Last Days in La Paz
13 January 2020
Alison Byers
Every day we go out for a walk or more like a trek as we walk anywhere from 3 to 5 miles along the Malecon and through the streets and of course up the 45 degree hill at the end through the gauntlet of barking dogs. I think every dog in Mexico is trained to bark and it doesn’t seem to matter what time of the day or night they do it. One starts and they all follow in unison. We are glad we have a car as it has made it easier to get supplies - hard to hump water and beer up the hill!!! They do have Uber in La Paz which is cheap so we take it if we go out at night. Pat’s knee has held up pretty well and he only took one day off of walking.
Our big adventure of the week was a trip to Todos Santos which is a 1 ¼ hour drive back towards Cabo San Lucas. We visited the Hotel California (which has nothing to do with the song) but I the old hotel in town and Tequilla Sunrise which is famous for their margheritas which of course we had. We had some great fish tacos from a street vendor and then wandered the streets visiting the very expensive local shops. They really gouge the tourists with their high prices so we didn’t buy much.
We visited one of the local hangouts Bob Marlin’s for Friday Night Happy Hour. It was very windy so we were dressed in our winter clothes. We had margheritas and nachos and listened to music but the songs all sounded the same. Not as good as we had expected but we can say we went. We walked down to the Malecon and had a drink at Harker’s and then took an Uber home.
Saturday we went for dinner at a sushi restaurant. Nothing like sushi at home but it was pretty good none the less. We had Chilies Rellenos Japanese style so they were stuffed with cream cheese, rice and crab. The other two dishes were rolls and rather nondescript. Guess that’s what you get going for sushi in Mexico.
Sunday night we went to the local burger joint called Kiki’s after having happy hour with some other Victorian’s we met. It’s a little hole in the wall that serves Burgers, Burritos and Fries. We brought our own wine and beer and enjoyed some great food and lots of laughs. The portions were huge and so glad Pat and I shared.
Tonight we are staying home and BBQing the biggest steaks we have ever seen and enjoying some down time before the next leg of our trip starts.
La Paz has a population of 300,000 of which 7000 are gringos. There is lots of development happening in order to attract more gringos, but as in many Mexican cities it is changing the quaintness. We have seen some of the poorer areas and have heard of some very unsafe neighbourhoods due to drugs, but have also seen the ritzier side of La Paz. There are lots of rentals available here and more being built.
Tomorrow we will drive back to the airport and drop off our car. We will then meet our friends Dave, Char and Doug at the airport and take the shuttle into Cabo San Lucas for a week of fun in the sun.
