We can agree that waking up around 3:00 in the morning is a bitch. You’re sleepy, haven’t had your coffee yet, aren’t enthused, and you want to go back to bed.
For my trip to Cabo couldn’t be more tiresome of traveling for the holidays. At 2:30 a.m., I woke up, got dressed, and met my family on the driveway in the freezing cold morning. We drove to the Philadelphia airport. After checking in, we got on the plane and headed to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for a layover before continuing on to Cabo. An hour later, we got on another flight, and after flying four hours and sleeping again, we made it to Cabo San Lucas.
Stepping out of the airplane, I thought the weather was going to be hot, being close to California, but it turned out to be cold, as if spring had just arrived in Mexico. I’m not complaining about it, though. After meeting our cab driver, we headed off to the hotel, and I observed and photographed the green mountains and the dry desert landscapes of Mexico.
We had stayed at Le Blanc for the holiday vacation, and it was quite lovely and quiet. The area around the hotel smelled amazing. I roomed with Grandma, as I have for the last five years. The room we stayed in was spacious and lovely. After settling in, Grandma and I roamed around the hotel, and there was nothing much around the hotel except for a gym, a sports bar, and several restaurants.
The first night for dinner, we went to a French restaurant, and the food was unexpectedly delicious. We had officially launched our holiday trip to Cabo!
The next morning, Grandma and I went to San Jose Del Cabo, and we explored the town, going into different art shops and galleries to browse, and we ate at a restaurant that served delicious traditional Mexican food. After walking around the town during the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel and saw our family relaxing by the pool. After telling my family about the town’s fantastic art, apparel, and food, we convinced them to go the next time they weren’t doing anything.
At night, we took a cab to a restaurant at the top of a mountain with roads that were narrow and rocky. When we got to the restaurant, it seemed like another hotel, but it was a villa and a farm all in one. As we entered the restaurant, we were told we had to wait thirty minutes. We went to the bar, grabbed a few drinks, and sat at a table. After nearly an hour, my stepsister, Daniel, asked me to photograph her in a small area with a wooden table and chairs. When I was finished shooting the photos, my grandma told us that our table was ready. That night we had Mexican food, and everything was a mixture of authentic and modern tastes.
The next day, on December 28, we spent the day relaxing at the pool and doing nothing. However, the weather was chilly. Usually, when I come to Mexico for holiday vacations, it is either warm or hot; when a particular city or town is close to the United States, it still has the weather from that season. After a lazy day, we got ready for dinner; we had Japanese food, and the food had a strange but savory taste. That night, I went to bed early because my dad, stepmom, grandma, and I were heading to the main city of Cabo the next morning.
When morning came, my dad, stepmom, grandma, and I had breakfast and met the cab driver who would take us to Cabo. It took us around 30 minutes to arrive. The city itself was different from what my parents thought. Every street corner was commercialized by popular U.S. brands such as Nike, McDonald’s, Señor Frogs, Gucci, and other tourist places. It was sad and disappointing to see. We ended our trip early and headed back to the hotel, and I told my siblings about the city of Cabo.
Later, instead of sitting poolside, I took a pleasant stroll along the beach with my camera, which I found relaxing, peaceful, and calming. As I photographed the ocean creating waves and crashing into rocks, I walked for two hours and head back until it was dawn.
For Dinner, we had Mediterranean food, where we had a variety of appetizers and hooka to start off with, which was interesting and an odd pairing for an appetizer. After our main course, we had the traditional Turkish coffee, which had a strong, bitter taste, but with some goat milk, it was actually delicious. However, the night wasn’t over. We headed to the beach, where our parents surprised us with a bonfire. We sat, had a few drinks, and enjoyed the fire. and the night couldn’t be perfect were the stars in the sky were showing brightly in the night. I took some photos of the stars and the atmosphere. That night was settling and pleasant.
On New Year’s Eve, Grandma and I went on a Todos Santos tour where the famous band The Eagles stayed in Hotel California and wrote a song about it. Six other people joined us, and our tour guide made our first stop at a little rug shop and another stop at a tequila store where we tried different kinds of tequila. After driving for three hours, we made it to Todos Santos. Our tour guide took us to a local jewelry store, and the jeweler talked about pearls and preserving clams. Then, we went to a church with beautiful stained-glass windows. We explored Hotel California, where the Eagles stayed, and learned some interesting history about how the band found the hotel and how it came to be a local landmark.
After spending the entire day exploring, we all returned to our hotel and got ready to celebrate the New Year. Unfortunately, the hotel hosted a boring event where people just sat around and drank and did nothing. The DJ was awful and played the worst music, so my family and I decided to head to my father and stepmom’s room. We drank a lot and waited until 11:59 p.m. for the countdown to the New Year. It was the second-worst New Year’s party that we have been to.
On New Year’s Day of 2020, we left Cabo San Lucas and returned to Philadelphia after a long flight home.
Traveling to Cabo San Lucas was a wonderful experience, and I would love to go back and take more photos and videos.
