Wow! La paz is a great city. Last night we ate at "The Shack". The name pretty much says it all. It has room for about 2 dozen people and the owner is the cook. The food is fabulous. We met Ned and Carol from Franny B, another Ha Ha boat. When Nelda ask them of our plans to sail the Pacific, Carol said "We did it in a 37 foot boat (2 feet smaller than Diamond Girl) with two kids, 4 and 1, for eight years and went around the world." Well didn't we look silly worring about how we would do going to Fiji. Ned and Carol are now on a much larger boat going around again with no kids. We did allot of exploting yesterday. We walked up and did some banking. Using pesos is getting easier but the big numbers still scare you a little. Then we went looking for a local market. We had a map that showed the Mercado Madero. We thought it would be nice to buy something other than from a big box store and Nelda needed produce. First we ended up in a part of town where there were yery few people on the street. Lots of shops but no people. This turned out to be the cruize ship part of town where all the toriestas go and there was no ship in port. We kept walking. It is VERY important to remember to always look down when walking anywhere. No, it's not because you don't want to make eye contact with the people. Everyone is friendly and helpful. You look down to prevent making eye contact with the ground! While most of the areas we went had sidewalks you have to remember this is Mexico and there are no lawyers and people can't sue each other. That said the side walks have the most varied collection of pit falls I have ever seen. There is no standard for anything, a step can be 4" or 18 inches high. Some areas have board walks, these are usually pretty good. There are holes, bent off posts, and dozens of other ways to go face first to the ground. One of my personal favorites is the missing water meter covers. It appears that when a meter quits working or is moved they simply remove the cover and install it somewhere else. They just leave the hole behind. The meters that do have covers have a 6X6" access plate or should I say, once had, an accss plate. Ninty persent of these plats are gone. So as I say it is a good idea to look down. The locals appartently know where all there leg snappers and anckle rollers are as they never look down. Add to this we walk allot in the dark and occastionally under in an impared condition and it is a real adventure getting back to the dingy in the marina. Back to the Machado, we finaily turn one corner and it is like someone turned on the people hose. There are local folks everyehere. The sidwalks are crowed with with people. But no gringos like us. We see people coming from a building with bags of produce and figure this is the place and we are right, what a place it is!!! Inside are booths run by indiviulal families and vendors. Everything there is fresh, furit, veggetables, meat and fish. And the meat is really fresh. The butcher is cutting up a side of beef right where you walk. You really have to know you cow parts to buy beef in a place like this. Everything is fairly clean as well. Nelda is like and Araba Trader when it comes to shopping and this place is no different. She pick, pokes, sqeezes, smells studies and thourphly inspects every item she is interested in. The venders just seem to stand there holding their breath at her decission to "buy or not to buy". As I say we are the ONLY non Mexican people in the Marcado . We did get to stop into some other local shops, it was like going back in time to just look through a hardware store. It was just as I remembered when I was 6 years old. The kitchen supply store had enamal coated pots and pan that we haven't seen in 30 years. We bought a juicer as there is no frozen orange or lime juice. Fresh Oranges and lines are so plentiful you sqeeze what you need. We ended up with bags that wieghed about 4o pounds each and I had to carry them about 16 miles back to the marina. We it many have only been 8 blocks but it seamed like allot further. That was the day yesterday, then we went to diner. And yes the brownies were the best we have ever eatten.