ARRIVE IN CABO SAN LUCAS
By Bob Van Leer

  (CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico, July 13, 2006) – We left Gold Beach Saturday, July 8, for Portland on the first leg of a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to attend the wedding of our oldest grandson, Rob Johnson.

  We were to catch a plane in Portland but we went up a day early to visit. Thursday, July 10, we boarded a plane at 6:40 a.m. for the trip to Cabo. There were 21 of us on the plane from Oregon including Betty and Jim and Molly Walker (mother of Rob), Dave and Jean Little, Brian and Miriam Little, Charles, Lisa and Teresa Johnson (father of the groom), all of Gold Beach; Dave, Sally, Jordan and Maya Shuey.

   Flying weather was good and it was 1 hr, 18 minutes on Alaska Air to San Francisco and then another 2 hours, 48 minutes to San Jose del Cabo, the airport serving Cabo. It is a 45 min. drive from the airport to our hotel.

  Our hotel is the SIU Palace, on the beachfront just north of downtown. The beach itself is steep with undercurrents and not a safe place for swimming. At 6:30 p.m. there was a mixer meeting at the bar for the bride’s and groom’s parties. All told there were about 28 friends and relatives of the groom including Cal from Australia, and 19 from Canada in the bride’s party. The bride, Rebecca Wright, is a Canadian from Toronto and the couple met while each was pursuing a master’s degree at Latrobe University in Melbourne, Australia. All went well. We were spending a week at the hotel under a type of package we’ve seen before in Mexico in which everything at the hotel, room, meals and drinks, are included in the package price. Of course, service is a little better if you don’t forget tips. Cabo is at the extreme southern tip of Baja California with the Sea of Cortez on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.

  Tuesday was a day of laying back, enjoying the pools and just visiting. Wednesday 10 of us went deep sea fishing and we managed to land two marlin. I landed one, not large as marlin go (110-120 pounds), but the largest fish I ever caught. Marlin are fierce fighters and I was wearing down before I got it in.  At one point the fish jumped clean out of water. We had nothing to do with the big fish and released them. We were fishing about 5-10 miles south of Baja. The ocean was a little rough but only one of our party was not a good sailor.

  Thursday was the big wedding day, but not until 7:00 p.m. During the day we rented a cab for several hours and Betty, my sister, June Pallardy, daughter Sally Shuey and her daughter, Maya, went downtown shopping and sightseeing.

   The country here is dry, dry. But there is a little rain sometime. There is scraggly brush and a lot of cactus growing. Television keeps us up to date with CNN and Fox news both available in English. English language newspapers are at least a day old and expensive. I paid $3.00 for a day-old copy of the New York Times. Most people here speak some English although there is a language gap.

  The wedding went off without a hitch. The bride, Rebecca, is about a foot shorter than her husband, Rob, and they make a handsome couple. The ceremony was in a gazebo just on the edge of the sand and there was a booming surf behind them. The wedding was in Spanish with a translation by Miriam Little, wife of Brian Little, both of Gold Beach. Music was supplied by a mariachi band. After the wedding there was a reception and then dinner in other parts of the hotel.