Greetings from La Paz and Happy Thanksgiving!

We have enjoyed La Paz immensely. With a population around 275,000 people there is quite a large downtown area but it is almost void of the tourist atmosphere that Cabo had (thank goodness!). The waterfront here consists of a lengthy malecon (promenade) which is well used by both locals and tourists to stroll and jog along. The shopping district consists of the necessities - fresh farmers markets, taco stands, and lots of specialty stores. There are even one or two large grocery stores with American products which we will be sure to hit in order to restock our galley before we leave.

We were fortunate enough to be in La Paz during the Dia de la Revolucion holiday which celebrates the Revolution of 1910 (Mexico's independence from Spain). There was large parade down the main street in which local schools and the military participated in. The parade was drenched in tradition but then offset by present day vehicles blasting music from gigantic speakers which were precariously tied together (they love their music loud in Mexico!). Unfortunately the camera batteries died before any pictures of the parade could be taken.

There is a strong cruising community in La Paz. Morning VHF nets help new comers with finding local services and answer any questions. With so many cruisers in La Paz it's easy to organize social gatherings as well. For example, there is the large Thanksgiving pot luck today that will draw over 250 cruisers from the area. The cruisers who call La Paz home also band together in other ways like o help support the local children by raising money to buy school books and uniforms.

Our Spanish communication skills are coming along slowly with a couple new words being added to our vocabulary each day. Luckily most people are extremely friendly and accommodating as we struggle to communicate our needs (although I fear most of the communication is more successful when we point and nod rather then try to speak). We found a fantastic mechanic to assist with replacing a leaking seal on our engine water pump and although he spoke little English and we speak little Spanish we found that communication can be successful with a little patience.

The weather has been nice - high 80's during the day then the local afternoon wind called coromuel picks up to cool everything off to the mid 60's at night.

We anticipate heading a bit further up north into the Sea of Cortez before heading over to the mainland for New Years but of course we'll keep everyone updated!