5/29/10 - La Paz

I’ve been procrastinating on this entry because I don’t have any real inspiration to write. We’ve heard a lot about La Paz and were really looking forward to arriving. It has everything we heard about, open markets, grocery stores (even a Walmart and Sam’s club), beaches and cruisers. But I have to say, it’s just a regular place. I think I may have worked it up in my mind too much based on the many recommendations we’ve heard over the years.

With that said, we have had a lot of fun since we arrived. We’ve ridden the local buses to the open air market, we’ve taken a taxi to Walmart, walked endlessly downtown and eaten the local food. One day Jake and I ventured out on our own to the local Anthropology and History Museum. Everything is in Spanish so you can picture me sitting on the floor in front of the informational plaques with my English/Spanish Dictionary trying to read to Jake and pretending that I’m understanding what the very nice man was explaining to me (over and over and louder and louder). Luckily, it wasn’t a very big museum. From there we walked (and walked and walked) to a local pottery place where everything is hand painted and fired on the premise. We followed that up with some very bad Chinese food and some very good ice cream enjoyed under a polka dotted tree.

One very important event that has occurred since we’ve been here is Andy’s 40^th Birthday! I think it hit him like it probably does most people…special day, strange feelings, checking for more gray hairs. We enjoyed a nice dinner out in town overlooking the harbor with all of the sailboats. We ended the day with a homemade pecan pie (his favorite). Here's Jake pointing to Andy's stomach after a conversation on how much we all ate...

We’re docked in a pretty cheap marina (i.e. zero amenities) until Wednesday where we’ll head out to Isla Ispiritu Santos. We’ll be back in our element there with lots of sandy beaches and great diving/snorkeling. Until then, we have plans to hang out with some of our new friends and I’m looking forward to visiting a weaving place where they turn hand painted fabric into various different treasures (I’m personally looking for a rug). Jake wants to find the pool we’ve been hearing about and Andy, well, I have no idea what Andy wants to do. I think he’s having diving withdrawl and is wishing Wednesday to come very fast .