1/8–La Paz

Last day on the Baja coast! We’re only in port from 7a to 2p – so it’s a really short day, and it’s a big city, we’re sort of bummed we don’t have more time here.  We’re up an’ at ’em at our normal 5:45. Gym, shower, pack the bag, get the coffee and we’re in line to disembark by 7:00. We’re docked at the commercial port, about 10 miles outside  of town, but there is a free shuttle to take us to the beach and town, which is very nice.

We’re off and on the first shuttle (with only a little bit of agg, since we aren’t allowed to take our coffee off the ship. Huh?  Come on! Sigh…I’ll be a cranky girl now!).  The shuttle takes about half an hour to get into town, we pass through a bunch of marinas and developments with condos, hotels and single family homes on golf courses.  We have a “tour guide” aboard who is a marine biologist studying whale sharks, the largest fish in the world.  It’s whale shark season (as it is regular whale season too), so there are opportunities to go out and see them, but we are going out whale watching tomorrow in Puerto Vallarta, so we’ll pass today.

We finally arrive in town, driving down the Malecon and being let off at the bus station.  The Malecon is 3 miles long, and dotted with all sorts of sculptures which makes for a very pleasant walk along the water.  We wander down the Malecon for a bit, taking photos of the statues, until we find a small little café where we can have coffee.  Yay!  Even if we have to pay for it (and it was quite reasonable, really), at least we can have our caffeine fix. We sit outside at a little high top table to reconnoiter and get our bearings as the caffeine takes effect.

Continuing on down the Malecon, we snap more sculpture pictures, walk out onto a long dock that is a little rickety for my tastes, but allows a great glimpse into the clean clear waters that surround La Paz.  It’s almost Caribbean-ish- so clear and blue and sparkling.

Next we head back into town toward the Mission and town hall buildings.  We find (quite by accident because the tourist map they handed us a the dock was way wrong!!) this little alleyway with lots of cafes and restaurants setting up for the day. We get hucked by one of the guys standing outside, selling beer and margarita specials as well as fresh fish tacos.  It’s only 9am, so we tell him “mas tarde” and head on into the centro historica.  It’s a good walk, past the retail shops, up the zapateria calle (shoe store after shoe store, and, no, I’ve decided NO boots – I’m done – they’ve jumped the shark and I’m happy with what I have!) – then into the little park across from the Mission (with the weird sculpture looking thing in the drained fountain).

The Mission is more ornate than most we’ve seen – but still much more simplistic than the typical European cathedral.  Inside there is a wonderful creche still decorated for Christmas (when do they take down the decorations?  Everywhere we’ve been, all the Xmas decorations are still up – so must be something cultural that they don’t come down right away in January like in the states).  We spend a few moments exploring the Mission, then head back out to walk more in town.

Back to the Malecon we head back toward the edge of town, trying to find a restaurant that the guide on the bus mentioned.  We walk past a sign for Bismarkcita – a café which began as a food truck we had read about – but all we found was an empty lot and a very expensive restaurant next to it – with no discernable name.  Oh well, not for us.  We head back the way we came and decide, what the heck, it’s time for at least a beer. So, we went back to the first place that “hucked” us and settled in for drinks and food. 

Ended up being a great choice (even though they didn’t have free wifi – go figure!).  Catrina’s – so ok – it’s perfect – and Martin (pronounced Mar-tine), the one who hucked us, and Carlos, the waiter hang out and chat with us until other people start arriving – so we had their undivided attention for a while! We chatted about living in La Paz (Carlos is Mexican, but had been living in the states since he was 6.  Until, that is, he was, as he put it, “a bad boy” and was sent back to Mexico.  He’s able to go back to the US in a year and is looking forward to it.  A very sweet guy, who we talk to about La Paz, and what it’s like to live there.).  We nurse our beers for a bit, order more, then hit the food:  Queso Fundido – excellent. Then Fresh Yellow Tail Tacos and shrimp tacos – but fantastic.  Martin brings us a margarita on the house (they made one too many) and I discover I really like it – but only because it is with good tequila – as Carlos says, not Cuervo!

We hang out for a long while there, enjoying the company, the sunshine and the food. Then finally drag ourselves up and out and back to the bus for the ship.  We really liked what we saw of La Paz – may be a good place to come back to for a few weeks or months in the winter.  We’ll see.

Back aboard, we hang in the sun on the balcony, then head to the Wheelhouse for our BOGO supply stock.  More balcony hanging and a beautiful sailaway and sunset……

…..Later onto dinner, where once again we have to wait. Only 5 minutes this time – wow – that’s a shock! The menu is the same darn menu from the previous day! What?  We think they goofed yesterday and posted the wrong one – so we have no idea what we missed while we were at the Crab Shack. Oh well.  It’s really a boring menu, although they did have a calamari appetizer Ed really enjoyed.  For a main though, yawn.  Ed get’s the available anytime filet medallions, which are good, and I end up settling for the Pork rib – OMG – it’s half a pig.  Kid you not – could have been a pound of meat. It was crazy! Really well done though, but  Ed of course had to finish it off for me.  You can complain about the offerings, or just the boredom of some of the menus, but you sure can’t  complain about the food portions, that is for certain!

Off the the production show in our basement- then to bed.  Another good day in port and at sea.