Mexico week 2: La Paz

March 07, 2023

My first week in Mexico used La Paz as a starting point, but during my second week I got to know it much better.

As the kayak/camping friends returned home, another friend from Portland joined me for a week of exploring La Paz and the region.

The weather was sunny but rather cooler than we’d hoped - many days got into the low 70s but started and ended much cooler. Given that Portland had just had a historic snowfall, we didn’t complain too loudly!

We had lots of good food and several adventures. We drove a half-hour north to explore Playa El Tocolote - windy and chilly in the shade, but the water was gorgeous and the ceviche we had was amazing.

We did a day trip - a 90-minute drive each way to the west side of the peninsula, to the town Todos Santos. It felt much more compact than La Paz, and had a more touristed vibe with a number of shops and restaurants. It’s also the location of the Hotel California, as made famous by the Eagles song, so it draws a lot of people just for that! It was fun to wander a while, and then we made our way to the Pacific Ocean.

The next day we spent several hours on a tour with a guide - we drove north again to the protected Balandra Beach - admission is limited to certain numbers of people and times of day, and there’s not much there in terms of facilities. The bay is a beautiful wonder - very shallow for the most part, with a deeper center - and it’s quite popular with locals and tourists alike. Since we were with official guides, we were able to kayak into the mangrove area.

After our kayak time, we changed gears and did a hike that covered a range of terrain. First we scrambled on rocky terrain around the point, and then we hiked up and over a chunk of land for some really amazing views. Finally we descended to a different beach (no longer in Balandra Bay; actually back to Tecalote which we’d visited earlier) and had a fantastic ceviche lunch that a friend of the guides made. After the tour ended, we walked along the beach. There was a small group having some kind of party, complete with a 6-instrument marching band! And we saw a drum set and at least two other tuba-like instruments along the way it was fun if puzzling.

Our last full day in La Paz, we took a guided walking tour that talked about some of the history of the region, and showed us a number of murals that share stories of the region. I think that was my favorite experience in La Paz…if it came with ceviche and a view of the ocean it would have been perfect ;-)

Friday was our last full day before flying on Saturday. We decided to do the 3-hour airport drive Friday, and stay in a cheap hotel out last night. Along the way we crossed the line of the Tropic of Cancer!! That’s probably a lifetime one & only occurrence. We also stopped in the teeny tiny town El Triunfo and visited the Cowboy Museum/Museo de los Vaqueros. It was a very nice museum and felt improbable in that tiny town, but we enjoyed it thoroughly.

For our last night we wandered in the historic part of San Jose del Cabo and happened onto some art galleries, and then a fun open-air bar/restaurant/shop/music stage, where a family of five teenagers were rocking out American oldies. It was super fun, and so unexpected!