Living in Los Cabos: While You Were Gone (part 1)

Yesterday I called my friend and neighbor Margo to have a little chat and catch up; she’s in the States for the summer and I like to keep in touch plus tease her about the weather. Margo’s always saying she couldn’t possibly stay all year because Cabo gets too hot. Just for her sake, I purchased a thermometer (personally I think ambient temperature, like your weight, are numbers you just shouldn’t know). As usual, the reading on our porch was significantly less than at her house in the States. Oh sure, San Jose and other points east are roasting, but on the west side of Cabo we’re still quite pleasant. We’ll steam up next month, but in the meantime I can’t resist getting my licks in.

Anyway, Margo was asking what was new in town. I didn’t think I had much to report, but she seemed to. Since she was so interested I figure someone else probably would be, too. So here’s what’s new in Cabo this summer so far.

Sadly, our favorite taqueria, Tacos Chava, is no more. I hear the family moved back to the mainland, lot of that going around. Haven’t found a replacement yet, exactly, but the good news is that the Vagabundos trailer park has a chef. A real chef. I don’t know where he came from or how long he’ll stay but you can tell this guy is no hash-slinger. Even simple dishes like burgers come out tasting better and looking better than they have a right to. We plan on enjoying this as much as possible before they inevitably go bad. They are located just out of town, directly across from Sam’s Club. Great food and service at quite reasonable prices.

CCC has been purchased by a big outfit from Mexico City who apparently have no idea about the demographics of Los Cabos. If you want low-quality private label beans, rice and milk it’s your place. Anything else: forget it. It pained me to do it, but Saturday I did our grocery shopping at WalMart: the place was packed. I ran into a friend this morning who mentioned that WalMart has suddenly hired a bunch of guys who speak English who are wandering around with walkie-talkies asking the Gringos if they’re finding things. Maybe they’ll jump at this opportunity? But you can’t pay your bills there (more about that later).

Every Sunday morning from 7 AM until noon, in a concept I just don’t get, the outbound lanes of the main drag are shut to car traffic. Now supposedly what’s going to happen is that everyone is going to gather up their family and flock downtown to stroll, ride bikes, etc. Heck, if I’m going to get up at the crack of dawn on my day off it’s going to be to go someplace a bit more scenic than Marina Boulevard. By 7 AM they haven’t even cleaned all the drunks off the street! Anyway, if you’re traveling from the Tesoro hotel (think Tanga-Tanga) to the Chevy dealer you’re going to have to wind your way through the backstreets on Sunday morning. In-bound traffic is unaffected.

And, of course, I had to tell Margo all about the new Immigration requirements. I can’t put that in the blog until after next Wednesday, when Sabrina Lear and I are going to finish up a series on it for Los Cabos Now on Cabo Mil. You can hear us live on the air on Wednesday at 5:30 mountain time by going to www.cabomil.com.mx . What I can tell in advance is that just about EVERYTHING about immigration has changed. If you’re currently on an FM3 or FM2 when it expires you’re going to have to use the new procedures to renew and change over from a booklet to a card.

Other than having completed the installation of lights all along the corridor, that’s about all the big news from here: but then, the summer’s only starting.

Carol Billups is Broker/Owner of REALTY EXECUTIVES Los Cabos. A Certified Home Marketing Specialist, she has enjoyed working with both buyers and sellers for over nine years and still thinks hers is the best job on earth. She is also the real estate columnist for Los Cabos Magazine and the real estate co-ordinator for the Los Cabos Now program on CaboMil FM (www.cabomil.com.mx). You can read more of her articles on www.reloscabos.com. You can reach her from the U.S. or Canada at 1-760-481-7694, or in Cabo at 044-624-147-7541.

© 2010 Carol S. Billups