Trip: Part 1
Sunday morning we have a 10:10 AM flight. Being that Los Cabos is
three hours behind EST, we’ll arrive at 12:50 PM. Airport is pretty
busy as it’s August. We head straight to TSA pre-check, as were not
checking anything in.
Our briefcase gets checked to see if the bottle
of milk is still frozen; BH it was. We get to the gate and see it’s
gonna be a full flight. After boarding, we’re already on the runway
when there’s an announcement that they got a new route and need more
fuel, so that causes a long hour delay.
We land at about 2:00 PM. Security checks one of our bags of snacks,
but all is fine. We head outside to the car rental shuttles. Weather
is hot, probably in the high 90’s with some breeze. I rented with
Cactus as all other companies had terrible reviews, and indeed we were
very satisfied, paid in full before, and no extra charges.
We take the longer but nicer route to the WA, driving along the water
some of the time. It takes about 50 min. Arriving to the WA, you drive
through this carved-out rock/tunnel, and indeed there is light at the
end of that tunnel.
Valet takes your car, hands you fresh-scented
towels, and offer drinks as you sit in the beautiful outdoor lobby
overlooking the ocean.
We were a little tense as I was booked as a 2nd guest and wasn’t able
to get a digital key before to avoid the check-in. As the receptionist
realized I was a 2nd guest, he started asking questions, like is the
primary guest coming etc... Being in touch with the FNC seller, we
both told the hotel that she’s coming in late. Meanwhile he went back
to the desk, and a long two minutes later, he came back with our key
cards and said it’s fine; sigh.
He brought us to our room and
explained everything about the hotel. He asked us what time we wanted
our room service etc. We told him that we eat kosher so he made a note
on our room, and told us we can go to the kitchen in the morning and
speak to the chef for all our needs. They were very accommodating
throughout with incredible service; I made sure to tell him that more
kosher guests would be coming.
Due to Diamond Status, we got upgraded from Pacific-view to
ocean-view, which was weird as I always thought the Pacific was the
ocean…
The standard rooms are beautiful. They include a nice balcony with a
(mostly) private plunge pool, a full tub and shower, a fireplace,
mini-fridge with all drinks included (water, Coke, seltzer). They also
gave a complimentary bottle of kosher tequila, which was really nice.
They then brought us a bowl with a whole avocado, tomato, lime and
onion, (with some non-kosher tortilla chips), and a bucket with two
ice-cold Corona beers. That’s when I felt Mexico… We cut up the
veggies and noshed on them with some rice cakes to get us till dinner.
We sat and enjoyed till it was time for dinner. We got a golf-cart
ride to the end of the tunnel and it was a peaceful 5-min walk to
Chabad from there.
Ray’s Cabo, the Chabad eatery, is an eat-in takeout kind of place,
with heimeshe music playing too loud. Was not full and probably had a
total of three people working there. Menu had some burger options,
ribeye steak, schnitzel plate, etc. We went with the Mariachi Burger
and the Ribeye, which were both delicious and reasonably priced.
Walked out very satisfied.
Monday morning at 9:00 AM, we went to the poolside restaurant where
breakfast is served. They sat us down and replaced the cutlery with
plastic ware. We got free continental breakfast with our booking,
which includes freshly-squeezed juice, fruits and cereal. For $20, you
can upgrade to eggs and vegetables, so we did that. They called us in
to the kitchen; we turned on the fire and cracked the eggs, handed the
chef our pan and gave him bread to toast. It was a solid and filling
breakfast, and it was 10:00 AM.
We planned this to be a balanced trip between some fun activities and
relaxing, so we figured we’ll do the trips the first half and relax
the second half.
Through Viator (Trip Advisor), we booked ziplining and UTV with Cabo
Adventures for Monday morning. I pre-paid $198 for two tickets and $78
for insurance and fees once we arrived. A shuttle came to pick us up
at 10:25 from the hotel lobby. We drove about 1.5 hours to the
destination. It was a really fun trip; the crew was great and there’s
lots of daring ziplines, some crossing over waters. There was one
40-ft swing drop and a 60-mph mega zipline at the end. It also
included some hiking between zipline locations.
They didn’t let any phones or cameras cuz they had their own photographer catching every
moment. But afterwards, they charged $109 minimum for the pictures and
videos, so we don’t have any. That was pretty upsetting. The UTVing
was after the ziplining. It was about 15 min; we got really sandy, but
had a blast. The shuttle took us back to the hotel. The time was about
5:30, so it was a full-day trip but plenty worth it.
Back at the room, there was a bowl with whole avocados, tomatoes,
onions, and tortilla chips waiting for us. This time it was wrapped in
plastic; I think they think that makes it kosher.
For dinner we headed back to Ray’s Cabo. Tried another burger and the
schnitzel plate which was crispy and tasty.
Rabbi Benny Hershkovitz, the Chabad rabbi, had Yahrzeit, so there was
a minyan Maariv, though at that time of year there usually isn’t
minyan. I went over to say hi and he asked me what I’m doing on this
side of town, remembering my name from booking the mashgiach for Zadun
RC (which we’ll get to).
Back at the hotel, there was a small band playing some music next to
the bar and restaurant with three people watching, so we stayed around
a little and ordered our own crafted cocktail they made for us with
the kosher ingredients they had. We then headed to the overwater
restaurant to enjoy it with the churros we purchased at Ray’s; we took
it to-go since we were too full to eat it after our meal.
Tuesday morning, we had pre-booked through Viator to go parasailing at
10:30, but they cancelled on us cuz they needed another two people to
join. So after breakfast which was just as good as the day before, we
went to concierge to see if they have any other options for
parasailing. They had a place that they work with but wanted $100 pp;
I originally paid $75, so he suggested we go to the beach and find a
local place for cheaper.
I didn’t wanna bother with parking, so we took an Uber for $5 to the beach, and to our luck, the driver had a friend that does parasailing. It’s called Happy Los Cabos. He charged
us $65 pp and we had a wonderful time. We got to see the famous Arch, which is supposedly a must, and some beautiful views. They took pictures for us and sent it (for free).
We got back to the hotel at 12:00 PM. I asked for late checkout (BUT
I’M A DAIMOND GUEST); they said the hotel is at full capacity so they
can only give till 1:00 PM, which was perfect for us. We packed up and
headed out for a 45 min drive to Zadun, a Ritz Carlton Reserve.
