!  Both my boys are sleeping and I am ready to explore.  Even though the flight was stressful this morning (apparently 2 year olds don't like to be strapped into a seat for 4.5 hours) I am so glad that we made this decision to come down here for the month of February.  It is the first time our passports have been used since we got married.  Sebastian's passport photo had every single security official cracking up at the various checkpoints.  Except the policia federales upon arrival.  They did not crack a smile.

Traveling with a Toddler

I am going on my first "real" vacation with my toddler next week and never before has my list-making been so obsessive as it has been these last few weeks.  My husband and I have decided to spend the month of February living it up in sunny San Jose del Cabo.  This plan, everyone assures is, is pure gold.  Spending the beginning part of this rather mild winter in MN and taking off for Cabo right when things start to feel bitter was our goal.  Lately I have been slightly anxiety filled with the thoughts of all the toddler stuff I may encounter.  What if his eardrums burst on his first plane trip?  What if we contract some horrible parasite.  What if something goes wrong with my pregnancy.  What if what if....  I am just ready to just get this vacation GOING.  My extensive online research using tripadvisor and several other forums have prepared me for most of what I will encounter but still I wonder.

My husband and I once had everything, I mean EVERYTHING stolen from us while lunching in Bratislava, Slovak Republic.  When we found our first set of cops thinking that they would help us and fill out some sort of a report they took my husband into the back of an unmarked van for 20 minutes while I freaked out and then proceed to ticket us for lack of proper permits on our rental vehicle.  That's all they did!  No help, no assistance contacting the US Embassy or US Consulate even though we had no passport, no money, no laptops, cellphones, etc and they were the most unhelpful people I have ever encountered besides Comcast Customer Service.  After that encounter we proceeded to still spend the rest of our month in Europe with very little clothing and a renewed attitude.  Traveling light was adopted and embraced after that incident.  We literally wear one pair of jeans and pack a few shirts, undies, and out the door we go.  Why now am I packing an entire suitcase of toys for my tot just in case?

Along with packing and list-making we just released our newest free iPhone app called, Rate This Pic.  After viewing so many hilarious and memorable pictures that our friends and family have shared on facebook we thought why not have an app where users can upload their most enjoyable pics to be viewed and rated by others.  Please download and enjoy this app.  :)    We are looking for more pictures so if you have some to submit do it!  Here is the press release announcing the deets.

Just Another Manic Monday

My head is full of images this morning.  Spent a couple of hours walking through VERY recent F2 tornado damage in North Minneapolis with my husband.
We happened upon the site only a couple of hours after the tornado struck and the neighborhood was literally in shock.  People sitting on their front steps of their damaged homes with trees uprooted and a shell-shocked look to them.  Everyone that we encountered was physically ok, but unfortunately there was no help for these people at first.

After nearly 90 minutes climbing around the damage and checking in with folks we finally saw our first police car and the beginnings of the city clean up crew.  Power lines were down all around us and people finally started clearing brush and trees mostly by themselves.  So sad, I have been thinking about it a lot today.

This did NOT happen in my neighborhood, but we were only a few miles away and all we got was the tornado siren and a large storm.

Thankfully the city is in clean up mode and it sounds like everyone is getting help at this point.

I have also completed drawing two more illustrations for my husband's iPad game he has been developing for months.  This is really his baby as he has a bit of a gamer geek past and has been coming up with ideas for as long as I have known him.  I just helped a bit with the creation of the sprite sheets, which were actually rather challenging!  I don't dare post them here as my husband is very hush hush about his game until we actually get approved by Apple.  I can say it is very similar to a casual game like Angry Birds but minus the design assistance of a large scale Finnish team.

5-0 NOT at the duplexes across from my house

So as I was enjoying my lovely Sunday afternoon yesterday I was interrupted by an undercover cop car, lights on, speeding down my street. It did NOT stop at the duplexes across from my house (to my surprise) and kept on to the end of the block. I wasn't in the mood to follow, plus was elbow deep in playing with the LO.

A minute later I did notice a young man running between two of my neighbor's houses....peering out from the bushes and looking up and down the street....and then bolting across the street only to run through the yards in the next set of houses. This must have been the feller they were looking for. I didn't have my camera near by but on my stroller walk I did happen to see these shenanigans at the end of the block.

Nancy freaking Drew here

Hmmmm duplex #5 hasn't had a police visit in years. Not since it was inhabited by the teenage kid that liked to throw glass bottles in the street at 3am. But these gals are actually pretty cool.

Then again the police calls at these duplexes are near-daily and it no longer surprises me.
Off to investigate Nancy Drew style.

Evicted

Looks like pickup guy in duplex#3 is getting a forced eviction. Or is he forced to move out as a result of a breakup with slippers-in-the-snow lady. The cops have been watching him and forcing him to pack up suitcases the last 30 minutes or so.

Better get your valuables pal!

What's going on here?

I can not figure out what is going on across the street. It appears duplex #3 has about 3 or 4 cop cars there right now with lights blazing and everything. Another domestic dispute perhaps? The lady that wears slippers in the snow and the pickup guy may be having a riff.



A few weeks ago an ambulance was called and slippers lady was brought out in a stretcher sitting up. She looked fine to me but perhaps she likes getting $3,000 bills for ambulance rides that aren't really emergencies.


Of course there happens to be a cop going in and out of townhouse #2 amidst all this chaos. The local PD should have their personal parking spaces in front of these townhomes.

CONFUSION ENSUES.

The Dude on House Arrest Across the Street

As a stay-at-home mom I am home a LOT. The man on house arrest living in the duplex kiddy-corner to my house has a loud voice and talks on his cell phone while smoking outside all of the time. I hear every effing-heimer and shizzle cuss word out of his mouth....along with all the children in the neighborhood. Now my baby has yet to utter a single word besides ba ba ba ba but I am not incredibly excited about the day he understands that his house arrested neighbor is on his 4th D-dub but that it wasn't his fault. Oh plus apparently his live-in girlfriend is a beoyotch + more. I have had to call the cops on this house a handful of times over the last few months

Latest Shenanigans Update: Apparently the crazies under house arrest and the invalids in the duplex next door have a connection, not sure how. I often see some big lady wearing only a nightgown and slippers walk in the snow from duplex 3 to duplex 2 and make visits. I am so confused....