“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”
This weekend I will hike in the Sierras with my son and our dogs. That’s all I know. He is planning it.
Exciting that I might see a dear friend that I met in Australia in 2020, just before the pandemic, during my trek. He is doing Three Passes going clockwise and I am doing EBC which is counterclockwise.
Ok time to get serious. I just spent a wonderful week with some of my favorite people on A Girls Wisconsin Road trip. I showed them sights unbelievable to California girls! Taverns, corn fields, lakes, rivers, wild animals and more. Will post photos when I get more storage.
Today I asked Chat GOT for a training schedule. It is intense but I will try to follow it. I work out with a trainer now but I need to work harder. I did do a burpee challenge recently. Day 1 was one burpee then I added one each day ending on 30 burpee’s! Wow that was fun! But I did it. I haven’t done one since!
I will also go back to cleaner eating, which is my typical diet. I had more deep fried food this past week than I have ever had in my life! So good, so good as the song goes…
Also need to drink more water. Richard Bailey says.A liter before each day of hiking and several liters during the day. At this point I prefer wine!
Why do I wake up so early? Six am every morning! More time to read I suppose. I went to the beach and sat by the pool. I had a zoom call which was fun to do in this setting. Time to try out Zippers, a close by surfer restaurant on the beach. I could walk. Fish and chips sounded good.
More reading and then to the Art Show in the Historic area of San Jose. It was busy and festive. The night air was a perfect temperature. I stopped in a few shops and then looked at the beautiful art. Some was incredible, some good and some wtf. It’s Art! Stopped by to see my new friend Sergio that I met on Tuesday. Had a nice Spicy skinny Mezcal margarita. Almost bought a piece of art
Last stop, a restaurant that fry’s with Beef Tallow. The new healthy fat. It just lard! Healthy again. Out with seed oils!
I try to go to a Michelin star restaurant when I can. There are several in Cabo. I decided on Lumbre. It looked beautiful, I could get reservations and the reviews were great. I don’t like to eat late so I made a reservation for one at 6 pm. Several locals said that this was a great restaurant experience. They only do their tasting menus on the weekend so I would have to order ala carte. Today was Wednesday.
I arrived on time, dressed appropriately. They knew me by name., very cool A sweet hostess offered me a table or the bar. I chose the bar. So many servers waiting for the night to begin. The bartender made me a perfect Manhattan and I ordered some apps.
Bread and butter
This was cool. Bone marrow butter with wasabi, salt and hot sauce with fire grilled bread. It was different and tasty. The bread reminded me of ice fishing with my Dad when he toasted the hamburger buns with a torch.
Next item sweet breads on a fluffy roll
Sweet Breads
Sweetbread is a culinary name for the thymus or pancreas, typically from calf or lamb. Sweetbreads have a rich, slightly gamey flavor and a tender, succulent texture. They are often served as an appetizer or a main course and can be accompanied by a variety of sauces and side dishes.
These were too filling so I just ate the sweet breads which were food topped with radish, cilantro and a nice sauce. They were warmish.
Then the FAMILY of 5 showed up, right behind me. Three kids ages 2-5! And loud. This was a just after I accepted the Jazz music that was plying. Not a big fan because it has no rhyme or reason. Jazz music makes me nervous!
Next items all came at once.
All luke warm, now I was pissed. They knew it and came to see what the problem was. I never raise my voice, ok kids, once in a great while, but I pushed the food away and waited. So three out of three things were not right.
Long story short I left, they didn’t charge me for the food. I gave the bartender a good tip and left. So disappointed!!
Walked around checking out the shops. Stopped by Tropicana, a well known place and ordered an uber.
As my Father told me once, you can’t recreate a great moment. Hopefully tomorrow will not disappoint.
This is a fun way to see the neighborhood restaurants. The guide was very nice. He was a private chef and had been in the food biz for many years. Started off with Hibiscus iced tea. He said all the juice shops were pink and green and only sold juices and ice cream.
Chicken Mole Enchiladas
First stop was a place that has made the same Mole recipes for decades. My palate has not developed enough to know the difference in Moles, but it was pretty tasty. This place was way off the beaten path.
There were just two of us, both traveling Solo, not Alone. There is a difference! She was from Colorado and lived off the grid. She was very nice and seemed normal. We chatted a bit about travels and Mexico.
Pretty painted bricks
I love the colors of Mexico, so bright and cheery. This was called Piñata wall, because one could buy piñatas here in these colors. Maybe something was off with the translation.
Beef Birria Quesadilla
This spot was at the market, in the food hall. The guide explained how birria was made. it is cooked in a big vessel using the whole animal and it is underground, like the pig roast I once did in my front yard.
Drinks were optional CarnitasFish Taco
Apparently this fish taco place was the only place between the airport and Cabo San Lucas.
Everything was good. I would do a tour like this again.
Uber back to the resort and relaxed a bit by the pool. I am reading some good books, “Enough”. (Personal growth) About a woman climbing Everest. “How to know a person” by David Brooks, (work) “Love your Life.” By Sophie Kinsella humorous fiction. “Unsheltered” by Barbara Kingsolver relevant fiction with facts. And several other books, but I am tired of using punctuation!
So you would think I was full after all the food on the tour. I tried not to eat the tortillas.
After a nap, I contemplated walking to a sushi place a few blocks away but I decided to find the hotel that I stayed at years ago in San Jose. I was pretty sure I knew the name, Encanto. Ubered to it, got out and walked into a restaurant that I remembered, although seeing places in the day vs night is always different. They weren’t open for 5 more min and please wait outside, bye bye. No way to treat a customer. Noticed an old favorite across the street, Lupita’s. It’s a great taco and Mezcal place. Recent bad reviews were wrong. I was greeted and treated perfectly. More tacos but tastier. Food ate before phone, sorry.
YummyLittle Spanish wine barNice presentation
Back to the resort. Read and relaxed until I was sleepy.
Decided to make a little breakfast this morning. I had bought the random groceries so I cooked shrimp, leftover mushrooms, charred grapefruit, avocado topped with cilantro and balsamic syrup.
I took this week off because work is always slow near tax day. My plan was to travel to Vienna Austria to research my grandparents. My grandmother was born in Vienna and came to the USA at age 1. We are pretty sure that the woman she thought was her aunt was really her birth mother and her mother was her aunt. But I couldn’t find anything else about her so I will keep researching in the US before I make the trip to Vienna. So what to do for a week? Thought of Venice, my all time favorite city, but it’s cold and rainy this time of year. I needed sunshine. Tunisia? Was almost there in Feb. I had A shower for my Niece and Easter so why not Cabo for a few days? Perfect!
I found a one bedroom condo on the beach near San Jose Del Cabo. It is clean and breezy with the sound of the waves crashing. There is a big swell right now. The resort is Mykonos Bay Resort. Great pools and beautiful greenery.
There is a wonderful art show on Thursday nights in the historic art district. Looking forward to that.
Ubered into town last night and found a great restaurant. La Revolution. I ate some great food but had to leave because my battery was dying and my back up battery was dead. Poor planning.
Cheese curd and tomatoes Sea bass cevichePulpo tacoMushrooms
Beautiful evening and sunset. I slept well with the sound of the waves. I awoke to birds and a perfect sunrise now having coffee in the historic art district district getting ready for a food tour.
Planning to get a lot of reading in on this brief respite.
Glad to be home safely after about 40 hours of travel. I appreciate my own shower, my own bed, although I tried to buy the sheets from the last hotel. I appreciate a new toothbrush and clean water. Our air is cleaner, I think, and then men act politely and there isn’t shoving and rudeness. I appreciate my sweet dog, even if she is mad at me! I appreciate the wonderful Former Two Term Mayor picking me up from the airport and the cards and presents for my Birthday when I got home. It’s America! Home of the Free and home of the Brave.
Here’s to the next adventure! Thanks for following my travels! Maybe more Luxury and warm water, diving? Panama. Hopefully Philippines next Feb!
So much culture and education and of course recharge, reboot. Back to reality. Flying Vic Falls to J’burg the on to New Jersey and Houston and finally San Diego.
Travel Pig 