Cabo San Lucas (w) is located at the very southern tip of Baja California. Here's a map:
...and here's another map, closer up
As you can see on the map, there's a little point of land sticking out, pointing east, and forming a harbor. As the ship pulled in, I took this picture of the rocks that make up that point of land:
...and as the ship came around the point, I took this picture from the other side:
Cabo doesn't have a dock for cruise ships, so the ship had to anchor a little ways out, and we took a tender (a smaller boat) into port:
Of course, there were shore excursions at all three ports of call, and we went on excursions at each port. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Terry and I went on the same excursion, but this day, we went our separate ways. Terry went with the others to a beach resort. She reports that it was rather boring, and the food was mediocre. She took a nap.
My excursion was more unusual. I went to ride a camel.
Yes, you read that right. I rode a camel. Why? Because it was something I'd never done before. What more reason do I need?
On the dock, there were the usual crowd of vendors and tour operators working the crowd:
I had some time to kill before meeting up with my tour, so I wandered around for a while. I took this picture of the marina:
And I passed a rather well-known establishment:
It was getting close to time to leave, so I went and met up with my tour group:
Each tour group had a designated meeting spot. The large group of people in the center of the picture was my group. We were loaded onto a bus, and drove for about an hour up the western coast of Baja. When we arrived at our destination, we were divided up into three groups, and each group met their tour guide. Our guide was Saul (pronounced sah-ool):
As we entered the facility, we passed a camel barn:
...and we passed another group of camel riders:
Before we had our camel ride, we had a short presentation about camels, and each of us had a chance for a photo op with a camel named Hercules:
Big fella, isn't he? We got very friendly - I gave him a hug, and he gave me a kiss:
...and then I fed him a piece of carrot:
(By the way, I wasn't wearing sunglasses. My glasses have polarizing lenses that darken in the sunlight - and it was very sunny that day.)
While waiting for our camels to arrive, I read this sign:
And then it was time to saddle up. Each of us were given a helmet, covered with a white cloth to make it look like a keffiyeh (w), a traditional Arab headdress. I climbed into the saddle on my camel, and there I was... Grinnell of Arabia!
It was a bumpy ride. Since camels are, after all, desert animals used to walking on sand, the ride consisted mostly of a leisurely walk up and down the beach. As you can see from the picture, the saddle seats two people. Most of the riders were two to a camel, but apparently, our group had an odd number of people, and I was the odd man out. You'll also notice that I was at the end of the line, which called to mind the old joke about how if you're not the lead dog, the scenery never changes. But I was high up enough to enjoy the scenery. At one point, I was amused to see the camel in front of me reach out for a quick snack from a passing bush.
I asked the name of my camel, and the guy said something that sounded like "ay-dee," or maybe "ay-dees." I noticed that the name of the camel in front of me was written on the back of the saddle, so when I got off at the end of the ride, I took a look on the back of my saddle and discovered the camel's name - Hades!
After the ride, Saul led us on a short nature walk. Among other things, he showed us a blue agave plant (w). This is the plant they use to make tequila. Apparently, if it's not made from blue agave, it ain't tequila, and you can't legally call it tequila.
Remember this picture the next time you have a margarita.
We also saw lots of cactus, including these, which I thought were saguaro, but they weren't. I don't remember what he said they were:
After the walk, we all piled into this transport back to the main facility:
...where we had a buffet lunch (not bad, but not great) and a tequila tasting. One of the items tasted was not tequila, but a liqueur called Damiana, in a bottle shaped like, of all things, a pregnant woman:
I, of course, passed on the tasting, but I bought a small bottle of Damiana to take back to Terry. She liked it very much, and when we got home, we found a local liquor store that carries it.
And that was the end of the day's adventure in Cabo. On to Mazatlán!