We visited the mission museum which detailed the history of the town and its surroundings. Our evenings here were spent listening to LOUD music coming from the next block over and dogs barking throughout the night.
January 26th
We left Loreto at 9:00 a.m. and arrived at La Paz 2:30ish. Roads pretty much the same as previous, some hills, peligrosa curves, and then approximately 50 km of absolutely straight and flat road. This was an agricultural area with orange trees growing. We also had 4 lanes of highway for perhaps 5 km. So refreshing!
We're staying at AquaMarina RV Park, a lovely spot on the water. It is owned by an amazing 81 year old Mexican woman, Mary Lou, who bought the property with her American husband some 43 years prior. She was a stewardess in her 20's with a Mexican airline when she met her husband and they married and operated a scuba diving/snorkelling business from the property. She and her husband were both maritime captains of their 125' charter boat. I was fortunate to be invited into her home and listen to her stories and look at pictures of their life together.
January 27th
Coffee on the palapa; beautiful sunrise! We walked to the malecon which is simply an amazing walkway along the sea for at least 3 km. Bronze statuary are built all the way along the malecon. It is a beautiful setting!
Sprinkles of rain this evening WHAT! First rain since we left Nanaimo.
January 28th
Just outside our park, mexican fishermen returning from a successful early fishing trip, were endeavouring to get their boat out of the water with a truck and boat trailer, each with a flat tire. They finally got the boat out and it seems they hadn't connected the trailer to the truck well enough, so off it came with a lot of noise and commotion and full of fish. Its always interesting to watch life go on in Mexico! They got the boat back on and off they went.
We took our laundry in this a.m. and then were in search of a car wash. This truck has never been so dirty! We found the car wash and 1 1/2 hours later, and four men working on it, the truck looked better than it ever has . . that includes when Frank washes it every other day! Detailing inside and out, all of that for 100 pesos, approximately $8! Frank gave them 150 pesos; it was worth so much more. We've never had it detailed at home but I'm thinking that what we had done was probably worth $75 - $100 at home.
While we waited for the truck I was fortunate enough to dog sit a Boston Terrier puppy, probably mere weeks old and weighing no more than 1 lb. It was the owner's dog and he probably would have let me take the dog if I had wanted to (I wanted . . but then common sense prevailed). They also had two big pit bulls guarding the place.
The afternoon was spent at two beaches which we drove to. The first being Playa Balandra, which is an enclosed cove with shallow, azure water. We spent some time snorkelling there and we also went to Playa Tecolote, where we ate our picnic lunch. Again, stunningly beautiful beach! We're going to dry camp on this beach on the way back.
We have new neighbours next to us at the RV park, Bruce and Bernadette and their dog BIG from Nanoose! We're beginning to think that we Vancouver Islanders are very adventuresome, as we have run into many during our travels.
January 29th
Left La Paz for Los Barriles around 9:00 a.m. After a wrong turn by Phil and Doreen we were on our way! Lack of signage and having absolutely no idea of how to get in/out of towns makes for very interesting driving at times. And it also inspires a lot of swearing!
Again, had to go through a mountain pass which many curves. For those of you who have travelled the Hope/Princeton, just imagine driving it every day for kms on end! That's what we're doing.
We passed through El Triunfo, a former silver mining town, and also a very small town called San Bartolo which was beautifully lined with flowers/trees
We arrived at Los Barriles around noon and are staying at Martin Verdugo's Beach Resort. There is a waterfront hotel with pool and bar and RV sites behind the hotel. All this for 1690 pesos for the week (approximately $19/day)
Los Barriles is a kite sailing/wind surfing mecca. When the wind blows the sky is filled with beautifully coloured sails. Fortunate for us the wind hasn't blown for 3 days and we've been able to kayak and fish. We found a bakery, laundry, liquor store and some restaurants within blocks of our RV spot, so we're settled nicely for a week.
January 30th
Dogs barking in the night again, and roosters crowing in the early a.m. You'd think we would become accustomed to it, but we're not. Laid around the pool today and did some laundry at the campsite and then we phoned a former schoolmate (and brother of good friends) who lives here part-time and told him we were in town. He came over for a beer and invited us to his house for dinner. We picked up takeout chicken/fries from a place called Ochoe's Pollo and visited with Kevin for a couple of hours. His house is spectacular, and complete with a pool and 78 palm trees. Beautiful oasis! sigh . .
January 31st
We went kayaking and snorkelling this a.m.; calm waters again. On the way home though, the bladder in Frank's kayak deflated. Fortunately we were only a short ways from the resort. Figured out that the issue was a leaking seam, and repairs to it didn't solve the problem. So we're down to 1 kayak until we can contact the company and hopefully pick up another bladder before we come home. The company is located in California.
Our neighbour from Surrey, B.C. invited Doreen and I over, to learn beading and we are in the throes of making a bracelet. Have homework to do!
As some of you may know, my father passed in November and today would have been his 98th birthday, so we toasted and celebrated his birthday at Happy Hour! Cheers Dad . . thank's for looking over us as we travel on this adventure.
February 1st
Los Barriles has a community farmer market each Saturday with live music and lovely artisan work and so we enjoyed visiting it this a.m. Our afternoon was spent laying at the pool/working on the bracelet, and sitting at the bar on the ocean enjoying beer and margueritas. Rodrigues, the bartender, kept us entertained! We are enjoying ourselves to the fullest!
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