A Brief Time in La Paz

We caught a ride out of Cabo Pulmo from a local worker there back out towards the main road. Bridget and I stuck our thumbs out again from there, quickly catching a ride from an American guy who lived just up the road.

We stopped in at his home, a tiny oasis of fruit trees and gardens overlooking the desert. We accepted some cold water and conversation, then walked back out to the road. A pickup truck got us just shy of Los Barriles, a bit of walking and one more short ride got us to the entrance of town.

Although we were now aiming for La Paz, the big city in the south, we figured we'd drop in on Charlie in his chocolate shop on the way. We stopped and did so, getting some chocolates as well of course, he told us about how the local girls who worked for him would sometime steal from him while working by not ringing people up, it had become a bit of a problem.

Back on the road we got a ride from a Mexican guy driving a van heading towards La Paz. We cruised along, listening through the veil of increasingly-less-foreign language about his two girlfriends, one of which was in the process of leaving him due to his heavy drinking. He was in love all the same.

A good portion of the ride was less about conversation and more about blasting music. We did notice a guy walking the long stretch picking up cans, our driver told us he made the trip from La Paz to Cabo every single week, this was essentially his work at this point.

We got dropped off in the outskirts of La Paz, but one last ride from a guitar player landed us in the heart of the city, right on the Malecon, which is the waterfront. We made our way to Pete and Susana's apartment, a couple we'd found on couchsurfing who could put us up a couple nights. Pete was at the door, a bit surprised to see us, turns out that Susana had been the one I'd been messaging with and they hadn't yet got on the same page. They were also hosting a German couple, but Pete knew they could make it work.

We got to know Pete a little bit, a photographer by trade and enjoying his time in Mexico. After a while we set out again to explore the waterfront, get some groceries, then headed on back in time to meet Susana and the German couple. We cooked a dinner, shared stories, pictures and eventually all nestled into our spots on the floor and couch to sleep.

Bridget and I went out again exploring in the morning, we spent a little while seeking out timeshares to see if we could score some free breakfasts and goodies like we did in Cabo. La Paz was not setup quite the same, so although we came close to getting a tour at one place, nothing really panned out.

We spent the rest of the day bouncing between the beach with canned margaritas and sweet bread, back to the house, then back to exploring more and sitting by the beach. At one point we saw a familiar sailboat coming in, it was the couple we'd met near Cabo Pulmo anchored out from the beach we were camping on. We followed the boat along the shoreline seeing where they'd end up, they eventually got a spot and we waited for a bit, but couldn't wait long enough to see if they'd come to shore so we could get their attention.

We regrouped back at the house, then the six of us went out to a great taco stand and chowed down. After that we went to this bar that would let you drink one peso drinks after paying a hundred peso cover. We stormed in and drank up as much tequila as possible while telling stories and taking in the night. We listened to live music, danced around, then hopped on down the street looking for the next thing.

Susana used her magic and waived her hands around, we bypassed a cover charge for some fancy bar with a lit up dance floor, jumping and dancing and swinging until we were asked to leave for not buying any drinks. We danced outside the window instead.

The night continued marching around the waterfront and interior streets looking for different spots, just dancing by the water, then eventually back to the apartment.

The next day started as a lazy one, just catching up on all things internet. Pete and Susana got back to the apartment in the late afternoon and offered to give Bridget and us a ride towards the edge of town, we were ready to keep on heading north through Baja. They dropped us off at a supermarket where we scrounged up one last meal of tacos and buns, then got to walking, the sun was already trying to set against a unique cloud backdrop.

A guy named Jon picked us up, getting dark now he offered to let us stay up on his property. He didn't have much yet, just a trailer for the most part until he got into building his house. The view, however, was pretty great, overlooking the lights of La Paz high up on this hill. Bridget and I laid out our sleeping bags for one last night of good sleep before journeying back up the peninsula.

March 12, 2012 to March 15, 2012