Los Cabos becomes golf hotspot, per Golf Digest

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Naples, Florida. Bethpage Black. Pebble Beach. St. Andrews. These are the sorts of places that come to mind when you think “top spot for golf.” But, Los Cabos? Mexico? Prepare to have your illusions shattered: Fiesta Americana Grand Los Cabos Golf & Spa Resort – a destination whose name you just can’t say quickly – picked up the #9 spot on Golf Digest’s world hotspots for golf (if you can actually call a place known for golf a “hotspot”).

The golf course and resort with the long name pushed into the top 10 in the magazine’s “50 Best International Golf Hotels Outside of the United States” category. The win was helped by The Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol, designed by Jack Nicklaus (or at least under his name) and ranked #1 in Latin American. The other attraction, The Desert Course at Cabo Del Sol takes #5 in Mexico, also according to Golf Digest.

Alberto Gurrola, general manager of The Fiesta Americana Grand Los Cabos Golf & Spa, is understandably psyched about the Golf Digest honors, saying, “The Fiesta Americana Grand Los Cabos Golf & Spa Resort has long attracted guests for its spectacular, idyllic background, where the desert meets the sea as well as its soothing SOMMA WineSPA and, of course, its world-renowned golf offerings.”

Now, I’m not going to say that the spa is a great place to drop the wife when you dash off to play 18 holes, lest I invoke the ire of a commenter yet again. Simply, if I were married to a golfer, I’d run off to the spa while she goes out to chase a little white ball.

Biggest Hotel Sale Ever to combat swine flu travel fears

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are after a bargain, Mexico is where it’s at. We’ve posted about how a group of hotels have a deal for those who do get swine flu from their trip to Mexico. But since that probably isn’t going to happen, there are deals for those who don’t get sick.

There’s a “Biggest Hotel Sale Ever” campaign in Mexico through Expedia. In general prices are 26% cheaper than this time last year. Resorts also have deals on spa treatments, dinners and alcohol, so check out a resort to see what you can snag.

In case you’re worried about catching swine flu, check out this AP article . As the article explains, getting swine flu in Mexico is a long shot, and people have begun to see that these deals are not to be missed.

Here’s my take. There’s a lot of sickness you can get in all sorts of places, but they don’t end up on the news. I’m not saying that swine flu is a sickness to pooh pooh, but in reality, a person can get sick by heading to any place that has a lot of people milling about. Staying home sounds boring.

Ave Maria or Hava Nagila? No Need to Choose at Cabo Azul

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Planning a wedding is the final test of a relationship. If a couple can survive this gauntlet of vendors and family members, the marriage has a real shot. It’s even more taxing when you’re putting together a destination wedding (definitely not my favorite kind). The only thing that could make this experience worse is the emotional toll exacted by interfaith struggles. If you’re dealing with this challenge, cross the border. At Cabo Azul Resort, the chapel is uniquely equipped to execute your compromise.

In my experience, at least (limited though it is), interfaith squabbles have more to do with the parents and less with the couple. Two people meet, fall in love and decide to take the plunge. By that point, they know the religions involved and either don’t care or develop the appropriate coping mechanism. The parents, however, may feel differently. Even if there’s no bigotry involved, choices have to be made … starting with the opening to so many jokes: priest, minister or rabbi?

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Ultimately, the power of the purse wins the day. The person writing the checks makes the final call – that’s the beauty of capitalism! Of course, there are alternatives to the tyranny of the fiscally endowed. Compromise can be achieved, and this is where the Cabo Azul Resort is ready to jump in.

Located along the beach in Los Cabos, Mexico, Cabo Azul offers an airy, open (but covered) chapel with a view of the only chunk of shoreline in the area on which you can swim. Natural sunlight illuminates the space, but careful design minimizes the glare. Guests in the pews can stare out at the water instead of paying attention to the service … perfect. While scenery and sunshine do alleviate the tension of interfamily, interfaith tension, Cabo Azul has taken the concept a step further.

Two for the price of one!

Without undue effort, the religious space at Cabo Azul can be converted from church to synagogue. The cross suspended from the ceiling can be retracted and a Star of David lowered. The need to choose is obviated, and you can focus on what matters most – avoiding your in-laws!

Disclosure: The Los Cabos Tourism Board picked up the tab for this trip. But, if you know me, you know I don’t do anyone favors. The opinions are definitely my own.

Dispatch from Playa del Carmen (Slogan: It’s like Cancún except slightly more tolerable!)

by Aaron Hotfelder on

I’m currently relaxing at a laid-back outdoor restaurant on Avenida Quinta, Playa del Carmen’s shop-lined pedestrian walkway, accompanied by a bottle of the local firewater. Okay, I’m drinking a Corona.

From where I’m sitting, I can see a Dairy Queen, a place selling the hideous (“but comfortable!” they always insist) Crocs, a Hertz Rent-a-car, and a store called “Playa T-Shirts,” where you’ll find tees emblazoned with such clever, understated phrases as “I [Heart] Farts” and “If you think I’m a bitch, you should meet my friends.”

Dreadlocked backpackers, socks-and-sandals tourists, and (I assume) some actual Mexicans walk by, gazing into shops and turning down hucksters offering jewelry (“No, gracias”), hotels (“No, gracias), and marijuana (“No… luego”).

Worn out from four hours of swimming, sunning, and reading A Confederacy of Dunces on the beach, I contemplate my next move. “I’ve got to get out of this town,” I think to myself, looking at my John Kennedy Toole novel on the table and smiling at how it’s title is actually an apt description of touristy Playa.

Don’t get me wrong, Playa is a decent town– it’s like Cancún except you don’t want to shove a scissors through your aorta as soon as you arrive– but episodes like the following one are far too common:

A tall, heavy American man, dining at a nearby restaurant with his daughter, is berating his waiter who, the American feels, is trying to screw him with a bad exchange rate– he clearly wasn’t– after the man tries to pay with US dollars. “We will not be coming back!” the American shouts. “Tell your jefe, we will not be coming back!”

The guy and his daughter start to storm off before the daughter whispers something to her dad. “Well, I’m sure they have bathrooms here,” the man says. So the previously indignant father-daughter combo returns sheepishly to the restaurant, asks another waiter where the bathroom is, and the daughter answers nature’s call. The first waiter stares daggers at the American dunce who does his best to avoid eye contact.

I return my attention to my guidebook, decide to visit the beach town of Tulum a couple hours south, and buy the next bus ticket out of town. Sure, Playa wasn’t my favorite town in Mexico, but it could have been worse.

It could have been Cancún.

Freighter busted with a ton of cocaine hidden in dead sharks

by Annie Scott on

Cocaine shark? Has a new meaning.

There’s a new way to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. from Mexico: put it in a dead shark.

I have to give them credit. It’s a brilliant scheme. You could be all like “oh gosh, officer, I don’t know why the shark did so much coke — looks like that’s what killed him, though. Oh well. Mystery solved. He was kinda talkin’ my ear off. I need to take him to Miami to be cremated, cool?”

According to The BBC News:

“We are talking about more than a tonne of cocaine that was inside the ship,” said Mexican Navy Commander Eduardo Villa. “Those in charge of the shipment said it was a conserving agent but after checks we confirmed it was cocaine.”

Apparently, x-rays and sniffer dogs uncovered the great white deception on the freighter in the Gulf coast port of Progreso in Yucatan state.

We feel it would have been more appropriate to smuggle the coke in blowfish.