Just found an old brochure from this place. I stumbled upon Marin Cheese, driving from Napa/Sonoma wine country to the Point Reyes National Seashore, north of San Francisco.
Apparently you can take a tour of the place, so if you're a cheese afficionado and are looking for something to do, give it a lookie.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, April 03, 2009
City Secrets Guidebooks
This is the first I've heard of this series. City Secrets is a travel book series written by artists, curators and others, who share their favorite spots of their respective cities.
[via kottke]
[via kottke]
Travel & Leisure's 50 Best Romantic Getaways
Travel & Leisure's 50 Best Romantic Getaways
The prices listed are a bit high, especially in this economic environment, but it's nice to know about these places and I'm sure there are better deals to be if you look around.
The prices listed are a bit high, especially in this economic environment, but it's nice to know about these places and I'm sure there are better deals to be if you look around.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico
I'm guessing Cabo San Lucas probably has the most available information out there on the internet, so I won't comment on much.
Giggling Marlin - GigglinMarlin.com Purportedly known for its debauchery, but when I stopped by, it was mainly older middle-aged white folk and even family (Even their photos online show the same). Needless to say, I got out of there quite quickly. (I jokingly asked the bouncers in Spanish where all of the pretty girls were, since they certainly weren't in the Gigglin Marlin. They laughingly pointed me to the strip-clubs across the street.)
Hemingways - Interesting bar. There's a back room where you can do a tequilla tasting and buy some cigars. I ended up happily chatting with the girl in the tequilla tasting room, but my night was dampered by some asshole American tourists. Will write-up about that in a bit.
Playa de la Amor - The beach that everyone says you have to see here. You can grab a water taxi to drop you off there, which is what I ended up doing. The place is somewhat rather unusual rock structures, which if you and another were the only people to be there probably would be quite a romantic beach to be at. But since it is one of the more popular destinations and you have water taxis bussing in and out and boats passing back and forth, its appeal is kind of lost.
Restaurants
El Huarachazo
Los Michoacanos
Cookies from Aramburo Supermarket
Giggling Marlin - GigglinMarlin.com Purportedly known for its debauchery, but when I stopped by, it was mainly older middle-aged white folk and even family (Even their photos online show the same). Needless to say, I got out of there quite quickly. (I jokingly asked the bouncers in Spanish where all of the pretty girls were, since they certainly weren't in the Gigglin Marlin. They laughingly pointed me to the strip-clubs across the street.)
Hemingways - Interesting bar. There's a back room where you can do a tequilla tasting and buy some cigars. I ended up happily chatting with the girl in the tequilla tasting room, but my night was dampered by some asshole American tourists. Will write-up about that in a bit.
Playa de la Amor - The beach that everyone says you have to see here. You can grab a water taxi to drop you off there, which is what I ended up doing. The place is somewhat rather unusual rock structures, which if you and another were the only people to be there probably would be quite a romantic beach to be at. But since it is one of the more popular destinations and you have water taxis bussing in and out and boats passing back and forth, its appeal is kind of lost.
Restaurants
El Huarachazo
Los Michoacanos
Cookies from Aramburo Supermarket
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico
A small town, with dusty streets, roaming stray dogs and the Hotel California. Has a bunch of art galleries and decent food. I picked up most of my souvenirs here.
Hotel
Hotel Guluarte - ~30 USD - Certainly a decent hotel for the price in the middle of Todos Santos. My room came with a nice little balcony and cable tv. The hotel had a swimming pool and a laundry room, which I'm not sure whether guests could use or not. The staff didn't really speak English.
Hotel Califonia - Of course there's the Hotel California, but I really had no interest whatsoever checking it out.
Restaurants
Carnitas Barajas
Tacos Chilaka
Other Resources:
TodosSantos.com
TodosSantosGuide.com
Pescadero
About a 10-15 minute drive away from Todos Santos. When driving from Todos Santos, look out for the 3 speed bumps on Highway 19 and the gas station. That's Pescadero.
Pescadero Surf Camp: Pescaderosurf.com (Casita: $30US/night, board rental: $20US/day, Instruction: $50) - I didn't end up staying or surfing with them. But I believe they're at km 75 on Highway 19. If you're heading north on Highway 19, there's a big rock on the right with their name and direction arrow carved on it.
Rancho de las olas casitas: BajaCasitas.com ($65-$75US/night)
Los Palmas Tropicales: TropicalCasitas
Playa Los Cerritos
I went surfing at Playa Los Cerritos. Los Cerritos Beach is 2-3 km south of the Pescadero gas station. Look for a small Los Cerritos Beach Club sign on the right and turn onto the unpaved road. There were a couple of places you could rent surfing equipment, as well as a number of English-speaking instructors on the beach. I ended up renting a wetsuit and surfboard from Costa Azul Surf Shop for 30 USD for the entire day.
Hotel
Hotel Guluarte - ~30 USD - Certainly a decent hotel for the price in the middle of Todos Santos. My room came with a nice little balcony and cable tv. The hotel had a swimming pool and a laundry room, which I'm not sure whether guests could use or not. The staff didn't really speak English.
Hotel Califonia - Of course there's the Hotel California, but I really had no interest whatsoever checking it out.
Restaurants
Carnitas Barajas
Tacos Chilaka
Other Resources:
TodosSantos.com
TodosSantosGuide.com
Pescadero
About a 10-15 minute drive away from Todos Santos. When driving from Todos Santos, look out for the 3 speed bumps on Highway 19 and the gas station. That's Pescadero.
Pescadero Surf Camp: Pescaderosurf.com (Casita: $30US/night, board rental: $20US/day, Instruction: $50) - I didn't end up staying or surfing with them. But I believe they're at km 75 on Highway 19. If you're heading north on Highway 19, there's a big rock on the right with their name and direction arrow carved on it.
Rancho de las olas casitas: BajaCasitas.com ($65-$75US/night)
Los Palmas Tropicales: TropicalCasitas
Playa Los Cerritos
I went surfing at Playa Los Cerritos. Los Cerritos Beach is 2-3 km south of the Pescadero gas station. Look for a small Los Cerritos Beach Club sign on the right and turn onto the unpaved road. There were a couple of places you could rent surfing equipment, as well as a number of English-speaking instructors on the beach. I ended up renting a wetsuit and surfboard from Costa Azul Surf Shop for 30 USD for the entire day.
La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Capital city of the state, with a decent selection of restaurants, things to do. Malecon is the strip of restaurants/stores along the beach. Streets signs are only seen for major streets and stray dogs roam around.
Hotels
Ended up staying a few nights in La Paz at different hotels for various reasons
Fiesta Inn (www.fiestainn.com) ~80 USD/night - Nice hotel, but a cab driver mentioned that this was the farthest away hotel from the airport and the Malecon (about 30 minutes from La Paz airport). Potable water from the sink, bright modern decor and a fairly large buffet breakfast.
Hotel Bugambilias (http://www.haciendabugambilias.com.mx/) ~50 USD/night
Probably 6 or 7 streets away from the beach. A little difficult to find. When driving west down Obregon, look for Rinrin pizza on the right and take a right one street after that (not the one with Rinrin on the corner). Look for it on the right, behind a wall. Cute painted walls and rocking chairs upstairs. Shower pressure and warmth leaves a little to be desired. Also, some of the desk ladies speak very limited English. However, they were able to reserve a car for me with a company called Bialsa renta de Carros for ~50 USD/day (unlimited km insurance), which I don't think I would have been able to do myself.
Aquiles Serdán #520 Norte (Serdán with Vicente Guerrero) La Paz, Baja California Sur
Email: info@haciendabugambilias.com.mx, Tel: +52 (612) 122-3088
Hotel Araiza Palmita ~100 USD/night. A bit far out from the action of La Paz, but not quite as far as Fiesta Inn. Awkwardly had a tv remote, which did not change the cable box channels. Lovely area for meals with a nice spread of food, desserts (although meals were not included). They have tennis courts, swimming pool and two random cages with birds. Also, there's a dance club/bar in front of the hotel; however, this was closed for remodeling when I was there. I don't know the exact address, but if you're heading west on Obregon, look for the playground on the left and it should be on the right soon afterwards.
Food
Bismark-cito - A seafood oriented place. You could get a seafood platter, consisting of lobster, fish, shrimp and scallops for about 20 USD depending on how many people ordered it. Or you could go for their fish, shrimp, lobster tacos, which were quite delish. On Obregon, between Hidalgo and Constitucion.
La Fuente - I wish I had gotten a chance to go here more than once. You can get a small ice cream cone for 2 USD or choose from one of their many fruit popsicles. On Obregon and Muelle (a little before the bus station).
Stuff to do
Las Varitas - Rock club, that didn't really get started until 11:30'ish. The night I went - had local mariachi (?) bands. Fun to see the energy of the bands and the occassionally dancing audience-members.
Car Rental
Bialsa Renta de Carros As mentioned above, Hotel Bugambilias arranged this car rental for me for $50/day (unlimited km insurance).
Abasolo s/n e/ 5 de Febrero y Navarro
Col. El Manglito C.P. 23060
Tel: (612) 12 5 69 90
Email: bialsa@hotmail.com, bialsarentadecarros@hotmail.com
Grocery
Mercados Aramburo - I always ended up forgetting how to get here, but there is a cow sculpture sticking out from the sign. I went here to pick up some water, as well as random Mexican snacks, cajeta and Valentina sauce.
Madero Num. 495 Esq Hidalgo, Col. Centro C.P. 23000, La Paz
Monday, October 27, 2008
Baja California Sur, Mexico
Jan 15, 2009 Edit. Back from Baja California Sur.
View Larger Map
I ended up buying The Lonely Plant: Baja California & Los Cabos guide book, which together with my lousy Spanish was sufficient for me to get around.
A few tidbits:
* While you could take a bus to get between the major cities of Cabos San Lucas, San José del Cabo, Todos Santos and La Paz, I found it was fairly convenient to rent a car and drive around. The highways were one-lane and paved well.
* Since highways are only one-lane, there's a passing system, which I'd recommend to read about in the guidebooks before driving. In general, I found the drivers there to be quite impressive and not as aggressive/angry as what I've encountered in the US.
* Guidebooks and others recommend to take a whole slew of car repair equipment, particularly a spare tire and a jack because 1) even within larger towns, some of the smaller roads are unpaved 2) many of the roads to beachs are unpaved and 3) there are random speed bumps.
* It helps for bargaining and staying at the non-touristy hotels/restaurants if you speak some Spanish. English is not as prevalent as I thought it would be. I had a stop-over in Mexico City Airport - that was really surprising for how little English they spoke there.
Individual comments for some cities in following posts...
View Larger Map
I ended up buying The Lonely Plant: Baja California & Los Cabos guide book, which together with my lousy Spanish was sufficient for me to get around.
A few tidbits:
* While you could take a bus to get between the major cities of Cabos San Lucas, San José del Cabo, Todos Santos and La Paz, I found it was fairly convenient to rent a car and drive around. The highways were one-lane and paved well.
* Since highways are only one-lane, there's a passing system, which I'd recommend to read about in the guidebooks before driving. In general, I found the drivers there to be quite impressive and not as aggressive/angry as what I've encountered in the US.
* Guidebooks and others recommend to take a whole slew of car repair equipment, particularly a spare tire and a jack because 1) even within larger towns, some of the smaller roads are unpaved 2) many of the roads to beachs are unpaved and 3) there are random speed bumps.
* It helps for bargaining and staying at the non-touristy hotels/restaurants if you speak some Spanish. English is not as prevalent as I thought it would be. I had a stop-over in Mexico City Airport - that was really surprising for how little English they spoke there.
Individual comments for some cities in following posts...
Monday, October 13, 2008
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