I was scrolling through Facebook memories this week and was reminded that it has been one year since our Baja Road trip. This year we decided to stay a little closer to home in San Jose del Cabo and took a few small road trips.
Todos Santos
The first was a day trip to Todo Santos. I have been there many times and have written about a few of our favorite stops. We did our usual and walked around the historic town square, shopped, and visited friends. Some favorite sites continue to be Parroguia de Nuestra Señora (Our Lady of the Pillar Parish), a church established in 1733 that is still open to the public today, as well as Teatro General Manuel Márquez de León, a theater build in 1944 that is still operational and hosts the annual Todos Santos Film Festival, in addition to other community events.
Next, we visited two of our favorite places, Las Tinajas Vineyard and The Green Room Restaurant for lunch. The tasting room at Las Tinajas offers generous wine tastings and flights and at The Green Room, you will usually get a whale show while you dine on the beach! This time of year is obviously the best time to visit, as the whales will be leaving Cabo soon.
Los Barriles
We decided to do an overnight stay in Los Barriles, just to take a little break from the construction noise next door to our home in SJD. The Hotel Palmas de Cortez is a comfortable, clean hotel that has served Los Barriles for decades. It has a retro vibe while still providing reasonably priced, updated rooms, multiple pools and hot tubs, fire pits, and two onsite restaurants. We especially enjoyed our oceanfront patio.
Los Barriles is famous for kite surfing, and is home to Exotikite Kiteboarding School. We were able to sit and enjoy lunch and a cocktail at La Playa Restaurant, right next to the school, and enjoy the efforts of all types of kite surfers! We also saw a “show” from our hotel later that afternoon.
My curiosity was piqued about kite surfing, but my courage was not! Therefore, while I did not brave the waves to try it out for myself, I did do a little digging on the subject.
Kite surfing, or kiteboarding, varies by different types of rides and equipment. We viewed riders using surfboards, twin tips (some of which are electric) and hydrofoils. The kites may be inflatable tube style, which gives an appearance similar to parasailing, or bow style, which the surfer holds in their hands to control the direction by “catching the wind’.
A new hobby on the horizon? Maybe. For now, I am content to sit back and enjoy the show!