Mexico: Don't be Afraid of it!

This past May was an busy month with every weekend activity being down in San Diego and/or (gulp) south of the border. While it has been years.....many years since I've ventured past San Diego, my close friends' request to vacation down in Cabo San Lucas to celebrate her college graduation was a no brainer. Booked our accommodations through Living Social at an all-inclusive resort situated right at the marina called the Marina Fiesta Resort for  $475 per couple. We bought our roundtrip airfare for $197 per person through Volaris, a discounted airline out of Tijuana straight into Cabo. If you're wondering, yes, we walked across the border and took a taxi to the airport. With a group of six, two fluent in Spanish, we had no hesitation in doing it this way. What can I say? I'm a bargain hunter.

View from our room, our first morning in Cabo

Our 3 night, 4 day stay in Cabo San Lucas was absolutely amazing! It is very Americanize because it is a resort town, but being able to relax and enjoy unlimited amount of beverages (yes, alcoholic) is definitely nothing to complain about. Our inclusive meal experiences could have been a little better but again, we're vacationing in beautiful Mexico, what do we have to complain about? Although we did venture out to check out the night life on the strip, the most memorable part of the trip was our Sea Water Adventure. On our second day there, we booked an all day adventure through Cabo Adventures. They picked us up at our hotel, drove us to the Dolphin Aquarium where we met up with the rest of our tour group. From there, we took a speed raft boat to the south where we had an unplanned whale watching detour! Being so close to the whales was a little nerve wrecking but absolutely amazing! Then we continued on with our trip to the bay area where we did some snorkling, paddleboarding, kayaking and seascootering. Afterwards, we did a little tour around famous Land's End. The entire trip was exactly how I love to spend the day, being outdoor, active, in beautiful weather!

Our group kayaking

Snorkling in Cabo

Although I left Cabo feeling like a kid leaving summer camp, I knew this wasn't going to be my last Mexico trip.  Two weeks later on Memorial weekend, on a spur of the moment planning, we decided to head down to Rosarito for two days. Booked a stay at a  bed and breakfast through Airbnb, stayed with a liberal artist who have had his days in the bay area of California.  We were greeted with mexican wine, homemade salsa and guacamole with delicious mexican style tortilla chips and of course, beer and wine.

Street side taco joint

Delicious tacos!

During our two day stay in Rosarito, I strongly felt that we experienced more authentic Mexican culture than we did in Cabo mainly because the places we visited were small little mom and pop dive joints, we ate street food, tacos that were extremely flavorful and we were forced to speak Spanish! We did catch part of Rosarito nightlife which was similar to Cabo and Tijuana with cheap watered down drinks. But the best of it was watching my friend, this tall white guy, jump on the mechanical bull at Papa & Beer and tearing his shirt off for all the screaming ladies and riding for a good 20 seconds.

Baco wrapped hot dogs right outside Papas & Beer

The next morning, we awoke to homemade breakfast spread by our host which included fruits, coffee, breakfast fried quesadilla, frittata and.....of course topped it off with fresh margaritas! The best part about all his cooking, other than how delicious it was, was that all the ingredients he used was fresh! Using eggs from his own chicken and vegetables grown in his backyard. Really doesn't get any fresher than that!

Fresh fruit for breakfast

Homemade pan fried quesadilla

Homemade frittata

Before departing back to the states, we had to make a stop at Puerto Nuevo aka Lobster City.  Our gracious host recommended a place that just opened up and gave us tips on how to get there and what to order.  We filled our tummies with delicious lobsters, chips and salsa and....of course more margaritas.  I couldn't have asked for a better way to end our Rosarito trip!

Lobsters at Puerto Nuevo

There you have it, two Mexico trips in one month and we didn't run into any problems. I believe that anywhere you travel, whether it's in the states or out of country, just use your good judgments and be cautious.  Don't always let media deter you from visiting a place you'd like to cross off your bucket list and don't be afraid to be adventurous!