Kari and David sent us
an invitation to their wedding way back in 2017. It sounded like fun and at
that time we had just started to enjoy having a monthly VA disability payment
added to our income. We had no idea what a big event it was going to be with
something close to 200 guests at a resort that deserved its Gran Sueños name.
28 Feb, Wed – I thought I had set the alarm for 2:45 A.M.
but somehow I set it for 14:45 instead. Once again C.J. woke up in the nick of
time and we were on the road by 0345 which got us to the ParkNJet lot around
0430, a bit late for the standard three-hour cushion for our 0720 flight to
Salt Lake and on to San Jose de Cabo (SJD, noted as “Los Cabos” on the airport
Departures monitors). Also, the shuttle was slow to pick us up at the parking
lot, leaving us waiting in the cold. Still, we got checked in and through
security in plenty of time to snooze while we waited to board. We had some
clear skies so we could use Flyover Country app to trace our route in Idaho
past Burley and over the summit to Promontory and across the Great Salt Lake.
We were on the wrong side of the plane to see if anyone was flying at the Point
since we went that far south of SLC before turning back to land to the north.
We were supposed to have only 54 minutes before our flight but the plane we
were supposed to fly had some kind of malfunction, and we had to change gates
and then wait another half hour. [On our flight we flew right over many of the natural
wonders of the SW – Bryce Canyon, Vermillion Cliffs, Grand Canyon, Sunset
Crater NM near Flagstaff. Again, the Flyover Country App helped us identify
where we were.] Even so, we were only ten minutes late landing at SJD and we
completed the quick and easy immigration/customs checks quickly. The shark tank of timeshare salespeople was
nowhere nearly as bad as the one at Cancun. They actually helped us find the
Cactus Rental Car rep and we were soon in the shuttle. There was no wait at the
car rental counter ($270) and we were on our way at just after 1530, about when
we had figured. The drive north through the desert was on a two-lane road and
was a bit slow – not like a freeway, for sure. We stopped near Los Barrilles at
an OXXO convenience store to grab a sandwich (38.5) since we had had nothing
substantial all day – no lunch on the three-hour international flight. I used
my phone and Google Maps instead of bringing our GPS along. It worked fine and
took us right to the gate of the Palapas La Choya. Jorge came out and was going
to show us how the gate worked when I tried to turn around and ran up on a
chunk of concrete that was in front of the car, below my sightline. I used the
car jack, and Jorge put some boards under the front right tire and I was able
to back off the concrete with minimal cosmetic damage. After getting a tour of
the palapa, the shared outdoor kitchen and the compound, I paid the remaining
balance in USD and we got a recommendation for a place to eat just down
the road 1.3 km. There was no sign to mark Las Palmas, but the description
Jorge had given us was enough for us to find the unpaved driveway (after
passing it the first time). The place was pretty busy, but a friendly North
American couple said we could have their table right near the entrance as they
were just about ready to leave (in fact, most if not all the customers appeared
to be North Americans). As we were looking at the menu, another group came in
and one of the guys came over and asked if he knew us (or if we knew him). We
didn’t but he introduced himself as Jonathan (or, JK) and said he was here for
the wedding. His wife was with him, and so were BriDog and Cookie! So we made
room at our table and ordered some drinks. Cookie got a call from Eric Reed who
had just arrived with Cherie Sylvera. So they joined us, too, and we moved to a
bigger table. C.J. got the Camarones Imperiales (?) and I got a big fillet of
sea bass (cabrilla) cooked with
garlic to go with our margaritas. On the way back to our lodging, we
stopped at a small grocery store to get some milk, bananas, and oatmeal ) so we could make some breakfast before meeting up with some of the 200 people who
are here for the wedding.
Mar 1, Thu – We got up at 0730. I ran the shower for a long
time before getting any hot water – it wasn’t hot enough to do anything more
than wash my hair (but that was because the weather was cool and windy enough
that the palapa wasn’t warm). After that we went out to the shared kitchen and
met the couple from Ottawa who were in the other palapa. There was a large
carboy of purified water so we wouldn’t have to be using the Steri-pen all the
time. C.J. prepared some quinoa and I microwaved up some oatmeal, a little
problematical because there were no measuring cups. After breakfast we drove in
to town and found the Thursday-morning outdoor farmers market. We ran into
several pilots and bought a pineapple, a few tangerines and a loaf of
coconut-cranberry banana bread. C.J. also found a carved bear with a fish
in its mouth that she got for $15 (a big drop from the original price of $35).
On the way back to the palapa we stopped at OXXO so I could buy a SIM
card+activation+500GB of data. Back home I installed it and then
tried a call. I got a recorded message in Spanish (of course) that I could make
nothing of. Jorge helped me; it turned out that I had to send a text to 4848
with the word “alta”, receive another text and then send my email address.
After that Jorge was able to call me; I don’t know what I would have done without
a Spanish speaker. Now that we had a working phone, we thought we’d go try to
find Larry and Tina. All C.J. remembered was that they were located near the
end of the road, north of where we were. We drove out passing hotels/resorts,
all of which we thought might be the right spot. Finally we came to where the
road went steeply down into an arroyo. That seemed like it might be the end of
the road. So we went back to the first resort and asked if the Jorgensens were
staying there. Not there, but maybe through the gate and down the steep hill We
walked down and lucked into spotting Justin and Larry on the porch of their second-story
suite. We spent an hour or so visiting and snacking on some tortilla chips and
ceviche before heading back up the hill to our car in time to get back to our
palapa to change for the wedding. I took a shower, now that the temperature had
warmed up (although the wind was still blowing hard from the north). We left
around 1430 and were trusting that Google Maps was giving us good directions
(Having looked at the Gran Sueño area on Google Earth, I didn’t think
that the route that GM had chosen looked like a real road). Sure enough, GM was
good until we reached the point on Rte 286 that we were directed to turn right.
There was no road. We went on a bit farther and GM then said to take the LEFT
fork that went out to Punta Arena and Ensenada del Muertos (an ominous name). At
that point I turned around to see if we had missed something. Just a short ways
down 286, two big vans passed us: the shuttles! I pulled a quick U-turn and
followed them. In less than a km there was a sign for Gran Sueño.
After another km we followed the vans through a guarded gate and then drove on
a well-graded dirt road to the impressive entrance gate to the resort. After
figuring out a place to park, we joined the crowd beneath the palapas and
around a shallow infinity pool with a bar. No drinks were being served before
the wedding but there was plenty of time to mingle with the other guests, most
of whom were dressed up in festive resort attire. C.J. looked right at home
with her black crop pants, embroidered blouse and flow-y overdress, a Christmas
present from Ginny. At 1630 or so the guests were invited to make their way to
the beach where a bunch of chairs were set up facing an arbor with flowers.
Eventually David made his entrance over the sand. And then Kari descended a
long stone stairway from another part of the resort. The wedding was conducted
by David’s adult daughter who called upon the earth, air, fire, water and
aether to bless their marriage. [Probably indicative of these times, guests
were asked to put away their phones and cameras so that the official
photographer could take his pictures without having a sea of phones whenever he
pointed at the audience.] After the ceremony there was an open bar and a very
nice selection of hors-d’oeurves. An old dinghy was filled with ice and cups of
ceviche were placed on the ice, along with bottled beer and plates of ahi
sashimi. Of course there were avocado slices and bowls of mashed avocado
(strangely, it wasn’t guacamole), and chips. Dinner was a bit later, thankfully
after the wind had died down. All the dishes were served family style. There were
two kinds of salad, three entrees and a bowl of veggies. When people were
finished eating there were a bunch of toasts (that got more maudlin as more
drinks were served). Later there was a DJ who played dance music and provided a
lightshow. We stayed until around 2200 and we weren’t the first to leave.
Fortunately, we managed to leave just behind one of the shuttle vans so the
darkness and unfamiliar roads were not a big problem. One of the concerns about
driving Baja roads, especially at night, is running into a big, dark-colored
steer enjoying the warmth of the asphalt road. We didn’t even see any animals
except a couple of dogs in the small towns we passed through. We were home
easily by 2300.
2 Mar, Fri – We got up around 0800 since we were in no rush
to get to the beach party at Gran Sueño. We had breakfast, and then packed
up our water toys and drove over around 1100. The trip was much less scary
since we knew about the topes (speed
bumps) and the two sections of washed out pavement at dry fords. Also we knew
to disregard the Google Map directions and continue along Rte 286 until we came
to the gate for the resort (actually, we didn’t use the map on the phone at
all). Apparently most people arrived earlier because we had to park along the
road past the traffic circle. On the other hand, lots of folks arrived after we
did. The wind was not as strong, and it was nice and sunny. We could see people
in the bay, snorkeling and swimming. But, when we stuck a hand in the water, it
seemed pretty cold, especially to us who had just returned from the equatorial
Galapagos Islands. So we just hung out and visited, mostly with HG and PG
pilots that we knew. Lunch was around 1400 and consisted of freshly cooked beef
and chicken with all the fixings for making soft tacos. Earlier, the caterers were
manning an open bar with margaritas in a big Igloo cooler and other mixed
drinks as well as beer. After lunch, Kari broke out what was left of her and
David’s wedding cake, a multi-layered base with several different fillings. I
missed seeing the dolphins that were leaping not too far offshore, and C.J. and
I missed our turn when we weren’t quick enough to grab the one tandem
sit-on-top kayak before someone took it out to where the dolphins were spotted.
But we got to paddle later, going toward the west and skirting some rocks with
the beach becoming a sand dune. On the way back, even though the wind was sort
of quartering on our backs, the kayak wanted to slew to the right toward the
shore. I was glad to give it up to Kari and the next people who wanted to take
it out. With that much wind, we got pretty splashed up and needed to change out
of our wet stuff into dry clothes. As five-o-clock approached, the party was
winding down and the temperature was dropping (not like the previous day when I
wore my fleece pullover most of the day). After hanging out with a group that
was watching and listening to Julie play on her singing bowls (crystal cylinders)
for a while, we finally packed up and headed back to the car. We gave Gary and
his wife a ride, so they didn’t have to wait a long time for the shuttle they
had arrived in to fill up. On the way out, we stopped near the guardhouse to
take some photos of the forest of saguaro cacti in the late afternoon sunshine.
We got back to El Sargento around 1800 and got our salty stuff rinsed out then
caught up with our journals.
3 Mar, Sat – Up at 0800. We decided to go to La Paz about
0930 and left around 1000. It took about an hour to reach the city and then a
while to negotiate the traffic and find a place to park (Serdan and Reforma,
not far from the cathedral). [On the way in we drove through a wash that had once
been crossed by a bridge. It appeared to have been recently washed out.] [We
came in on Blvd Forjadores, bore right on Isabel la Catolica, and then may have
gone north on Brava, passing the big permanent market] We found the small
farmers market (Mercadito Madero ) between the cathedral and the beach. It was
really small and many of the merchants were getting ready to close up at noon.
We walked down to the Malecon and found an ice cream shop that also had a
restroom available to their patrons (usually 10p for the general public). We
took our ice cream across the street to the “Kiosko Malecon” and climbed up to
the observation platform for the view of the bay and the waterfront. After
walking a ways west on the Malecon, we headed back to the Cathedral. A quick
peek inside did not inspire us to explore further, anyway there was a baptism
in process. Back at the car we convinced the Google Maps app to give us
directions to the beaches to the NE of the city. The route, once we left the
city itself, was scenic passing along a cliff that was eroded into shapes that
reminded me of whale bones. We passed the big ferry terminal at Pichilingue and
the beach at Tesoro. At Playa Balandra we left the highway and drove the short
distance (0.6 km) to the parking lot where we found the last available spot.
The beach was nice and sandy and there were more than a dozen umbrella-shaped
palapas that were free to use. Of course they were all occupied by what we
assume to be local residents who were enjoying the beach on a warm, sunny
Saturday. We walked around the bay to the north; the tide was low enough that
we could round the first rocky point and walk along beneath the dunes to the
far point where the iconic rock formation, the mushroom, was located. The water
in the bay was so shallow that C.J. could walk across the bay to the point while
I walked along the shore. On the way back we stopped at the back of a truck to
buy a cup of sliced fruit – mangoes, watermelon, pineapple, jicama and
cucumber(!) – which we ate while sitting on the wall overlooking the
beach. From there we drove the mile or so to Tecolote, the beach at the fathest
north tip of the peninsula that extends from La Paz and points at Espiritu
Santo Island. The ambience was very different as Tecolote was mostly about
rundown beach bars. We walked the length of the beach to the west until we
reached a cliff which prevented further exploration. Back at the car we headed
south retracing our route until we got to the “Libramiento La Paz” which was a
bypass to the east of the city through the desert hills. We came out at the same
washed-out bridge and followed Rte 284 back to the turnoff for La Ventana. We
stopped at Star Market and bought some queso fresco, a bag of tostadas and a
small bunch of bananas (84). On the way home we thought that getting some
ceviche for snacking would be a good idea so we tried to find it in the other
mini-mart we had shopped in on our first day here (Ultamarino Oscarito) but
they said that wasn’t something they carried and we should try a restaurant.
Back at home we hung out doing journals and checking in with Larry and Tina
before heading out for dinner. We went back to Las Palmas and had their fruit
margaritas, steak arrachera and a
filet mignon. Everything was delicious and we cleaned our plates, probably
because we had not had a real lunch today. We also ordered a meal of shrimp
ceviche to go (para llevar) for eating with our tostadas or serving to guests. We were back by 1930 and found out that Tom and Kim had been at
the same restaurant but were upstairs.
4 Mar, Sun – Neither of us slept well and we got up around
0800, had breakfast and just kind of lazed around until after 1100 when we
headed out to Punta Arena, near Bahia de los Sueños, formerly known as Ensenada
Muertos (Cove of the Dead). The guard at the entrance waved us in and we drove
on the sandy washboard of a road until we passed a dilapidated palapa entrance
where the road passed into a salt flat. There the road looked like we were
driving on old ice, but it wasn’t slippery. As we got closer to the beach, we
could see salt evaporation trenches and basins, some of which looked ready for
harvest. Once we passed a building that may have been for the salt workers, we were
back on sand and above the beach. We parked at the red and white striped lighthouse.
Next to it was the wreck of the old lighthouse, but there was still an open
spiral staircase that reached the top – no thanks. We walked east on the beach
all the way to the farthest point and there we could see Gran Sueños
resort. Along the way we met the couple who are staying at Palapas La Choya;
they were leaving to get some lunch. We walked east past the entrance where we
found a turtle-shaped sign with information about the nesting area. Since it
was too windy (and a bit chilly, a long sleeve shirt felt comfortable) we
returned to the car and drove to Bahia de los Sueños to find a place out of the
worst of the wind for lunch. We passed on the resort restaurant (which we later
found out was "Restaurant 1535") and walked down the public beach past the boat ramp and
found a spot with a good view of the bay. After lunch we returned to El
Sargento with a stop for gas on Rte 284 at a Pemex Station (36L, 700p). We also
stopped at the Ultramarino grocery store for some yogurt, more cheese and a
couple bottles of Modelo. Back at the Palapa shortly after 1500, C.J.
rinsed off all the shells she had collected on the beach and set them out to
dry. Hopefully she is going to winnow down the number of shells that she wants
to put in her suitcase. BTW, I finally got nwlink.com (iinet.com) to delete all
my old deleted email. There were over 11,000 of them and nwlink was charging me
for using way more storage than I was paying for. Since nwlink couldn’t delete
just one folder, I had to request that all files be removed from all my
folders. This only affected messages that had not been downloaded to our
computers on Thunderbird.] C.J. thought that we’d have the ceviche we got as
takeout last night for dinner, but she got a message from Tina that a group was
meeting at Marlin Azul so we went down there around 1745. Tina and Larry with
Sierra were there, as well as Kari and David, David’s daughter, Cherie, BriDog
and Cookie, Judy Hildebrant, the Austrian guy who tore his achilles tendon and
a few more. We had a pina colada and a margarita tamarindo, quesadillas with shrimp
and tacos arrachera. Service was really slow but that may have been because
it was a Sunday evening. We heard all about the group trip to swim with the
whale sharks out of La Paz. When we got home we tried to text Kari at her US
number but never got a reply, same lack of success with email and FB Messenger.
Maybe we’re in a communications black hole.
5 Mar, Mon – Up around 0730. Later we drove over to where
Larry and Tina are staying, parked at the top of the hill again and walked
down. We visited until almost noon when they had to get going to meet their
plane in Los Cabos. We walked back up through the wash just to check it out if
we wanted to drive down to go to the hot springs [only good at low tide because
they are right on the shoreline. Low tide today is around 1630]. We had lunch
at home – the takeout shrimp ceviche, chips and tostadas. Around 1430 or so we
set off to explore a bit more of La Ventana and maybe walk along the beach from
Playa Central. We turned uphill at Las Palmas and followed a
sandy road that went straight up into the mountains. We turned around at an
informal landfill (a dump) having gone up far enough to be out of the town and
into the desert. We paralleled the main (paved) road about two blocks up for
long enough that we came down at the ice cream shop, once again closed. When we
got to Playa Central C.J. was not enthusiastic about walking along the beach in
the wind. By then it was approaching the time for low tide so we drove back to
the end of the power lines and descended into a large wash/arroyo. Around the
point we found another bay with some umbrella palapas, and beyond that, the
location of the hot springs. We spotted it because we could see someone digging
and using a big blue tarp to line a depression. When we stopped to talk to him,
he was down in a hole that must have been at least five feet deep and the
sand/gravel he was throwing out was actually hot to the touch. He was using a
battery-powered pump to move the hot water up to the tarp-lined depression
where a girl was soaking. Along the beach, and still being inundated by the
not-quite-low-tide, there were rock enclosures in which the water was
noticeably warmer than the seawater. After wading in the pools (only one guy
was trying to stay warm in the mixed water), we returned to the car and drove
easily back up the steep, sandy road. We stopped to check if Kari and David
were at home (just downhill from the Downwinder Inn) but their gate was closed,
and both their cars were gone. We returned home to wash the sand/gravel off our
feet. Later we got a text and a FB message inviting us to join a group for
dinner at Restaurant 1535, which turned out to be the one we saw yesterday at
Bahia de los Sueños. We drove out around 1745 for the 1830 meeting. It was
a mixed group; the only folks we knew besides David and Kari was Cherie
Silvera. George and Cindy, Dave and ?, Anneka from Slovenia and ?, and ? a PG
instructor in Santa Barbara. We had margaritas, a mixed kabob and shrimp
fajitas. We were the only diners in the large, open palapa. Driving home
in the dark was tense since we had seen some cattle alongside the road on the
way out to the restaurant. But we made it back without incident getting back
around 2130.
6 Mar, Tue – Up at 0800, no wind. We could have gone for a
kayak paddle along the shore. Obviously, we are no longer (OK, I never was,
Dave) morning people; besides, the straight, sandy shore looks pretty boring.
Anyway, we had breakfast and hung around doing some photo downloading (or
uploading - whichever it is when you move them from your phone to your computer.
Later Kari sent a Whatsapp message that they were going down to Rasta Beach to
kite(surf) (just south of the street that the Downwinder Inn is on). So, we drove
the rental car down the sandy wash/road to where a bunch of cars were parked.
Kari and Cherie were suiting up and we got to watch them launch their 9m and 8m
wings respectively into what felt like a howling gale but was probably only 20
mph. They made the launch and shredding look easy, even the occasional jump.
After standing around in the wind, sun and blowing sand for way too long, we returned
to the palapa to eat lunch. No problem getting back up the road. Afterward we
drove downtown to see if the ice cream shop was open. It wasn’t, again, so we
went back home to pack and check in for our flight tomorrow. Since we hadn’t
heard from anyone about dinner plans we decided to go to Mariscos el Cone and
C.J. sent a Messenger text to Kari. When we got to the restaurant sometime
after 1800, we settled in for a dinner by ourselves, something we had done only
once before on this trip. But shortly thereafter my phone buzzed with a
Whatsapp message from Kari saying that they were going to meet at Mariscos and
why not drop by and join them. So we had unwittingly picked the right place.
Shortly Kari and David arrived, then Jim and Alinka, Cherie, and later, the
Germans. Kari had gone XC, a downwinder, to La Ventana; Alinka had her kite
crash, got her lines tangled and then lost her board and was drifting until
Kari came back from her downwinder and jumped back in with her gear to tow
Alinka to the shore; Rosie and the Germans had driven 300 km (?) up the coast
to ( ) for a great whale watching experience.
At a place named “Mariscos” we had to have fish so C.J. had tuna mojo (cooked
with butter and garlic) while I had a pescado
empanadero which was a big flat piece of breaded and fried fish nicely
seasoned. We also had margaritas just to keep up the Mexican tradition.
7 Mar, Wed – Up at 0715 or so. C.J. finished up the yogurt
and the pineapple and bananas, and I polished off the milk. That left just a
bit of oatmeal and the spaghetti that Tom left for us, plus a beer. We took the
tostada and cheese for lunch along with the last tangerine. (Writing this in
late May, after I noticed that I had not put anything about Kari and David’s
wedding in my printed journal.) The trip back to Los Cabos airport went
smoothly and the car return went much better than I had expected: a quick check
and then we got back in while a driver took us to the international departure
terminal. The airport was busy but we got our bag checked and went to wait at
our gate. The flight to SLC was uneventful and we had some views before the
clouds closed in. We went through customs and immigration at SLC, turned our
bag back in and continued on to Seattle where it was cold and rainy. We may
have stopped for burgers in Issaquah at Five Guys, but I’m not sure if it was
on this trip or not. The house was chilly but a fire warmed us up long enough
to get unpacked and warm the bed up. Quite a change from the weather in windy,
but mostly warm La Ventana. Thanks for inviting us to share your wedding celebration, Kari and David!
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