Mexican Gummi Bears out of a Wheelbarrow

On the downtown streets of San Jose del Cabo there are many street vendors rolling their goods each night.  I was fascinated when I saw one man selling bread rolls from his car, his passenger seat and back seat were literally piled with fresh bread rolls.  There is no such thing as plastic packaging on any of the bread products here.  The sellers will just hand out the bread with their bare hands.  They do carry a pair of tongs around with them for when us Gringos swing by.  Last night my sweet tooth got the better of me and I could not handle one more dang piece of flan so I kept my eyes open for a wheelbarrow full of candy that I wanted to try.  My husband seemed a little surprised because I am usually so cautious with what I eat (hygiene-wise) but my pregnancy cravings were making all the decisions last night.  I found the wheelbarrow I was looking for on central plaza.  The owner of this wheelbarrow had filled it full of 20 different tubs of various candies and spiced nuts.  He took out his tongs and let me sample some mango spicy gummy candy and some spicy orange candy.  I have decided that I am not a spicy candy person so I bought $30 pesos worth of gummi bears.  Not too bad!

We have run into some challenges the last few days with a broken hard drive on one of our MacBooks and a very public toddler tantrum.  We were lucky to have some friends staying at a nearby resort who asked to watch our son one evening while we went to dinner just the two of us, they also offered to bring our broken laptop back to MN to get it fixed.  We are so lucky for such great friends.  Sometimes a couple of hours away from a two-year old is just what you need to come back refreshed and ready for another excursion in a foreign country.

I finally tried Ceviche (aka Cebiche) at Mi Casa restaurant in town the other night.  It was exactly as I imagined it minus the purple octopus tentacles I was surprised to see.  The one we ordered was a cold mixture of shrimp, fish, scallops, and octopus marinated in lime juice all afternoon, it was very different.  Well at least I tried it.  :)  My husband thought it was pretty good.

 

I Spy Enrique Iglesias

Anna Kournikova's Tennis Court

My husband has been kidding me nearly every single day that we've been here that he has seen Enrique Iglesias.  This pop star is plastered all over the walls of the concierge's office and has his photo on Alegranza's website as well.  Apparently he is a co-developer of this condo, which is a little confusing as to why a pop singer would be associated with a condominium development, but mainly he and his lady Anna Kournikova either have a penthouse here or stay here.  We are a little fuzzy on the deets but my husband loves to tease me about this.

Hot Stone Shrimp Bowl

We are starting to see how all these open-air eateries are rated by the Americans around San Jose.  It seems the quality of the restaurant is a function of 4 items; the fish tacos, guacamole, salsa, and ceviche.  The salsas are freshly made here, in fact some are made in a mortar and pestle right in front of us at at the table.  The only item I have never tried is ceviche.  The waiter a few nights ago described it as cold cubed raw fish chunks with other stuff.  This was the most unappetizing description that I could think of and therefore I have not ordered it yet.  After a little research I see that it can actually be made of shrimp, fish, octopus, scallops, etc, and that it is supposedly a tasty little appetizer.  We are planning on trying this in the next few days.  We just had a wonderful hot stone dish made with shrimp, flank steak, avocados, peppers and other tasty items that we spooned into corn tortillas, yum!

We spent some time at one of the only swimmable beaches in Los Cabos called Playa Chileno.  We took turns snorkeling while the other would stay with Sebastian on the beach and play in the sand.  We also found out our snorkel has a leak after getting a mouthful of salt water. :(

We won't be going to the beach for the next few days because we have officially found ourselves in a 3-day cloudy patch which everyone claims is SO odd.  We don't mind it one bit, temp in the 70s with a bit of a drizzle?  This is NICE weather to me, and frankly the cloudiness is a nice little break from the sweltering sun.  Besides, the hot tub at night with some light rain is still pretty wonderful.

Golfing in the Morning

So many things to be grateful for today.  First of all Microsoft (MSFT) is over $30 for the first time in a year, and Apple (AAPL) is up at $466.  Loving it.  Also loving the fact that I have hit the putting green with my 2-year old every single morning for the past week.  My son, who normally does activities in 3 minute increments, will entertain himself at the putting green for upwards of an hour.  Usually 30 minutes of putting in the morning breeze is just what we need to wake us up a bit and loosen up our joints.  Along with my Z-Health joint mobility exercises this pregnancy is SO much more comfortable than my first one.

 We are planning on taking a taxi to the Mega grocery store here in town tonight.  Graham is mostly excited for the fact that it is next to an honest-to-goodness Starbucks.  It has been a little challenging finding ingredients that we typically use in our meals and I have had to be a bit creative for our lunches.  There are a lot of dried goods here, legumes, rice and such and their produce is a little different than I had imagined it to be.  Their dairy section is just odd.  Unpasteurized quesos (bathtub cheese) and UHT milk are not exactly appetizing to me these days, in fact unpasteurized dairy products are incredibly dangerous for pregnant women.  At least my son is eating jelly sandwiches and pears on a regular basis so I can sleep a little better at night knowing he will be getting some form of nourishment.  I am off now to scrounge up some lunch for the family.  

On a Yellow Submarine

I went on my first submarine ride ever. If you were thinking that it sounds really claustrophobic and nauseating than you were right! The top of this yellow submarine is actually your typical boat because it is only partially submerged in the water. The ride up top was actually really enjoyable. Beautiful view of the Cabo arch and lover's beach. Sea Lions swimming along beside us and popping their heads out of the water. The time came to view the fish down in the "submarine" and that is when it got a little rocky.

It is whale season which means the water is a little more murky because it is full of minerals so we only saw angelfish, surgeonfish, and parrotfish (the really colorful curious fish).  We were happy we went on the boat ride along Cabo San Lucas if only to say we have done it, we are not sea people!  We were rocking for a while after that.  It helped that I had prepared for possible sea-sickness with Sea Bands, ginger candy, and ginger gum thankfully.  

Awesome Tortilla Soup with Avocados

Using the stroller in Mexico is a little tricky.  One side of a street crossing may have a handicap accessible ramp but the other side may not.  Sometimes we stroll over cobbles, sometimes dirt, there is no guarantee that if you are on a given sidewalk that it will remain intact your entire journey.  We are getting great exercise lifting the stroller and walking up and down the hills of Cabo.  It is incredibly hilly and rocky here.  Graham has had some amazing meals because he is allowed to eat anything.  I follow a gluten-free diet so it has been a little tricky for me. 

 Of course good old corn tortillas and Huevos Rancheros work just fine.  And I have had some unbelievably fresh salsas, guacamole, tortilla soup and salads with papaya in it, but every so often we run into a meal that doesn't work out so well.  We are having fun trying out new places to eat and new dishes everyday.  

Only slightly seasick here

Sebastian is up and wants to play again so off we go!