CABO After...

       For once Sonoma State got it right! They actually scheduled spring break at the same time as other colleges and now I can finally say I experienced a "real" college spring break, only took me four years. As I said in my last post, I didn't really know what to expect from this trip, all I really knew was what everyone had told me. "Mexico is dangerous!" and "Don't drink the water." I can now say that both of those statements did not ring true this trip. I don't know if it was because we stayed at a luxury resort or because there were so many people my age around, but I did not feel unsafe at any point of the trip. No one tried to rip us off and all the cabs we took were either provided by our hotel or by the bars/clubs we were at. Our hotel wouldn't even let us in the front gate without showing our ID's and comparing it with who was registered in our room. As for not drinking the water, its a lot easier said than done. I obviously wasn't drinking straight out of the tap, but it was very difficult for any of the girls I was with to remember that we couldn't order drinks with ice. We had our fair share of ice and luckily no one got sick. But now on to the fun stuff...

Mango Deck

   
PLACES TO GO:

• Day: Mango Deck- It is everything you image when you think about spring break (Wet T-shirt contests, booty shaking contests, drinking competitions). It is an out door restaurant/bar located right on the beach and by 1pm is packed with spring breakers. ALL drinks are two-for-one so you can drink a lot, without paying a lot. 
• Evening: Booze Cruise- For $35 a person, my friends and I went on a 2-hour booze cruise, with an unlimited supply of alcohol. It may not have been the best alcohol, but it definitely did the job. 
• Night: El Squid Roe- It is a bar/restaurant during the day but by 11pm it is THE place to be. With wall-to-wall college students, blaring dance music, and cocktail waitresses walking around with jello shots, Squid Roe is the epitome of Cabo spring break. 

LESSONS I LEARNED:

• BRING CASH: Even though you may think its unsafe to bring a large sum of cash with you, its the smartest thing to do. Lock it up in the safe in your hotel room and only bring out what you need for the day/night. One of my roommates learned this the hard way. Once she ran out of cash she started using her debit card, a very bad decision. What the bank doesn't tell you is how many international charges you will rack up every time you swipe your card. Not sure if it is just Bank of America, but a minimum $1 was withdrawn from her account each time she used her card. Also, the ATM's only dispense Pesos, which just adds more confusion. Every place we went to, along with cabs, accepted American money, so my number one tip would be to BRING CASH!!!
• LEARN TO BARTER: Whether you're buying something from a vendor or renting jet ski, NEVER accept the first offer you get. When you walk down the beach there are countless vendors trying to sell you anything and everything. When we decided we wanted to go jet skiing, we were able to talk the guy down from $50 a jet ski to $30. By the end of our trip we were paying $2 for headbands that we bought for $8 the first day. Just keep in mind they always offer you the highest price, in hopes you are dumb enough to accept it. 
• MEXICAN FOOD in Mexico isn't as great as you would think it would be. I don't know if I'm just used to Americanized Mexican food, but I was greatly disappointed by almost everything I ate.