Back To Cabo San Lucas
I hadn't been back to Cabo San Lucas for ten years before going back last weekend, and so I missed the whole development of the Pacific Ocean side of the resort town at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. The bulk of development and the main tourist strips are on the Sea of Cortes side, which is divided from the Pacific by the dramatic arch, El Arco, that juts out into the water like something the continent coughed up.
On the Pacific side, I was amazed to find the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach hotel, a dramatic series of buildings constructed straight up a steep cliff, with dramatic views everywhere of the ocean. From my room on the top floor of building 20, I saw pods of whales boiling by, far out in the ocean, on a couple of occasions, their spouts steaming water and backs and tails visible as they surfaced for air. The only way for this steep property to work is to have the buildings, which house 500 kitchenette suites and a half-dozen restaurants and bars, connected via narrow walkways. Bellhops in gas-powered, hopped-up golf carts zoom up and down the walkways, delivering guests to the beach, pools and lobby all day and night. It's like being on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to be in the front seat of one of those golf carts, flying around switchback turns.
Pueblo Bonito actually has three hotels in Cabo now, all connected by free shuttle buses for guests. Next door to Sunset Beach is the utterly tranquil Pacifica, which lives up to its name with raked stone and sand gardens, pools with floating lanterns, holistic health treatments in the spa, a wine bar (that nonetheless has a full complement of tequilas) and, in what may be the most tranquil thing of all, no kids allowed. On the main strip of hotels in Cabo itself is the Puerto Bonito Rose, a big resort hotel on a nice swimming beach, with amazing artwork that includes 16-th century carved Italian cherubim in the lobby, alongside a medieval statue from England of St. George with his foot on the neck of an unlucky dragon, and an enormous, anatomically correct Poseidon statue towering over a reflecting pool.
That makes tres Bonitos, if you're keeping score, and a fine way to experience the new Cabo.