ME By Melia in Cabo

ME By Melia Celebrates 10 Years In Cabo to the beats of legendary DJ Paul Oakenfold

The Spanish-based luxury resort and hotel chain celebrates with pioneering DJ and hundreds of their nearest and dearest.

Last week an unseasonal tropical storm deluged Cabo San Lucas, but cleared out just in time for ME Cabo to celebrate 10 years on the peninsula. The weekend-long events at the resort included an exhibit of local art, a fashion show featuring the work of designer David Solomon, and a pool party DJ’d by the iconic Paul Oakenfold, one of the early masters of the form beginning in the eighties. The guest list included the hotel staff and a few hundred of their nearest and dearest mobbing the resort’s massive pool encircling an island bar, with Oakenfold and warm up acts cranking beats from two in the afternoon till well past sunset.

What’s the big deal? The big deal is that ME Cabo is among the classiest spots on the coast, just one of the Mallorca-based Melia luxury hotel chain’s lifestyle establishments in seven locations including London, Milan and Ibiza. In Cabo they occupy the town’s best stretch of beach with a prime view of the picturesque mountain peninsula that includes the famed natural arch.

Oakenfold began in the London club scene in the eighties, co-founding Perfecto Records and introducing Chicago acid house style to the continent. His own endeavors won him 2 Grammy nominations, and he is twice recognized as Best Trance DJ at the DJ Awards, the genre’s most prestigious accolade. Moviegoers recognize his remixes from films like Matrix Reloaded, Swordfish and Planet of the Apes.

Oakenfold and his crew occupied the 5,360 square foot Suite ME, large enough to accommodate its own DJ booth. Earlier in the day they were spotted on the top penthouse balcony overlooking the pool below while women in thongs shot billiards behind them. In fact, for women, thongs seemed to be the requisite dress code, and for guys, it was board shorts and the occasional cringe-worthy backward baseball cap.

But not Oakenfold. He took the booth wearing casual black, combed hair, clean shaven, all business. The crowd erupted, but then again they’d been erupting all afternoon. Take single guys with single women, remove clothing, add alcohol and what do you get? The pool kept getting warmer and warmer, a result of numerous factors, chiefly the relentless sun and uncharacteristic high humidity.

The only other respite was on a bed under an awning with a bucket of champagne, the best move by far. Here, one could read, if such a thing was possible amid a deafening DJ dance party under the blazing sun, or one could shout in conversation with friends, or do what everyone else was doing, take yet another selfie and post it.

The night ended like all nights should end, with dancing girls and fireworks over the sea. And then it was off to bed for sweethearts, but for the lonely there were clubs like Mandala or Zoo, a short walk from the resort, that kept rocking until dawn. Either way, the drinks were cheap and the seafood outstanding.

Post-party recovery was best spent in the spa offering body treatments, facials, massage, hydrotherapy or the Mesoamerican Temzacal, a sweat lodge to drain the toxins from the night before. Then what, a walk on the beach? A swim in the ocean, jet-ski, fishing, diving? And if none of that’s your thing, there’s always a seat in the shade with a cool drink, the sound of the surf and something good to read.