La Paz
We came to La Paz from Mazatlan to get a new engine installed in our boat. Our old one was on its last legs. While we’ve been here Club Cruceros, in Marina de la Paz, had their annual Bay Fest and La Paz celebrated its 478th anniversary. Bay Fest was a week long event full of lots of activities and lots of fun with old friends and new friends. There were different seminars (including one on pressure cooking that I went to and then I bought a pressure cooker) and different competitions including cards, Mexican Train dominoes, Bocce Ball, volleyball, paddling inflatables by hand, backwards paddling kayak races, and also a sailboat race in the bay.

La Paz had different activities going on for their 478th anniversary celebration. They closed off the main street along the malecon (beachfront) every night of the weekend and had giant street parties with different bands, singers, and entertainers. There were many booths and vendors selling a big variety of things. Also there were booths from all the small towns around La Paz selling typical things from their towns. The beach had many different sand sculptures. Ambassadors from 25 different countries visited La Paz for the celebration. There was even a re-enactment of Cortez landing on the beach!

We’ve been in La Paz nearly 6 weeks and it has taken twice as long as expected to take the old engine out and get our new engine installed. All of our friends have left and are exploring anchorages in the Sea of Cortez. We will be catching up with them soon however, as our engine is finally finished and we’re leaving La Paz tomorrow. It’s been an interesting experience changing out the engine here at the dock in the marina. We used our boom to raise the old engine out and swing it over to the dock, and reversed the process with the new engine. After the engine was lowered inside the boat, they used manpower to lift and move the engine into place on its motor mounts. Check out the pictures of the engine in the photo gallery.