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Medano Beach - The best place to sun bathe and go for a swim in Cabo San Lucas.

I just got back from a one week trip to Cabo San Lucas.  It was my first time in Mexico and I’m more than thrilled to be back in America.  I wish I did more research before booking my flight/hotel through expedia.com.  I think my experience would have been much better if I did.  I’m going to share with you all the knowledge I’ve gained from my first visit in case you were ever thinking of going there.

I’ll start off with my perception of Cabo first.  I imagined the entire place to look like the picture to my left.  Coconut drinks would be free flowing and it would be an inexpensive paradise.  If you’ve never been there and lived in the USA, you probably have the same image in your head.  I was in for a rude awakening.

Cabo Highway - Look both ways when you cross

The funny thing is there are no Coconuts grown in Cabo.  I did have a few pina colada’s, but what my girlfriend and I really wanted was to drink real coconut fruit.  They do grow mangoes so the mango-on-a-stick sold by beach vendors is a pleasant treat.  And boy, it isn’t cheap at all in Cabo.  The prices for everything was as or more expensive than the United States!  I paid $5 USD for a bottle of water and the average lunch or dinner bill was around $50-$60.  Oh, and try to stay away from American food there.  I suggest sticking with Mexican food, as not surprisingly, my girlfriend and I found that Mexican food tasted the best.  To really get any value on prices, you need to get away from the tourist areas, but to do that you need to travel with someone who speaks Spanish fluently and knows the area.  If you are dealing with a street vendor, remember to always haggle.  You can always get it cheaper than what they ask.  My advice on haggling is to have a set maximum price you’d pay for the item and walk away when they don’t agree.  90% of the time they relent when you start to walk.

Cabo is really a desert.  I realized this once we landed.  It looks like you are flying into Las Vegas.  There’s nice buildings along the beach, but sand is everywhere else.  There are two parts –  Cabo San Lucas and San Jose de Cabo.  These two parts are connected by a highway.  There are no crosswalks or overpasses on the highway so you need to carefully walk across while cars zoom by at 70+ mph.  As you can see on the image on the right, there are bus stops along the highway.  The bus system is probably the nicest surprise I had on my entire trip.

There are 2 types of buses.  As shown in the picture below, there is a ghetto white looking one and a nicer big city bus.  The coolest thing is all buses will stop for you on the road if you wave at them, regardless of if you’re near a bus stop.  That’s something that never happens in San Francisco.  They also drop you off at the exact spot you tell them.  The smaller bus only travels locally while the bigger bus goes all the way from Cabo San Lucas through San Jose de Cabo and to the airport.  It’s really a cheap way to travel.  It’s 80 pesos or about 70 cents to travel locally and it only costs 29 pesos or about $2.50 to get all the way to the airport.  Compare that to the flat $50 the cabs charge you to get to the airport.  It’s about 30 miles from Cabo San Lucas to the airport and it took me about an hour and a half to get to the airport via bus.  We took the taxi when we first landed because we didn’t know any better and it cost $50 and took about half an hour.

If you don’t speak English and aren’t staying at a nice hotel (which I didn’t), stick to hanging out in Cabo San Lucas.  It’s pretty much the only tourist area.  My girlfriend and I took the bus to San Jose de Cabo thinking there was tourist stuff to do there, but we spent an hour lost and no one spoke a word of English.  It was also pretty sketchy looking and I’m glad we weren’t there at night.

If you plan on going to Cabo, 4-5 days is plenty.  Spending a week there is overkill.  As mentioned previously, it is basically one tourist area called the Marina Fiesta that has a mall, movie theater and restaurants.  By the end of the trip, my girlfriend and I probably walked that strip 15 times and were missing home by the third or fourth day.

Finally, eat before you go to the airport!!  The airport in Cabo is very small and there’s only 2 places to eat.  One food stand is Sbarro and the other is kitchen that serves burgers/fries.  Sbarro closed early and the food at the kitchen looked so unappealing that we didn’t eat until we got back at 10PM last night.

Here’s a quick recap of what you need to do in Cabo:

• WATCH OUT FOR TIMESHARES!!  These timeshare people have booths at the airport and almost convinced me to go to their presentation.  They offer all these free activities for attending, but if you google Mexican timeshare, you’ll know it’s a total scam and you can waste an entire day telling them you don’t want to buy.  On eBay, there are people trying to get rid of their timeshares for $1 just so they don’t have to pay the maintenance fees anymore.  The timeshare are only for their “target markets” so they typically go after people over the age of 30 or couples that look married.  I just got used to saying I was only 25 to get them to go away.
• Learn to take the bus or stay at a resort in Cabo San Lucas or cab rides will add up
• There’s a Walmart along the highway that you can go to stock up on water and other supplies.  If you tell the bus Walmart, they will drop you off right in front of it.
• Bring SUNSCREEN and reapply it every 4 hours – I didn’t re-apply and got sunburned twice.
• If you are with a significant other, do the Margarita Cruise on the Cabo Rey.  You can haggle down to $35 each at an activity vendor and it’s a romantic 2.5 hour ride.  Make sure it’s the Cabo Rey ship.  There are various types of “sunset cruises” offered with different boats.  All the other ships look ghetto in comparison.  $45 each is the retail price.  I heard the dinner cruise on the Cabo Rey wasn’t worth it as it retails for $89 and the food isn’t very tasty.  Most people stay on the top of the ship with the Margarita cruise people since that has the best view anyway.
• If you want to try the Waverunners, you can haggle down to $30 for 30 minutes or $60 for an hour.  They normally ask for $40 for half an hour and $80 for an hour.  I suggest only doing it for 30 minutes as I bought one hour and ended up getting somewhat bored after 45 minutes.  Also be sure to take pictures of your Waverunner before you take it out.  They make you sign a liability waiver because they don’t carry insurance on it and they will charge you for any dings.  Some of the charges are exorbitant and there are some horror stories I found on google where they people were hit with a big fee.
• Try out ATVing, it’s fun riding along the coast if you’ve never done it before.  I have confirmed you can haggle this down to $70 a person and it’s about 2.5 hours.  Unlike for the waverunners, they offer $10 insurance on these so you don’t have to worry about damages.  Retail is $85 to $100, depending on vendor.
• For nightlife, we went to Cabo Wabo, the Pink Kitty and Squid Roe.  Cabo Wabo was generally an older crowd with rock music, Pinky Kitty was a younger crowd with a more modern Vegas club feel and Squid Roe was a younger crowd with top 40’s music.  Out of the three, I would recommend going to Squid Roe as it’s the most unique.  There’s 3 levels you can see all the action from.  They have a guy in the center of the place with a microphone who’s sole job is to keep the energy alive.
• I never got to go Snorkeling or Ziplining, but I heard both were a good experience from people who have done it.  My girlfriend can’t swim and didn’t want to zipline so we didn’t do either.

My Mexican experience, as you can probably tell, wasn’t the greatest.  I missed being able to walk the street without being harassed with offers for a massage, taxi or weed every 5 minutes.  I’m going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks so I’ll be sure to share my experience there as well.  Til’ next time.

-Nauticaboy

Whenever I go to Starbucks and order tea. I always order some ice water as well. That way, while the tea is steeping I can drink some water.

But sometimes if you order a large tea with two teabags in it, one of the strings may fall in the water and you don’t want to burn your fingers to take the tea bag out.

So all you have to do, in order to remove the hot tea bag, you just pop the lid on the ice water and dip your fingers into it for 1 second. Then immediately grab the tea bag that is floating at the top. You should be able to snatch the tea bag without burning your fingers. This is because the hot water of the tea has to warm the cold water of the ice water before it burns your fingers.
DISCLAIMER: DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you are very slow and aren’t fast enough to grab the tea bag this way just use a spoon or fork or one of those wooden stick things to get the teabag out. Try not to burn yourself.

-Tyler

Stagefright

The problem with Stage Fright is that it creates a barrier. It is a wall that prevents the performer from connecting with the audience. And especially with live performances, there is a proverbial “Fourth Wall” that separates the real or imagined Proscenium Arch that is in between the performer and the people observing the action. So by adding Stage Fright into the mix, there are two walls to overcome. First, the fourth wall of disbelief in the audience, and another wall inside ourselves manifested by the paralyzing stage fright. The reasons for this Stage Fright may vary from person to person. Let’s take the artform of Karaoke for example, some people may be exceptional and beautiful singers, and yet they feel a terrible fear when they are called to perform before others. Other friends love to sing in the shower or car, but they may feel that there is pressure to perform a song perfectly for an ever-critical audience, which the modern access to music makes everyone an expert…and everyone a critic.

For myself, I have a stage fright that. It is strange because I write and have performed music before. Yet when I am asked to perform pop music that was made by someone else, I feel this intense duty to bring honor and justice to the original composition. This may seem odd, because most karaoke-goers are quite forgiving when listening to music. Everyone has nerves and people generally accept that. But does that knowledge truly make stage fright go away?

The best way I have found to confront this paralyzing emotion, is to confront it through practice and repetition. So, whenever I have a chance, and friends want to hit up some Karaoke…which isn’t that often. I jump at it. In actuality, I was summoned to do some karaoke with friends tonight. I heard about the idea of it a few days ago. But I wanted to do a new song. Previously, my friends wanted me to do the song, “Even Flow” by Pearl Jam. I love the song, but I’ve done it so many times now, that the rock song is now part of my karaoke comfort zone. So, I’ve been practicing a new song.

This new song may not be in the book of songs, so it isn’t going to burst any bubbles if I don’t get to perform it. But the fact is, I know that since I’ve never done this song before, I will be afraid. There is no doubt about this. The first time is always the shakiest. But how will I ever master the tune, unless I am willing to take the risk to perform it?

Many people recommend breathing rituals and libations in order to beat Stage Fright, I don’t necessarily agree with them. I’ve found through experience, that the best way to beat Stage Fright, is to be willing to be afraid, and go up there and do it anyway. Once that barrier is broken and the loving connection of music between the performer and the beat is made, the audience will hear the sincerity and will listen past any fluctuations in pitch or melody. The sincerity and pleasure is the key to sharing. And if one keeps that in mind, the Fourth Wall will be nothing than a flimsy piece of Saran Wrap, waiting to be burst through.

-Tyler

Iced Beverage Creation Process

Making a proper iced latte has to do with one thing…the ice must not get melted by the hot espresso. Too often do people think that an iced latte means that the espresso is simply poured, “over ice.” This is simply not so. By doing this, the ice gets turned into smaller pieces, there is water which dilutes the flavor of the milk and espresso, and the whole thing looses its oomph. To fix this problem, the person making the drink needs to prepare to pull the espresso shots. And right before the button to pull the shots is pushed, a small amount of milk is added to the cup or much in which the iced latte is going to be poured. The reason for this is that when the shots are poured into the mug or cup, the espresso instantly cools and flavors the milk into a homogenous texture and flavor.

Remember, iced lattes are not about stratification. They are supposed to be smooth and elegant drinks. And beyond anything else, an iced latte is supposed to be refreshing. This is completely different from someone who is ordering a cappuccino or even a hot latte. Those drinks are designed to have a tremendous amount of texture and taste simulation. The tip of the tongue is accented more in a cap or a hot latte. For an iced cappuccino, it is all about the overall effect as the beverage is gliding across the tongue. The temperature is kind. And too much watery flavor kills the intentional impact of the drink.

So when one pulls the shots and pours them into the mug with only a slight amount of milk in it. Then the ice is added to the drink. After this is done, then the barista or home creator needs to add the rest of the desired milk into the drink and it is finished. The complete result is that the iced latte should have creaminess that is determined by the type of milk chosen for the task. Finally, the ice will maintain its integrity and will keep the drink cold well beyond when the liquid is consumed.

A well-crafted iced latte should always be so delicious that there is always ice left over. Iced lattes are great for the summer of course because of the heat. But one that is made poorly can easily squash someone’s tantalized tastebud desires. This can impact beverage sales and potentially turn off someone who would probably have become a repeat customer if the drink was created with the proper technique.

The main problem that people have when making the drink is that they think making iced espresso coffee is like making another sort of cold drink. But one must remember that espresso is always pulled and served when it is hot. Cold espresso is horrible and should never be used when making an iced latte.

Iced coffee is another story entirely and has its own preparation techniques depending on the establishment.

But anyone who tries making an iced latte in the way that I described above will most-likely develop a taste for them…even if they may not necessarily be espresso-based beverage drinkers.

-Tyler