Travel Pig

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

💚💛💚

What an exciting African adventure!

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.

Thanks for reading

Those were from the Zambia side, next are from the Zimbabwe side where I had a guide

Dinner at the hotel last night

Family favorite. My brother just made this, pickled tongue. His was better

This was kinda soupy. But the red peppercorns were so yummy. Guess I was craving meat

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Last night here.

Time to sleep

Today is Botsawana day. Up early to catch a shuttle to the border. Same drill. Get stamped out of one court and stamped in the next. Pretty easy. It was an hours drive. Got on the two deck boat and cruised for an hour. Saw some hippos and water buffalo and birds. Kinda boring. Buffet lunch of nearly inedible over cooked food and then it began to pour. I chose not to do the game drive. Animals hide when it rains. Drive back going through customs and immigrants again easy. I asked the driver to drop me in town. Thought I might get a beer and shop. Too many people trying to sell stuff and then if you don’t they get mad. So back to the hotel. It was sunny until I got to the pool so hanging with my new fav bartender Chris!

Last night was the famous Boma, a drum show. Dancers, drummers and dinner. It’s hard at these things to be single. They forget about us.

It was a fun and interesting night. I chatted with one of the drummers for a bit after. This is their job and they enjoy it.

Todays pics:

My time is winding down. Dinner tonight and massage. And facial before I fly out tomorrow

Time for my Microlight ride. My pilot was a nice, very strong man from Durbin, nice accent too. It was almost too windy to go, they told me. I can’t imagine it being windier!

My driver took me out of Zimbabwe and into Zambia, both times escorting through customs and immigration. Had to leave my backpack and camera but there was no way I would have let go of the bars. It was super scary, and exhilarating at the same time, kind of like riding a horse down the beach with no saddle or stirrups….. oh I did that and fell off and was injured for two years!

We took off super fast, no time to change my mid. The wind was so strong that I was afraid to turn my head. If I did I felt like my helmet and headset would fall off.

I have never done this or hang gliding or wind sailing so I imagine a great deal of strength is needed. I cringed when he took one hand off the big bar that guided us. I finally was brave enough to look down. It was breathtaking. The rains have made everything so green. Every shade of green, even those that don’t go together. Ha Ha. Inside joke about my ex husband. I think he reads this. The wind kept causing ups and downs and sideways no word for it, just turbulence. Not for you Sweet Natalie. The view of the Falls was unbelievable! The thunder and mist and rainbows!! I was still gripping for dear life, which I imagined death would be quick. I have faced death before, in a category 5 Hurricane in Tonga and recently in a near head on collision in Costa Rica. I have lived a perfect life, but there is more to experiences.

The ride was over in about 20 min. Toward the end we were over the Zambezi River where I was last night. I could see lots of groups of hippos in the water.

Pictures and a video in 24-48 hours!

Came back over the border the same way and stopped at an art market. The people are too pushy so I left. Back to the hotel to experience Vulture Culture.

For 25 years this lodge has been feeding the vultures. Eight of the eleven species are almost extinct so this way they get a little snack each day at 1pm.

For up early to have a chance to see animals at the watering hole up close.

Just birds for two hours but my guide was delightful. He thinks that because of recent rains then animals don’t need extra water. It was peaceful.

He did tell me about these yellow noisy birds. The male builds a nest, the female inspects it and if she doesn’t like it she rips it down. If she does, they both go inside from the bottom of the next, mate and have babies and live happily ever after.

Experiencing some big bugs right now at 7pm. Back at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge.

Just came back from a beautiful boat cruise on the Zambezi River. It divides Zambia and Zimbabwe and it’s the fourth largest river in Africa. There are many hippopotamus’s and crocodiles swimming around. I saw several this afternoon.