I Am A Tourist - Buying Local

I have not been posting recently because my mother is still hospitalized after her emergency surgery last Tuesday.  She is recovering  very well and has earned the title "Amazing Grace!"  We rushed her to the ER when we returned from our trip to Cabo San Lucas last Monday evening.  Here is a post I wrote while we were in Cabo that I would like to capture on my blog.

Maybe it is because I am of Italian heritage where family is the priority and the saying "Take care of your own first" is a cardinal rule, but I feel responsible to support my local economy.  In our little corner of Los Angeles, called Playa del Rey, we buy local.  Our pharmacist, Joe, and his wife May live in the area and while they may not have all the glitz or specials of a Walgreen's, they greet us by name and talk to us about our prescriptions.  Our florist is Felicia, who lives across the street from us and has a flower shop and a coffee shop about 4 blocks away.  We buy our produce at the local Farmers' Market, volunteer at the local library and eat out at local Restaurants.

So I guess it isn't surprising that when we travel we take our priorities with us.  12 years ago, on our first trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in a weak moment we bought a timeshare.  But after a bit of buyers' remorse we decided to make the best of it and use it! And we have. Every November we travel to Cabo for one week and we enjoy our room with a fantastic balcony view of the Sea of Cortez at the Pueblo Bonito Rose Resort.

View from our balcony on the 4th floor

Over the years we have watched the town of Cabo San Lucas grow.  They now have more than one stop light, they have a Costco, and their Marina is filled with very up-scale, glamorous restaurants.  Our resort also has two fancy restaurants and a Spa where you can be treated to a full-body massage to the tune of $130 US.  While we enjoy relaxing at the resort, when we are ready to spend our "gringo dollars" we head for the narrow streets of the locals.  Here are some of our favorite places:

Los Michoacanos is the absolutely best place to buy authentic carnitas.

When we first stumbled on this place it was rather run down....a small palapa style building with a few chairs and a large oven and cooking vat where huge chunks of pork were being cooked and stirred with a large wooden paddle.  They are doing well and have a new place in the old location. It is still open-air, just off the sidewalk.  No one speaks English but we can make ourselves understood.  We purchase a 1/2 kilo of  carnitas that comes with a variety of salsas, handmade tortillas, and a cup of freshly-made bean soup.  What we don't eat for lunch we bring back to our room to eat for lunch for a few more days.

We also enjoy meals at Felix's...again with authentic old style Mexican recipes.

This place really makes the most of its space.  In the morning, it converts to Mama Royal's and serves fantastic breakfasts. Wonderful Sangria and old Mexican recipes like "Chili en Nogada!"

We discovered an Argentine style steak place next door to the community center for the local children, called Patagonia.

Here they cook huge slabs of beef and goat on a large BBQ with servings that are so large you can share them with two people.

Another favorite eating place is Gardenia's.  Open only for lunch it has the absolutely best fish tacos in the town.  Family owned and operated, the service is quick, the food is great, and grandma brings you the bill.

Grandma at the register!

This time we tried a new restaurant, Los Tres Gallos, that is also owned and operated by locals and features very authentic recipes of old Mexico. 

Each recipe was explained to us in detail...where it originated and how it was prepared.

We stock up on cerveza at the local super mercato.

This year we treated ourselves to massage.  We found Eden's Professional Massage a few streets away from the resort, owned and operated by local certified masseuses where we each got a 40 minute deep tissue massage for $25 US each and a generous tip!

Our masseuses!

If I am going to buy any silver while in Cabo, my man to go to is Paco.  He is a vendor on Medano Beach and has been there for years.  He shows me pictures of his family.  He is not into bargaining.  He gives you his fair price and says..."If you really love this piece, you will pay my price.  If you don't want to pay it then, it is not really something you want." 

He is a true caballero "gentleman" and all the vendors on the beach know Paco.

We love the local flavor of Cabo San Lucas and we want those who have their roots there to know we appreciate and admire them and we want them to flourish.  Fancy, smancy restaurants we can find down the street in Manhattan Beach, CA...when in Mexico we want to support the locals.