My friend Karel was driving down to Cabo San Lucas from San Francisco in May 1981, to look at real estate properties, and asked me if he could pick me up on the way; another great offer I could not refuse, to explore the Baja California peninsula by land at a leisurely pace.  We stopped for the night at San Quentín, a quiet beach dotted by sand dunes, then drove through a stunning landscape of desert cactuses; we stayed in San Ignacio, a colonial village, then crossed the peninsula to charming Loreto; we made a stop in La Paz, the busy capital city, then finally we were in Cabo San Lucas, still full of construction at that time, not yet the jet-set destination of today.  It was an amazing place, a land’s end, Finis Terrae in Latin, where the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean meet the warm waters of the Mar de Cortez; we enjoyed enchanting sunsets and leisurely swims, we stayed at the traditional Hacienda hotel with cabanas emerging from the sand, we visited many new resorts like the Twin Dolphins.  In the end Karel took a ferry to Puerto Vallarta and I flew back to L.A., after 10 days of wonder.

I would travel to Cabo again, in August 1989 with Gabriella, when we rented a convertible VW to explore the line-up of resorts from San Juan del Cabo to the tip, then in December 2000 with my daughter Samantha, so she could have a taste of Mexico and drink her first margarita (she was 14).

I took many other trips to Mexico, to Puerto Vallarta and to Cancun with Samantha in June and September 1992, with Valeria to Ixtapa and Zihatanejo in October 1989, to Mazatlan in February 1991.  Finally, in February 2008 with Elaine, I realized the long delayed dream of visiting the Maya cities of the Yucatan and the pyramids of Chichén-Itzá, one of the new seven wonders of the world.