Baja Sur

Next stop:  La Paz (Baja Sur) in the NW of Mexico. La Paz is the quieter neighbor of Los Cabos which was  the next destination. We stayed at the Baja Club Hotel and, given our late arrival, we had arranged to have dinner there.

Our first excursion was to Isla Espiritu Santo to see Sea Lions. 

Along the rugged sometimes rocky coast we spotted a few interesting yachts (eg the super-yacht AV, formerly known as Palladium.) and creative architecture.

We also saw Frigate Birds, Brown Pelicans, whales, and yes, Sea Lions. On the return trip we stopped at El Hongo (The Mushroom Rock) a famous natural landmark located at Playa Balandra. (Balandra Beach).

While the others went snorkeling the next day we explored La Paz along with Rosemary. We checked out the  Catedral de Nuestra Señora de La Paz and ‎⁨the Regional Museum of Anthropology and History. 

 A pleasant stroll along water front at sunset led us to an excellent Italian Restaurant Oliva al Mare.

From top left:

• Main altar of the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de La Paz
• A costume blending elements of a Mexican charro outfit—including a fringed jacket and chaps—with a mask featuring both a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) sugar skull design and goat-like horns
• Traditional Mexican ceremonial masks
• View fof the waterfront boardwalk (Malecón)
• The "Mermaid and Dolphins" sculpture created by artist José Kuri Breña and silhouettee in the sunset
• Artwork by artist Luis Covarrubias, titled "Danza del tigre," is dedicated to the deity Tepeyollotli. It depicts  the tigre (jaguar) and dancers originating from  Guerrero State.

From La Paz it is a short drive (2 hours) to Los Cabos, passing through Todos Santos, where we had to stop to see Hotel California. Was it featured in the song by the Eagles?  Maybe.

Alejandra arranged amazing accommodations for us  at Club Regina near San Jose del Cabo. Our rooms were right on the water's edge overlooking the  cliffs and ocean. On the way, we shopped for breakfasts and snacks at the newly opened two story City Market in San Jose del Cabo.We have a nice City Market in San Miguel.  Ours is a best half the size of this one. The store must have enchanted us because between Mark & Rosemary and Bill & Pat (supplemented lightly by others) we were able to provide one lunch in the suite, complete with wine (of course). 

While the others went diving (Paul) and snorkeling (Agnes, Alejandra, Betsy, & Mark) we wandered the Regina Club and later (with Rosemary) visited Old Town San Jose del Cabo. 

It was Thursday, and time for it's popular Art Walk, so things were busy.  

From top left:

• Ceramic piece depicting the demise of Spanish Priests during the 1734 Pericú Revolt, an indigenous uprising driven by resistance to cultural disruption, forced conversion, and the banning of traditional practices like polygamy.
• View from our room at the Club Regina.
• More of the Regina Club.
• We finished the day with dinner at Kitchen with Rosemary. Just outside the restaurant was an interesting photo op.

It was a bit of a challenge to find a nice small restaurant with available space since it was night. of the local art walk.  The small and big bites at the Kitchen were excellent. 

We had a Harbor Cruise from Cabo San Lucas including a stop at the landmark arch near the harbor entry. As we sailed along the beaches toward San Jose del Cabo, we lounged, chatted and snacked while enjoying the views. Later we caught Alejandra and Betsy at the pool.

That evening we enjoyed a fine meal at the Manta by Enrique Olvera and witnessed a sunset to match.

We spent the next day around the Regina Club.  Luckily this gave us that opportunity to use some of the surplus foodstuff we picked up at City Market. 

In recognition of Alexandra's fine work pulling this trip together, she was awarded a certificate of merit created and presented by Mark. 

We ended the day with a Sunset Cruise complete with the usual drinks, whales and views. 

From the Sunset Cruise:

• Mark & Rosemary enjoying the ambiance
• Fruit and drinks for the gang
• One last Whale
• The Sunset over Cabo
• Bill, Alejandra, Paul and Agnes 

The rugged coast line north of Cabo features resorts and at least one golf course.  Note the green fairways along the the cliff and the golf cart on the top of the cliff. 

Heading back to the harbor, we were accompanied by lots of other sunset cruisers.

On Sunday we headed home. But not until after chef Rosemary provided Pat & Bill with a traditional English Breakfast. No extra grocery shopping required. All from our little shopping trip to the mega-City Market. Great breakfast. Thanks Rosemary!

Mexico City 2026

We returned to Mexico to continue our travels 2 weeks in Mexico joining some of Pat's Business School friends visiting Mexico. Alejandra, from Mexico City arranged the tour. and others lent a hand with arrangements. In 2022, several of us, including Alejandra, met up in Greece at Paul & Agnes's gorgeous home in Kardamyli. Mark & Rosemary joined us from London.  If you recall our friends of 50 years Dave and Shelly were also with us. This year Betsy Cotton, another classmate,  joined us.

The others began touring in Mexico City around the Zocalo and we joined them at the Museo Banco de Mexico.The Banco de México Museum is an architectural landmark of Art Deco. It houses a vast Numismatic Collection with coins, banknotes and medals. Other displays explore the role of money in everyday life, the history of banking in Mexico, and the functions of the central bank. 

Below: 

• A high-purity gold bar, labelled as having 99.99% gold content (ORO 9999) and weighing 12.6 kilograms (KILOS 12.6)
• The coin collection is in the huge vault.
• The Stained glass piece was originally commissioned by the Bank of Mexico  in 1935.

We had lunch at Lardo, a favorite Italian restaurant in Roma Norte. Then we took the afternoon off (in consideration of the Europeans who needed recovery after spending the previous traveling across several time zones.)

The next day we toured the Anthropology Museum and Museum of Modern Art sandwiched around a nice lunch at the Anthropology Museum. Dinner at  nearby Carmela and Sal with it's creative, home-style Mexican dishes.

•  "El Paraguas" (The Umbrella) Fountain, the centerpiece of the  main courtyard of the Anthropology Museum
• Aztec Sun Stone, also known as the Piedra del Sol. Has been improperly referred to as the Aztec Calendar. It  is a massive, 24-ton basalt monolith, created around 1427–1479 CE, and represents Aztec cosmology 
• Olmec head sculpture.  The Olmecs (~1200–400 BC) are considered the "mother culture" of later Mesoamerican societies like the Maya and Aztecs, They are most famous for carving massive, stylized stone heads weighing 30–60 tons. These are believed to be portraits of individual rulers.

After lunch we visited the nearby Modern Art Museum. We were fortunate to visit while the noted Gelman Collection is on display. It's only been up for a few months and leaves for Spain in June. The collection is renowned for its high concentration of masterpieces, particularly 30 works designated as artistic monuments in Mexico. Key artists include Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco.

• "La vendedora de frutas" (The Fruit Seller), a 1951 masterpiece by artist Olga Costa
• "Self-Portrait with Monkeys" (1943) by Frida Kahlo.
• "Crisálida", created by Mexican artist Manuel Felguérez. Materials, constructed using a functional Volkswagen Sedan. VW Beetles, commonly known as a "Vocho" in Mexico, were very popular and were manufactured in Puebla until 7/30/2003.

Another day, another museum. A long time favorite, the Museum of Popular Arts featuring some of the best Artisanal Works from around Mexico. 

• An unusual version of a MexicanTree of Life
• A collection of alebrijes, which are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures
• Another Vocho, (Volkswagen Beetle) covered in traditional Huichol beadwork, featuring over 2 million tiny glass beads

• The main atrium with colorful, large-scale papalotes (kites),
• Large blue peacock alebrije sculpture
• A dressed-up Charro outfit (normally for horse riding)  embroidered with soutache (a narrow, flat decorative braid)

We then took a walk in the park with Diego Rivera. His 50-foot long fresco titled "Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park "(1946–1947) features basically all the notable personalities of 400 years of Mexican history posing together in Mexico City's oldest park.

Later we had lunch at the Cafe in the Belles Artes and then visited the Postoffice. to appreciate it's eclectic architectural style including Art Nouveau, Spanish Renaissance Revival, Plateresque, Spanish Rococo, Elizabethan Gothic, Elizabethan Plateresque, Venetian Gothic Revival, Moorish, Neoclassical, Baroque, and Art Deco. 

Dinner was at Los Danzantes in Coyoacan, near Alejandra's home.  Another GSB classmate Martin Urrutia and his wife Regina joined us.

Los Danzantes is noted for its contemporary Mexican cuisine in a historic setting overlooking Plaza Jardín Centenario, the heart of the first capital of Mexico, founded over 500 years ago.

One morning focused on Frida Kahlo in Coyoacán. We started in The Casa Roja (Red House), purchased by Frida's parents, Guillermo and Matilde Kahlo, in1930. Opened in 2025 the exhibit focus on Frida's childhood and family life. 

Then we moved on to Casa Azul where Frida spent the vast majority of her life.

Clockwise from top right are four photos from Casa Roja. Top left is from Casa Azul.

• White and cream-colored lace garments from the Frida Kahlo Museum exhibition titled "Appearances Can Be Deceiving"
• Charola de amapolas (Tray with Poppies) by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo
• The group in front of the Museo Casa Kahlo (also known as the "Casa Roja")
• Frida Kahlo in her studio at La Casa Azul in Coyoacán
• Traditional Tehuana dress featuring vibrant floral embroidery on a dark velvet blouse and skirt, paired with a white lace flounce

...This exhibition highlights how Kahlo used traditional Mexican costumes, particularly Tehuana dresses, to mask her physical pain and create a lasting, powerful image.

We stopped to explore the beautiful Coyoacan Market and then moved on to shop at  El Bazar Sabado in San Angel. We enjoyed a late lunch at the San Angel Inn, an experience visitors to Mexico City should all have.  It serves as the model for the Mexican restaurants at Walt Disney World. 

Costa Rica - San Jose

Checked in to the Grano de Oro, a truly grand hotel. First stop: Lunch.  Pat was thrilled to see a favorite dish on the menu: cassoulet. It went well with a nice Cote du Rhone. 

We  walked around the neighborhood we headed to the nearby paark which is the forer airfield. It is now home to soccer games and facilities for family outings. Thn we head toward the city center and our evening with Enaid. a friend we first met in SMA who recently moved to CR.  We arrive a little early as planned and wandered the Asian neighborhood near the restaurant, La Esquina de Buenos Aires. 

We had a excellent meal with Enaid - La Esquina has an extensive Argentine grill and Italian selections (lasagna for Bill and Black Fettuccini with salmon for Pat & Enaid).Excellent.  We chose a Pinot Noir from Patagonia to accompany the meal.

Below

• Iglesia de la Soledad (Church of Our Lady of Solitude)
• Sculpture represents 
• Argentine musician Cerati ,widely considered by critics and musicians as one of the most important and influential artists of Latin rock
• Enaid
• Bill's lasagna
• The wine from Patagonia
• The Black Fettuccini and Salmon

Next morning we joined Enaid for a tour for the Teatro Nacional a fine finish to a very pleasant visit.

The National Theatre of Costa Rica is located in the central section of San José. Construction began in 1891, and it opened to the public on 21 October 1897 with a performance of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust. It has capacity for 1,140 people. It ifeatures impressive European design. 

After the theater we visited the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) that features historic gold artifacts, including figurines, pots & coins. It is located in a modern and interesting underground space. 

Below: The artwork depicts numerous extinct giant animals, including mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, and glyptodonts. These animals lived alongside early human populations in the Americas before becoming extinct roughly 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. The detailed illustration was created by artist Sergio de la Rosa, who specializes in prehistoric animals.

We walked back to the hotel enjoying the sights and sounds of San Jose. After lunch we started getting ready for our return to Mexico and 2 weeks with some Stanford GSB friends. We enjoyed the bouquet that was just outside of our room.

Costa Rica - Corcovado

Next stop: La Paloma Lodge on the remote Osa Peninsula, the southwestern part of Costa Rica. An hour or so drive from Oxygen to Sierpe and a little longer boat ride on a river, through mangroves, and along the Pacific Coast to Drakes Bay and we arrived at our new home near Corcovado NP. The area is also home to many varieties of mammals (monkeys, tapir, jaguar, coatis, sloths ...), over 400 species of birds. (We did not see them all.), Reptiles (crocodiles, caimans...) and abundant marine life in the coral reefs around Cano Island.

Below cw from top left:

• navigating the mangrove lined river to the lodge
• a determined tree on a remote island
• arriving at the lodge
• napkin 
• leaving Sierpe for Drake's Bay
• white- faced capuchin monkey at the lodge

La Paloma  is simple and comfortable,  It attracts  couples and families looking for a true back. to nature experience. The lodge arranged cocktail hour and dining seating to encourage interaction. On arrival we met 3 other couples our age" out of maybe 15 groups of visitors.  This  is unusual for our travels and probably even for La Paloma as over the next few days there were more families.

Our visit to Cano Island was hampered by the weather, a storm convinced all snorkelers that it would be better on another day and, we turned around. After the weather cleared a little, the lodge, sent us to a closer beach. After returning to the lodge, we enjoyed a  beach barbecue.

 Sadly, while at the baech, Bill's new wedding band (purchased in Jaipur in 2024) slipped off his finger. He saw it in the sand and just as he reached for it he got hit by a wave.  As for Pat;s wedding ring, well it's a long story. She fell. while we were at Arenal and while nost issues healed quickly, her ring finger did not. In fact she as becoming concerned that she would need the ring removed to facilitate circulation.  But how? It turns our there was an emergency room doctor from Denver staying at the lodge. When she saw the finger she suggested she could remove the ring. So Pat sat for an hour with her arm raised and the finer iced. The Doc returned and with much patience  on Pat's and the Doc's part, the ring came off. Phew. What a difference it made. The finger is now mostly back to normal. And Pat has committed herself to more awareness while walking.  And for now we are both without wedding rings...but do still love each other.

On our NP tour the next day we encountered a lot of wildlife.

• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• Brown Boobies
• Some interesting coast along the boat ride
• A spider hole with camouflaged door
• Plus captured the beach anding...Boats back in and people wade to shore

We had barely gotten to the National Park when we started seeing more

• Scarlet Macaw
• Tapir Tracks
• Bare-throated tiger heron
• American Oystercatcher

• Hermit Crab outside and inside "his shell"
• Golden Silk Orb-Weaver
• Babassu Palm Fruit
• Sprouted coconut
• Shoreline rock formations

• Shelf fungus growing on wood (providing little useful shelf surface as they are vertical. 

• A Coati

• A Howler Monkey

• Opening a coconut

• Common Basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus), also known as the "Jesus Christ lizard" due to its ability to run across the surface of water

We had a day off and spent some time just hanging out and working on our blog. Later we enjoyed the sunset tour got some nice photos.

Next morning we had an off-shore visitor (Jeff Bezos, a frequent visitor, in his yacht complete with helicopter).

We had some mischievous visitors, a troop of White-faced Capuchin monkeys, in the trees surrounding the lodge. We enjoyed the reflections of our wine and the view from the deck of the lodge.

Departure day included a short boat ride and drive to the air strip, driving upstream in a river shallow.. The flight to San Jose was in a small plane (12 - 15 passengers) along the coast. Note, not only did they weigh the luggage but the passengers too. Yes, that is Bill on the luggage scales.

Costa Rica Uvita

We moved down the Pacific coast from Monteverde to Uvita, located near the Marino Ballena National Park famous for its "Whale's Tail" sandbar best seen from the air at low tide. We captured this on our flight out of the area. On a separate note, I confess to originally expecting the NP to be noted for it's whale population, It's a good thing I realized in advance that isn't the case or I might have been sorely disappointed,

Along the way we stopped for a Mangrove swamp tour. and saw a plethora of birds and reptiles. From top left clockwise:

• Royal Tern
• Spoonbill
• Magnificent Frigate bird
• Brown Pelicans inhabiting a tree
• Crocodile
• Brown or Plumed B
  asilisk

Our accommodations at Oxygen were a little off the highway, requiring driving on a gravel road for 10 minutes. The lodge was quite well done, buried in the jungle with views of the ocean. 

The weather was pleasant with nice days complete with the occasional late afternoon rain that thoughtfully paused for our walk to dinner. 

We had a boat tour of the harbor and spotted (from top left clockwise):

• Dolphins
• Frigate birds
• A tractor pulling our boat back to storage (the farmers in Pat's family may appreciate that it is a John Deere.)
• An archway among the many sea caves in the park

After the boat tour we lunched at a local spot that had an unusual set of  accompaniments, including scissors for opening the packets of mayo & ketchup. 

The restaurant at Oxygen featured fine food and wine.  Among others we enjoyed the the kabobs, pecan tart, and chocolate volcano.

We explored the grounds and got a foot massage at the jungle spa with its background "music" of a real babbling brook. 

Interesting sightings included (starting from top right) Cigar Calathea or Cuban Cigar plant (the "cigars: are bracts, not flowers)., copper mottled coleus, some impressive white birds (made of napkins), an Ixora coccinea (commonly known as jungle geranium or flame of the woods), and a empty cicada cocoon.

There are lots more flowers that thrive in the local climate.many of which are featured on the Oxygen grounds (clockwise from top left):

• Mussaenda (also known as Nusa Indah), known for its showy bracts (white, pink, or red) surrounding tiny yellow flowers
• Torch Ginger
• Croton plants, popular tropical shrubs (known for their vibrant foliage)
• Yellow Alder or White Buttercup 
• Yellow-flowered Turnera subulata (white alder or sulphur alder)
• Caricature Plant (Graptophyllum pictum)
• Orange Ixora flowers
• Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Pride of Barbados or Peacock Flower

Overall it was quite a peaceful, relaxing experience. And as we flew back to San Jose we caught a view of the namesake "Whale's Tale". 

Costa Rica - Monteverde

We had a car-boat-car transfer between Arenal and Monteverde. Following  a short drive from Amor, including a quick stop for some Coati viewing, we began a slow cruise around and across Lake Arenal. There were many bird sightings and some nice scenery. 

Clockwise from top left:

• Bill & Pat with Arenal in the background
• Little Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• The Coati
• Great Egret
• Neotropic Cormorants
• Osprey

Our luggage went around the lake by car and, after rejoining it, we continued along the mixture of dirt, gravel, and pavd roads to Monteverde. We stopped for lunch (Corvina) before we checked in to our new lodging at Senda. 

The next morning we went on a Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve walk where we encountered a range of Flora and Fauna including clockwise from top left:

• a Coati
• a Quetzal
• a giant Fiddlehead Fern
• an Otatea, commonly known as Mexican Weeping Bamboo
• a Fuchsia paniculata
• a Python millipede
• a Hot Lips plant 

Nearby there were Hummingbird feeders and lots of diners. Later we had a colorful sunset at Senda and a local dance group performed during dinner.

We had intended to zip-line our way around Selva Adventure Park but did the more sedate Butterfly and Sloth preserves. We saw butterfly cocoons in various stages of opening and an array of moths and butterflies inside a glass enclosure. One highly creative butterfly can look like a snake (when closed) and an owl (when open).

Connected to the butterfly area was a Sloth preserve with many of the two toed variety.

We had a nice lunch in town followed by a visit to the neighboring Orchid garden. Later we took a walk in the hotel gardens and saw a large rodent known as an agouti.