Highlights from La Paz, Mexico

Walking along the malecón.

Most days seem to melt together here in La Paz.  My routine is pretty much the same every day.  If I wake up early enough, I can get a walk in before the La Paz Net starts up at 08:00; if not, then I try to get my walk in later in the day.  I usually have breakfast while the net is running and then head out at 08:30 to help set up the Vista Room at Marina de La Paz for the 09:00 Spanish Class.  Richard and I have been attending the daily Spanish class and it has definitely helped me with my Spanish which I was at first reluctant to learn due to my already having some French and Italian swimming around in my head.  I know, everyone says how similar they are...but that's the problem.  They are just similar enough to be confusing and just different enough not to be interchangeable!

Osprey at Marina Cortez in La Paz.

After Spanish Class I try to get any boat chores I have done.  Lately there haven't been too many but I'm sure as soon as Richard sees that I've written that things will change and there will be plenty to do.  Lately I have found myself making almost daily trips to the local supermarket with the idea that frequent small trips will help me avoid having to schlep all our groceries in one trip.  I try to plan to shop for non-perishables on one day and save the perishable shopping for closer towards our departure date to ensure that our vegetables are the freshest and hopefully that will make them last longer.  The grocery store is about a 20-30 minute walk away and when you add lugging groceries and the heat of midday, it actually constitutes the bulk of my daily workout.  I typically have some errands to run and end up walking a fair amount during the course of a day here in La Paz.

Haircut at the marina.

I had to get my haircut one day and decided to just charge up my cordless clippers and walk up to Club Cruceros to see if I could find someone who knew how to use them.  I was pretty lucky when I ran into a group of three women having coffee and I asked if anyone knew how to cut hair and one of them did.  I think she was a little surprised when I pulled out my cordless clippers, scissors and a cape and said, "Let's do it then!" When I tried to pay her for her services, she insisted that I simply "pay it forward" which I intend to do as soon as I can.

Dan drawing a beer from the tower.

On one of our last nights in La Paz we had dinner with Dan and Kimberly from s/v Dazzler at the Shack.  The Shack is owned by a Texan who transplanted to La Paz and married a local (Rosalie is the sweetest, kindest woman I met in La Paz!) and opened a bbq/burger joint not far from the marinas. When we arrived at the Shack, Dan and Kimberly were already seated with a "tower" of beer in front of them.  This is the greatest invention.  It holds about 7 mugs of beer and is kept cold by a frozen tube inserted through the top that runs the entire length of the tower.  Add a handy-dandy spigot at the bottom and you've got beer perfection!

Me and Rosalie in front of the Shack's
wall of fame.

We ordered our food and granted, it did take a while for Kim's special to come out but the company, the cold beer and the live blues being played on the makeshift stage kept us occupied until our food arrived. The burgers were delicious...and huge, cooked on an open grill.  They even have a permanent fire pit where they cooked whole hogs for their Sunday pig roasts.  After several more towers of beer, Dan and I put our boat names on the "wall of fame."  We even located several boats that we know who had done the same before us.  All in all the night was a fun one spent with good company and many cold beers.  Thanks Dan and Kimberly!

Here are some more pictures from our dinner at the Shack and random scenes from La Paz.

The Shack burger...yum!

I will eat this burger.

Kimberly and Dan from s/v Dazzler.

Adding Osprey to the Shack's wall of fame.

Dazzler upside down...or is Dan hanging form the ceiling?

Sunset at Marina Cortez, La Paz, Mexico.