An observer would have believed he was seeing a photo shoot for a new Pacifico beer advertisement, you know the billboard showing a beach type reclining on a beach, bottle in hand.

That could have been this Writer who at that moment was doing just that at the Casa Dorada Los Cabos Resort and Spa with the Arch of Cabo San Lucas as a backdrop.

Los Cabos was our third and final port of call on our Mexican Riviera junket. In our last visit some 20 years before each community had its own name: there was Cabo San Lucas and San Jose Del Cabo, now the whole area is dotted for miles with resorts, hotels, condos, etc and is simply called Los Cabos (The Capes).

Lolling at Casa Dorada on Melano Beach was the way we thought 'life should be'. Waiters were constantly passing, offering delectable appetizers, margaritas, and our specially requested bottle of Pacifico. I even requested and had a photo taken in this picturesque scene but now seem to have lost it.

Luxury was the order of the day here in Los Cabos. Earlier we did much the same thing at Sheraton's Hacienda del Mar. This beachfront resort offers just about everything including a golf course that is referred to as "the Pebble Beach of Baja'. After a tour of the hostelry we adjourned to the Las Sirenas poolside dining area for refreshing cocktails and lunch which included sushi. Oh and then there was the tequila. Here was a bar with some 100 varieties of this Mexican original spirit on hand.

We had to take their word on the tequila since we still had a lot of ground to cover in our allotted shore leave from the Oosterdam. In our previous visit with my two sons we had stayed in San Jose del Cabo and I wanted to see if it too had changed as much as the rest of the cape. An original community inhabited by the local Indians for centuries it then became the first Spanish settlement in Baja. The Jesuit Mission dates to 1730 and we did visit the picturesque church as we had done on our first visit. San Jose del Cabo fortunately still retains much of its charm and character of earlier eras. The Plaza retains its beauty and adjoining is Calle Myares with its shops, art galleries and cantinas for liquid refreshments.

As usual our stay in Los Cabos was too brief. In our earlier visit we had a car and had toured over to the Pacific side with untold miles of deserted beaches and, according to my sons, wondrous breakers for surfers.

However we must not complain. We will keep the memory of Casa Dorada for a long time even if we did lose our photo opt with Pacifico.

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Last Update:9/15/09