I’m back now from my min-vacation to Los Cabos, Mexico. The occasion of this getaway is that my dad has just reached the ripe age of 60 years, and so the Clan Tannock (+ associated others) gathered to wish him well. The best part of this was that all of our arrival was kept a complete surprise to my dad, who thought he was only going away with my Mum, and until he landed, he didn’t even really know where he was going.
We were staying in a sea-front villa about halfway between San Jose Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas (hence: Los Cabos), which was enormous and luxurious — ocean view, multiple decks, a pool, etc. Pretty swank. Most of my days were spent a mixture of loungeing and snorkelling off one of the myriad beaches that dot the coastline there. The snorkelling was amazing, with schools of colorful tropicful fish chilling just feet from the shore, and for the more adventurous, eels and yet more fish were doing their thing amongst the rocks a little further out. The region is apparently a border between the tropical and temperate waters, so there’s quite a collection of species of fish to be seen there.
Of course, not all is rosy on such a trip. There was the weird feeling of beeing a Colonialist there — all the villa communities were gated, and clearly geared to the Wealther American Tourist, with prices in these things reaching into the low million-dollar (US) range. And where tourists were ‘meant’ to go, things were clean, smiling mexicans efficiently handled requests and everything was peachy. Go just a few metres off the tourist track, and suddenly the lack of development was very apparent, and the level of comfort drops significantly. This was reflected in the plant-life too: where tourists were likely to be, the vegetation was lush, with lots of palm trees. Everywhere else it was scrubby desert (the natural state of the area). And everywhere, all those being served where white, all those serving were mexican. So that made me fairly uncomfortable, as feelings of White Guilt bubbled up.
But I’m back, rested and (for me) quite tanned, which was the point of going down there, really, and I did in fact have a nice time. Pictures will of course be forthcoming once I find the time to upload them.