La Paz – The Peace



La Paz - The Peace

La Paz Paseo

Shopping in La Paz

Panga Fishing Boats

Our friends had flight reservations out of La Paz so we departed the beautiful island of Espiritu Santo and arrived at La Paz on November 18^th around noon.  We immediately fell in love with La Paz; it’s a wonderful town with all the amenities and services one could want including great restaurants, market places, a town square, and a lovely paseo (promenade) bordering the waterfront.  As the capital city of the State of Baja with approximately 251,000 people, La Paz is an important regional commercial center.  We explored the town and noted many modern shops and clothing boutiques as well as the typical sidewalk vendors but without the high-pressure salesmanship.  It’s not surprising that expats have adopted La Paz as their home and many boaters from abroad stay at the marinas for extended periods of time.  Expatriates provide help to visiting gringos and hold special events that are announced on the VHF radio each morning on Channel 22A; information is also shared on their internet site at www.clubcruceros.net.  We spent a night out on the town with our friends Bruce and Pam before their departure, starting with drinks at a waterfront restaurant and then dinner at one of the finer establishments in La Paz.  La Paz is definitely one of those places that one comes to love and appreciate; it's like a vortex that keeps drawing you in, from which there is no escape.  Interestingly, John Steinbeck featured La Paz in his novel The Pearl (1947) and mentioned La Paz extensively in his travelogue The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951).  The city is also the setting of the children’s novel The Black Pearl (1967) by Scott O’Dell.  The following day, we participated in one of the events organized by the Expats, a special welcome for the Ha Ha Fleet and other visitors to La Paz held at a local restaurant.  The event included a wonderful buffet dinner in an outdoor courtyard complete with entertainment by a Mariachi Band and dancers in colorful Spanish costumes, all for only $10 per person – the entertainment was absolutely superb and we no doubt would have paid much more for such an event in the U.S.


Pangas Along the Beach and Promenade

Beautiful Costumes



Superb Dancing



Excellent Mariachi Band