Okay… all of a sudden it’s June. Change is in the air here in the Baja and it feels refreshing. While no official announcements had been made yet, we started to notice little things happening around us. We’re so close to getting back to “normal”… we can taste it.
CABO IN THE NEWS
The official announcement was released that Cabo would move from a Level 6 (Maximum) COVID Alert to a Level 5 (Critical) — allowing hotels, restaurants, and beaches to officially open on June 15th at 30% capacity.
Restaurants and their employees have gone through multi-hour sanitary training courses, among many other things, in order to get the green light to open (beach vendors even get training, too).
Sadly, 22 major businesses downtown have permanently closed their doors.
At the time of opening back up, there were 990 cumulative cases and 55 deaths in BCS, with 124 active cases in Cabo.
With all of the crazy events in the U.S. the last few weeks (re-openings leading to more COVID spikes; protests and riots occurring due to police brutality), it’s been hard to keep a positive mindset. A weird sense of guilt has been lingering over us, as we’ve watched it all occur from afar. So with that, no funny memes this post, but rather a quote we saw that really made us think long and feel hard about 2020 and all its brought to us in so many different ways. What if 2020 is the year we’ve been waiting for?
June, is that you?
Change is in the air here and it feels refreshing. While no official announcements had been made yet, we started to notice little things happening around us. This week, our ‘extra’ security out front of our neighborhood was removed. The amenities of our clubhouse, pools, and gyms have taken down their yellow caution tape and are now open for use. There are more people out and about — you can see everyone has a little pep in their step and is getting excited.
A FREAKING SNAKE
After Leigh read a Facebook post on how snakes start to come out on trails in the summer here, we (she) decided to avoid our favorite hiking spot all together recently. We were taking no chances on 2020 bringing us any more unwanted surprises.
But ya know, this year has a mind of its own and decided to kill the vibes of our Tuesday evening workout. Sundown and it was time to go out for a run in our neighborhood. Kyle decided to take a break and walk down a hill, so told Leigh to run through the cul-de-sac area and he would meet her back at the end of the road.
Literally 20 seconds after parting ways, she takes a sharp left and manages to come face-to-face with a rattlesnake slithering down the sidewalk. She was so spooked, she bounced off of the concrete wall, cutting her hand open. Kyle was very confused less than 1 minute later as Leigh is now running up to him screaming about something with a bloody hand. What could she have gotten into that fast?
If you know Leigh, you know she is afraid of basically all things creepy crawly (and if you ask Kyle, she is afraid of “adventure” in general). So a poisonous, 3 foot long rattlesnake is pretty traumatizing. As we walked to our house, Leigh posted about the snake on Facebook to warn the neighbors. We learned you are supposed to report an incident like this to the front security guards. Thankfully someone else reported, as it made its way down to the bottom of the neighborhood where it was removed. We slept a bit more peaceful that night knowing it was a goner.
THURSDAY NIGHT STAYCATION
Makeshift date nights have been fun to figure out during this quarantine. The latest idea was a ‘staycation’ in our own home. We moved the party down to our guest bedroom, which due to the heat lately, is MUCH cooler. We had a movie night, bottle of wine and a change of scenery… and it wasn’t too shabby of an impromptu Kyle-planned date night. :) Kennedy joined in for the fun too.
AT HOME SPA DAY
The Beauty Bar Cabo to the rescue! They offered an at-home spa service which we quickly took them up on for our Friday afternoon. Three nail techs showed up with a ridiculous amount of stuff (suitcases, bowls for pedis, a hot water heater!) and set up in our dining area. For less than $100, we had over 3 hours of services (2 pedis, 1 mani and 1 full set of nails!) - spa deals, one of the best perks of Mexico! It was a great start to our weekend.
EL HUERTO ORGANIC MARKET
A new farm-to-table restaurant called El Huerto is opening up down the street from us. As the launch has been delayed by COVID, they decided to get people in the door via a pop-up organic farmers market on Saturday mornings. The grounds are gorgeous and remind us of a very early Flora Farms or Acre. Tons of land with beautiful flora, cacti everywhere, lines of veggies growing and just overall an awesome vibe from the local vendors.
We grabbed two craft (yay!) brews and shopped around the many vendors: a seafood shop, cheeses, organic skincare , coffee, plants, deli meats & more. There was a food truck on site we enjoyed a salad from and a meat vendor offering delicious tortas (sandwiches). While it was hot in the sun to eat, it was just nice to be around people and be outside, especially because Cabo wasn’t officially “open” yet.
The grocery stores and organic markets can get a bit pricey so we’ve been loving the roadside fruit and veggie stands that have popped up on our road. We stopped at a tent and left with a full giant bag of produce that cost only $10. Pineapples, avocados, tomatillos, mangos, bananas — so much goodness!
KEN’S PINK FLOWER PHOTOSHOOT: YEAR SIX
Kennedy’s 6th year of the ‘pink flower photoshoot’ rolled around so we decided to keep the tradition going, Cabo style. While Kennedy is almost nine, Leigh first came into her life when she was three. On one of their first walks together, they found beautiful pink flowers on a Denver walk. It has become a thing to document every year!
We rounded out our weekend with our new favorite cocktail, the Watermelon Basil Mezcalrita. With all of the watermelon we’ve had lately, it sounded fun to make fresh juice and turn it into a cocktail. Throw watermelon in a blender, strain, add lime juice, agave, mezcal & tequila! The smokey of the mezcal and the sweet of the watermelon make for a delicious and refreshing cocktail.
Recipe here for two cocktails:
In shaker:
2 basil leaves
1.5 ounces mezcal
1.5 ounces tequila blanco - can omit if you want more mezcal
4 oz fresh watermelon juice
2 ounces fresh lime juice
Squirt of agave syrup
Ice
Garnish: 2 wedges of lime, 2 basil leaves, salt and/or tajin rim
FEELIN’ LIKE CHRISTMAS EVE IN CABO
It has been officially announced by the BCS Governor that hotels, beaches, and restaurants can open at 30% capacity as of Monday, June 15th. Of course, it’s Sunday and we have to work the next day, but hey — we’re just excited there is finally a light at the end of the very long tunnel.
We started our week off with a delivery from our new favorite coffee shop, Arido, that also makes delicious naranja y romero (orange & rosemary) and platano (banana) muffins.
We posted the photo of our breakfast to our Instagram account, @HolaCabo. We’ve been keeping up with content for fun throughout quarantine. Our most recent milestone has been 600 followers, which was unexpected to grow so quickly, so hopefully it continues to take off as we begin to get back to our ‘normal’ Cabo life.
BACK TO THE BEACH
Late Monday afternoon rolled around and we made our way out to El Tule. We figured it would be a great excuse to get Kennedy some exercise and get our toes in the sand. Legally back to the beach, at last!
Welp, to our surprise, what is normally a very quiet beach, was packed with cars, umbrellas, pets and local families lining the shoreline. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. We hung out for a bit, a little anxious given we haven’t been around this many people in some time.
Supposedly the beaches were only open until 6pm, but we saw no federales around enforcing a shut down at the cut off time. Our time was short, but sweet, and it felt SO GOOD to be normal for a few hours.
