Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Fiesta Americana Hotel

This hotel is an excellent architectural and landscaping example of rocks, sand, cacti and desert plants being integrated into its design. The place is expanding fast, and it is kept very clean everywhere.

The beach is rougher than it looks. Many large pebbles and shell pieces. Wear shoes of some sort. The waves and undertow are substantial. There are many large rocks in the water, one could be slammed against them, therefore the rocks would present some danger except for those in very good shape. We did not see any life guards. We saw very few people going into the ocean. To compensate, there are 3-4 very beautifully designed pools, with good pool side service, but the alcoholic drinks are extremely weak.

Cabo is excellent for fishing, with a big annual tournament. For those who love fishing, Cabo would be an excellent place. This is probably Cabo's biggest attraction.

Cabo is also great for partying late into the night and getting totally sauced. A place downtown called Cabo Wabo and its area is great for this, and Cabo Wabo itself is an excellent restaurant.

The food is priced at the top of the Caribbean scale - unusual for Mexico. The hotel is 30-45 minutes from town costing $40 USD per couple each way or $5/person each way whichever is higher.

Substantial price cheating is going on in town for any merchandise we tried to get. We saw fake silver as well. You must know what you are buying, or just write it down to learning experience. After all, you paid a good chunk of money for air fare, hotel and food. Same upon arrival at the airport, with astronomical taxi rates to your hotel. Make arrangements with the hotel in advance for a DIRECT, NON-STOP TAXI to the hotel, and about how to recognize their taxi AND van drivers, WHAT THE TAXI WILL COST, and have the driver carry a sign with your name. This is a must. Do not talk to anyone after immigration. There will be an onslaught as usual in Mexico by a large number of taxi and tour services, until you go out of the building and see the hotel's person carrying a sign with your name. The best defense is not to talk to people, no matter what they say, not to look them in the eye, and walk through purposefully to the outside with a smile on your face. They will be nice to you, but they are very skilled at talking you into bad deals (for you). You showed your passport to the immigration officer after arrival. If any person asks for your passport in the subsequent onslaught - as they did to me, do not give it to him and act as if you did not understand anything. Do not give any acknowledgement. Just look at this as a game, and continue walking. There is no danger, but keep your eye on your luggage.

Some day the Mexican authorities will figure out how to treat tourists upon arrival without turning some of them off.

We found Cancun better, so do not assume that all Mexican resorts are the same. We also found Carribbean destinations other than Mexico better and more customer oriented in the area of shopping. I must add that service within this hotel was excellent, with the exception of fixing technical failures like the TV remote not working because it had corroded batteries (took 4 hrs), or the clothes dryer not working (promised but not fixed).