Well, once you get down to Cabo, you’ll probably want to do something besides just lounge by a pool and drink. Or not, but perhaps your husband will. Anyway, here’s a quick list of what we did:
Getting Money:
We withdrew money from the ATMs there. At the time, it was $286.xx for 3000 pesos. My bank doesn’t appear to charge me for using a foreign ATM, but the local bank there did — I want to say it was 7.50 + 10% + 3, or about 13 pesos for the transaction. Still, under $1.50, which is what most people pay for using ATMs that aren’t their bank. There is an ATM at the airport as well.
Note: I recommend coming to Cabo with a decent amount of US cash (say $1000, but at least $500) and getting some pesos there, and try to avoid using a credit card. Most credit cards will charge 3% on top of the transaction, so save yourself some money and use cash. Also, you can usually get a discount if you pay with cash!
Exchange Rate:
When we went, the exchange rate was about 10.50 pesos to the dollar. However, you need to be careful when buying something to see whether or not you should buy in pesos or dollars. Most people would have a 10:1 exchange rate… it’s easy for everyone, and tends to favor the vendor for the US customer paying in dollars. However, they are nicking you by about 5%. There are other times where you’ll see people offer an 11:1 or even 12:1 rate… but watch out! These guys will give you a price in US dollars, and THEN multiply by the conversion rate. For example, let’s say the bank will give you 10.50 pesos to the dollar. Here’s a quick chart to illustrate when you should pay pesos or dollars:
Price 10:1 10.5:1 Difference You should...
1000 pesos $100 $95.24 $4.76 Pay in pesos!
Price 11:1 10.5:1 Difference You should...
$100 US 1100 1050 50 pesos Pay in dollars!
In general, know the exchange rate. When someone offers a number below that rate, pay in pesos. When someone offers a number higher, pay in dollars. Now, the above illustrates that you’re basically losing $5 off a $100 transaction — which is 5%.
Activities:
Scuba Diving, with Amigos Del Mar (Friends of the Sea). It’s a dive shop pretty close to the Finisterra. The one we used last time, Neptune, appears to have gone away. It boasts the most comfortable dive boat in Cabo… and while this may be true (certainly it was the nicest I saw while out), it’s still pretty crappy. It’s just a trimaran with a covered bench seating area and a head for midgets. There is a decent amount on both sides to get geared up though, which is nice. The other boats are just covered dingies, so Amigos is a step up, but it certainly isn’t as nice as say any of the sport finishing boats or booze cruise boats. Seems that the dive shops in Cabo all operate on a shoe-string budget… the other ones I looked at were equally packed and muddy. At $75 for two local dives and $20 for rental, you figure they should be able to make some money, but I suspect it’s not nearly as popular in Cabo as say sport fishing — and divers aren’t chartering boats for $300 - $600 per day!
Todos Santos, with Rancho Tours. MK and I trucked out to Todos Santos, a little farming and art town about an hour north of Cabo San Lucas. It’s famous in theory for the Hotel California from the Eagles’ song, but I’m highly skeptical that it’s the actual one. Nonetheless, they do talk it up — with a huge gift shop to match! There’s also a bunch of art galleries, jewelry stores, and other souvenirs to be had. Worth the $45 a person excursion cost… we had thought about renting a car and going up for the day, but a shuttle with someone else driving and providing beer was a much better idea.
Shopping:
OK… Cabo San Lucas is rather expensive — meaning the prices are pretty similar to what you’d expect to pay in a US city, not what you’d expect to pay somewhere rural and in Mexico. This is because most of the places tourists go sell to only tourists, not the locals. You can buy the same souvenirs at multiple stores in the area, which includes Todos Santos at least, and probably San Jose del Cabo and La Paz. Mass-produced for-tourist stuff available everywhere includes little hand-made dolls, T-shirts, jewelry (silver and otherwise), blankets, Mexican-style clothing (such as panchos), and so on. It reminded me a lot of the vendors at the Great Wall in China — hundreds of vendors, all selling the exact same stuff, and clearly most of it was mass produced.
Bargaining:
Street vendors (both the hawks in the street as well as those that have small booths in public markets) will bargain fairly easily. Store clerks won’t as much — but they will typically give you a cash discount - about 5%. For street vendors, the easiest way to bargain is to ask the price… they usually don’t have it on the items. Then say that you saw it at the other store for less. Mexico isn’t China, they won’t go down to 20% of the actual price — it appears to be more like 2/3 to 3/4 of the price. There appears to be much less negotiation on the price of silver though. So start with half or 2/3, depending on how you feel, and come up. It’s OK to walk away… again, there are tons of folks selling the exact same thing. Oh, important note: never show that you really, really want something before you start bargaining. The vendor will know you want it and won’t move much. But they’ll move when they think you don’t care that much whether you buy it or don’t — they’d rather have the sale than nothing.
Continued from Part I, Getting There, and to be continued in Part III, Dining