Caleta Partida and La Paz 11/23/13
This beautiful sunset happened on our last night here in La Paz. What a way to end our stay in La Paz! But let me go back to the beginning. We left San Evaristo and arrived in Caleta Partida on Partida Island to find our good friends on s/v Kasasa, Ian and Ellen, in the anchorage. We hadn’t seen them since spring so it was good to see them again and catch up with them. Partida is interesting because it looks like one island but is actually two islands. It is joined to Isla Espiritu Santo by a low sand bar that is less than 50 feet wide and the two islands are separated by a break in the sand bar that allows water to flow from one side of the islands to the other, looking like a river. Part of this anchorage is a crater of an extinct volcano. Over time the western and eastern edges have eroded to below sea level, but the rest of the high sloping walls remind you of the volcano it used to be. One day a big blue ocean going trawler came into the anchorage. Its name was Thomas Crosby V (maybe a relative’s boat? But no, that’s only wishful thinking). We went snorkeling on a large reef and saw many colorful fish and other sea life. I have been seeing many starfish recently where before there were almost none around. There are ones that are reddish with bumps and big fat arms, others that are small with skinny arms, and some that look like they have cactus spines all over them. Then there are the big sunflower starfish that have 20+ arms and can be 1 foot across.

Then it was time to head for La Paz for a weeks’ stay. It was a time to get some things done, like taking care of a leaking water pump on the engine, and getting a shade curtain made. Also it’s a time to get together with friends that are here in La Paz. During our week here, on Nov. 20, there was a national holiday called Revolution Day. They had a big parade that lasted 3 hours! There were student groups from all the schools and they each had either a marching band or a truck playing music while they did a dance routine. There was even a group from the culinary school that marched in their white chefs’ outfit with their tall chefs’ hats. There were some cheerleading routines with girls standing on the shoulders of boys. There were many sports clubs and schools (basketball, soccer, football, volleyball, baseball) represented who also performed. A young soccer team put cones and hoops down on the road then ran their practice routines zigzagging around the cones, then picked them up and did it again 50 feet down the parade route. Many boys/mens groups made pyramids while climbing and standing on the shoulders of others. La Paz must hold the record for the number of martial arts schools because there were hundreds of students from many different martial arts schools. They would each stop and perform their moves and routines. The different sections of the police were represented including the dogs and their handlers who put the dogs through an obstacle course. There was a Mexican Folklorico Dance group dancing their way down the parade route on a big flatbed truck. The military was well represented with different groups showing off their skills like: climbing netting, sliding along ropes between 2 trucks, rappelling down ropes hung from cranes and towers, etc. There were classic old cars that carried Olympic athletes and others. And what would a parade be without the horse groups. There were the side saddle women’s groups and the Mexican cowboys and others. This was such a fun parade to watch with so many performances and activities going on.

Our week ended all too quickly and now it’s time to leave for Mazatlan. See you on the other side of the sea for the next blog.