We made it to Cabo San Lucas for Christmas. Our initial goal was La Paz by Christmas, but we were getting tired of traveling and decided to stay put in Mag Bay for a couple of days and generally just adopt a slower pace.
I’m not a big fan of resort area sprawl (who is), but I can totally see why Cabo is a resort town. It is absolutely beautiful, with the rock formations framing the horizon and private little beaches interspersed between them. Our view is incredible. Update: Our view was incredible until a gigantic cruise ship blocked it. Now they have the best view in the house.
Before we arrived in Cabo all I really wanted for Christmas was a shower, a movie and to Skype with our families. When we dropped the hook last night, I quickly donned my swimsuit and jumped in. I had been in the cabin in my long underwear vigorously vacuuming our rug and the sweat was beginning to bead. Add that to 12+ days without a shower.
I’m not sure how warm the water is here, but it felt amazing. It’s not a shower…it’s better than a shower. Mind you my hair is still greasy and crusty, but at least I feel cleaner. Christmas wish partially satisfied.
Today we’ll probably hang out on the boat, Skype with our families, go for a swim then head into town for an overpriced meal and a showing of the Hobbitt at the local Cineplex. In an effort to be more festive, I decorated our back railing with LED lights, but they’re on the fritz after getting inundated with saltwater and only five lights actually light up. I might assemble our little “Christmas tree” just for kicks, but we have no presents to put beneath it (not that it would be big enough if we did). We’re not big into exchanging gifts. In my family we stopped doing a gift exchange during my teen years when we collectively discovered that the stress of purchasing presents far outweighed the satisfaction of unwrapping things that you had explicitly asked for. We preferred to just hang out and play games and eat pizza bread (a tradition that my family is upholding in my absence).
Jeff and I aren’t really ones to forge lasting “traditions” – we’re much too impulsive for that. Our tradition is to always be doing something different. This is the second Christmas that we’ve spent just the two of us, far away from home. Two years ago we were in Piriapolis, Uruguay, having driven there on a tiny moped from Buenos Aires, Argentina where we celebrated our friends’ beautiful wedding. We sat on the porch of a little hotel overlooking the water, drinking the local lager and watching fireworks. An older couple in the suite next to us invited us over for champagne and a stilted conversation in broken spanglish. We were grateful for the invitation and the company.
Holidays make me homesick, they can’t not, but I’m so glad to have our little floating home and to be with my lifelong traveling companion in this beautiful place figuring out how to be present in each moment and dreaming about what the future may hold. If there’s one thing I love about the holidays it’s that they make you slow down for a second and reflect on what you cherish most of all.
To our dear friends and family:
Happy Christmas! Feliz Navidad! God Jul! We love you immensely and miss you like mad!
