Jan-Feb 2024 – Things went swimmingly in La Paz
- Trevor
- Feb 26, 2024
- 17 min read
We’re now in the second half of our exploration of the Baja peninsula, and have started our slow journey back north. Just two hours north of Los Cabos, on the Sea of Cortez, is the small city of La Paz. La Paz does not have the tourist vibe of Los Cabos – fewer charter boat options, fewer multi-story condo buildings, fewer golf courses, and thankfully, fewer pressured-sales along the waterfront. La Paz is the state capital and industrial center of Baja California Sur, with a large port ten miles east of town, as well as a number of diesel or heavy-fuel power plants generating electricity for much of the southern peninsula, including Los Cabos. As a result, there is a constant haze in the sky, but not really noticeable (visually or physically) once you’re in the city. We chose La Paz because it’s large enough to have most of the amenities that we look for, but also because people talk about it having a slower pace of life compared to Los Cabos. We found this to be pretty accurate, and La Paz did not disappoint!
We found a nice, cozy condo through Airbnb, in the Centro neighborhood, just two blocks from the waterfront. We had considered some other locations, in more modern neighborhoods (“fraccionamientos”) further from the water, but decided that we wanted exposure to the coastline, restaurants, and attractions, rather than a modern kitchen and access to a swimming pool. Our condo was on the small side, with a galley-style kitchen and limited seating at a breakfast-bar table. In fact, we used that table as more of a landing-spot for our keys, etc. and ended up eating outside on a patio accessed through the back door of our bedroom. While we didn’t feel cramped in the condo, we ended up stacking most of our supplies, or hiding them away in cubbies in the closet. Similar to most of the places we’ve stayed, we did not have any screens on the windows and doors. However, we had a metal security gate outside the front door and the private patio in back, so we were able to leave the doors open and get a nice breeze through, thankfully without many bugs.
For infrastructure, we had consistently good water pressure, and no shortage of hot water (neither are guaranteed anywhere that we’ve been). We did not have a washer or dryer, but we found a very good laundromat nearby, where we paid 95 pesos ($5.50 USD) to wash and dry each load. Internet access was reasonable – usually between 30-40 mbps, with consistently more connectivity than either of our units in Cabo. We did not have secured parking, but instead relied on finding a spot on the street outside our unit. Being close to the malecon, and with a few restaurants nearby, this would often be a challenge if we went to the beach or shopping and returned in the afternoon. Occasionally this would mean parking down the street, and once it meant parking around the corner. Typically, a spot would open up in the evening and we could move our car to one of the well-lit spaces in front of our building. The end of our stay in La Paz coincided with Carnaval, and we were so worried about parking spots that we grabbed the “best spot” in front of our unit and then refused to drive anywhere for the last week of our stay. This really wasn’t a problem, because we bought our drinking water from the corner store, groceries were a 30-minute walk, and nearly unlimited restaurants could be found within 20-30 minutes.
Our frequent grocery store, Chedraui, was fairly large and well-stocked. We had no problem finding fruit, vegetables, or general sundries that we needed. La Paz does not have a Costco, but there is a Sam’s Club next to a Walmart, and both had everything that you would expect or need.
The neighborhood around our condo seemed nice. There was a mix of older and newer homes, as well as what seemed to be a mix of locals and expats. There were a number of restaurants and corner stores scattered about, as well as a few hotels and Airbnbs. Our specific street was one of the major southbound streets, so it had a bit more traffic than others, but we didn’t find that to be a problem. Some of the homes around us had large dogs, but those all had fenced lots, and also were never a problem. But any neighborhood dogs can present a distraction when walking Gunner, and fortunately we had a better option available.
For anyone who hasn’t read our blog from the start, most of Mexico’s seaside towns, including La Paz, have a boardwalk, or “malecon” that parallels the coastline. It is often wide, paved with concrete, and closed to cars. Most of the buildings along the malecon are restaurants and shops, rather than houses or condos. With the malecon only two blocks away from our condo, it quickly became our daily destination. We would head there first thing in the morning with Gunner, usually walking about a mile round-trip to the central plaza and “kiosko”. Later in the day, Sandy and I would typically walk along the malecon to find a spot for lunch. When our planned restaurant was not on the malecon, we often found it easier to walk down to the malecon, then along it, then back into the city. Reasoning: the city has some small hills, typical broken or incomplete sidewalks, and 4-way-stop intersections. By using the malecon, we had a flat uninterrupted walk for most of our journey. (I should note that we found some nice murals when walking directly across town, so there is some tradeoff to always walking the malecon.) We would typically return to the malecon once more in the evening, walking Gunner at sunset. Speaking of which, we had some very vibrant and colorful sunsets about half of the time that we were in La Paz!
The malecon in La Paz was kept clean and well-maintained. There are many statues along the way, as well as some small parks or civic gathering spots. We got very familiar with the mile of the malecon near our condo, but realized we were missing out on another two miles further north. To explore this area, we rented a tandem bike, at a cost of 130 pesos ($7.50 USD) per hour. We were able to cover the five-mile roundtrip in under two hours, even stopping at every statue and a few other spots for photos. We found that the northern end of the malecon is just as clean and well-maintained, but with fewer people, and there is really no open space to establish any businesses to draw people to that portion. During Carnaval, the malecon and its nearby street became host to a mile-long collection of booths, carnival games, and 8 or 9 stages hosting live music or dancing. Our general conclusion was that being near the malecon is crucial to having a good visit to La Paz, as it seemed to be central to good food and entertainment.
Extending on that thought, La Paz is a decent-sized city, with a population around 250,000. Looking on a map, I thought it would have more attractions scattered throughout the city, but we didn’t find that to be the case. The majority of the attractions (museums, stadiums, and even restaurants) were clustered towards the waterfront. The only exception that we found was shopping, where Sam’s Club, Home Depot, and a modern mall have been built towards the southwest, in the direction that the city seems to be currently expanding. We never really had any reason to explore other parts of the city – maybe there are things we missed or didn’t hear about, but it really seemed like being close to the waterfront and the malecon is the key to experiencing La Paz.
Being a smaller city, La Paz does not have a lot of diversity when it comes to food. Most of our meals were either traditional Mexican or seafood. One of the specialties in the area, and one of my new favorites, is the chocolate clam. Chocolate clams get their name from their appearance, not their flavor. These large, light-brown clams are traditionally served raw and chopped on the half-shell, and can occasionally be found stuffed and cooked. A typical serving would probably be 3-6 clams, and at only 25 pesos ($1.50 USD) per clam, they are a bargain for lunch! We visited Las Empanadas twice for chocolate clams – note to future-self and others that Las Empanadas is BYOB, but they have water, juices, and sodas available. We also ate some great grilled fish (blue marlin, yellowtail jurel, mahi mahi) on two different visits to McFisher, and had some great seafood tacos on our two separate visits to Claro Fish. For Mexican food, unique spots included the Rosarito-style Tacos Perrones and Birrieria El Kiro, both with good-tasting food and great prices (approx. $300 pesos / $18 USD for 2 people, drinks, and tip).
We were pleasantly surprised to find a couple of good craft breweries in La Paz. Black Marlin had a few beers on tap, and reliably poured good pastry stouts – on our first visit we had a “cookies and cream stout”, and on our second visit a “toasted coconut vanilla stout”. The owners also have a poke restaurant next door, so on both visits we enjoyed their build-your-own bowl with unlimited mix-and-match ingredients and toppings for a flat price of 200 pesos ($11.50 USD). Just a couple blocks away, we found another great place called Pacific Brew. Their menu was primarily IPAs, but we enjoyed a solid coffee stout and a tripel – in fact, we bought two cans of the tripel to take home to enjoy during the Super Bowl. Though we enjoy craft beer, we do try to moderate our consumption – partly for health reasons, but also because a typical pint costs 120-140 pesos ($7-$8 USD).
Our food adventure in La Paz would not be complete without mentioning the snacks we ate during Carnaval. There were many vendors lining the street, though often selling very similar treats. If you missed a chance to try something new, just walk 100 feet and buy it from someone else! We tried a number of local items, like brochetas (meat on a skewer), Oaxacan-style tamales, banderillas (similar to a corn dog, but wrapped in ham and cheese, then battered and fried to order), and our favorite sweet-treat, the gorditas de nata – like a small sweet pancake, sliced open and filled with caramel or Nutella. Most of these items were a bargain – typically around 40-50 pesos ($2.50 - $3.00 USD), with the brochetas costing around 130 pesos ($7.50 USD).
Expats – yes, La Paz has been discovered by expats. We met a few, and saw quite a few more. Some have established a permanent home in La Paz, and most of them travel north in the summer when the weather gets hot and dry. We found a couple of restaurants/bars that appeared to be expat-hangouts, but didn’t really get a sense of a strong expat community. Maybe it’s there, but it seemed more like people just do their own thing.
As I mentioned before, La Paz sits along the Sea of Cortez. Actually, I would describe it as sitting on an unnamed bay that is connected to the Sea of Cortez. As a result, the water is typically very calm, unless the weather gets windy. There are a few small beaches in town but none seemed to attract a lot of beachgoers. The more popular beaches were north of town, away from the bustle of boat traffic, and we did not find any great snorkeling close to shore. We visited the following:
Playa El Caimancito – We stopped in on a drive home, just to check out the area. It’s a small beach with an orderly, maintained parking area. The public beach was busy (not crowded), and quickly gave way to an area in front of a hotel, so it would be easy to eat/drink from the restaurant. It seemed like a nice spot, but we did not return for an actual beach day.
Playa El Tesoro – Small beach with a restaurant, accessed by an awkward turnoff to a narrow dirt road. We just took a short walk to explore the shoreline south of the beach. The water was very shallow – more for wading than swimming, and we would not likely return.
Playa Pichilingue – Decent-sized beach where people can arrange for boat tours. North of the beach, there is a small area packed with RVs and campers. Beyond that are some rocks that I thought could be good for snorkeling, but there was really not much to be found. Overall, we thought Pichilingue was uninteresting and a little dirty, and we would likely not return.
Playa Balandra – Large area, shallow (for wading, rather than swimming), with a lot of area to explore. We visited here as part of a boat tour, where we got a photo of the iconic “mushroom rock” and then waded in the water for about 20 minutes. The beach is part of a ticketed-entry nature preserve that we had planned to visit, but skipped because of the short visit included with our tour. If we returned to La Paz, we would likely make a trip to Balandra.
Playa Tecolote – Very large beach on the north end of the local peninsula, facing the Sea of Cortez. Access is mostly paved, and there are a decent number of restaurants and RVs parked towards the east end of the beach. We spent our day towards the west end, with only one restaurant and very few people. It’s a nice, relaxing spot, and we would definitely return to Tecolote.
Playa Saltito / Playa Muertitos – Another large beach, about 45 minutes northeast of the city, also on the Sea of Cortez. The majority of the road is paved, though the final few miles are mostly hard-packed sand. Both beaches were nearly deserted, other than a few locals, and according to Google Maps, it’s not entirely clear which beach is which, or what the right names are. It was very windy when we visited, so we didn’t get in the water, but just enjoyed sitting in our beach chairs, watching pelicans search for fish. With the long, partially off-road drive required, we probably would not return to this area.
In addition to beaches, the waters near La Paz are full of marine life. In fact, it is said that Jacques Cousteau referred to the area as “the world’s aquarium”. Our first excursion in La Paz was a tour to see whale sharks. There is an area near town where the sharks often feed, and has been defined as a protected area for the species. Boats and captains apply for permits to enter the area, where passengers can spend two hours watching and swimming with the sharks. The whale sharks near La Paz are primarily juveniles, typically between 20 and 30 feet long. It’s safe to swim near them, because they only feed on plankton and don’t really have large teeth and aren’t dangerous. Sandy and I both swam with the sharks – sometimes they would move very slowly, focused on feeding, and other times they would swim a bit faster, moving to a new spot. By the end of our two-hour tour, everyone was pretty tired, and had seen everything they had wanted to see. Our tour was organized through Whale Shark La Paz, led by a marine biologist, and came in a bit pricey at 2,500 pesos ($146 USD) each. Pablo (the biologist) actually donates his time, pays the boat, captain, and local guide, then donates 700 pesos from each person's ticket to the local ambulance service, helping them buy and maintain their vehicles, so we felt good about that.
Our second excursion was a full-day combo tour that included swimming with sea lions, a visit to the nearby island of Isla Espiritu, and a stop at Playa Balandra. Without a doubt, our favorite part was swimming with the sea lions, and we were disappointed that we only got about 15-20 minutes in the water with them. During the rest of the day, we saw some interesting areas and rock formations, and had a good ceviche lunch at a beautiful island beach with calm, shallow water, followed by the short stop at Balandra on the return trip. We felt our full-day tour was reasonably priced, at 1,300 pesos ($76 USD) each, but if we were in La Paz again, we would look for a tour that focused on the sea lions, and did not include the beaches or other portions of the tour. Side note – we booked the tour from a tourist booth along the street. There are a few of these vendors in booths, shops, or outside, but none of them have high-pressure sales or call out to passersby. Instead, they work quietly and patiently, waiting for curious tourists to approach them about available tours.
I guess this is as good a spot as any to expand on our underwater photography. Our previous camera died last year, so we decided to switch things up a bit. Rather than use a traditional camera, we are currently using an off-brand GoPro style action camera in a waterproof case. I shoot high-definition 1080p video at 60 frames per second (the high framerate keep the movement of the fish and animals smooth), which we then edit to shorter highlight videos and still photos. Sandy has been assisting with some custom software on her Macbook, and I recently purchased Filmora for the video editing. With the two toolkits, we've been pretty happy with our latest results - it seems we learn something and make some changes every time we go out. To see more of our underwater photos and videos, check out my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/trevor.elenbaas).
In addition to playing in or on the water, we also found a wonderful whale museum to learn more about the local marine life. The small, private museum only cost 60 pesos ($3.50 USD) each for admission, or 80 pesos ($4.50) for a guided tour. We highly recommend the guide, as most of the exhibits don’t have descriptions. The exhibits covered all sorts of marine life in the area, including multiple types of whales, sharks, turtles, and manta rays. Everything that we learned was from our very thorough English-speaking guide, Omar. We generally tip our guides 10% of the cost of a tour/event, but I ended up giving Omar 100 pesos ($6 USD), because he spent two hours with us, and 10% felt too low.
La Paz is also home to another one of the semi-famous Baja missions. The site was originally established in 1720 as the Misión de Nuestra Señora del Pilar Airapí, which was later abandoned and then replaced with the larger and more ornate Catedral de Nuestra Señora de La Paz in the 1860’s. The current cathedral has Baroque styling similar to many of the churches we’ve seen on the mainland, but while the interior is nicely decorated, it is not as ornate.
When travelling, I typically join local Facebook groups to find out about local happenings and events. In La Paz, I learned that the local soccer club would be playing nearby. Everything about the experience was as modern and easy as you would expect back home. I downloaded an app, which I used to buy our 250 peso ($14.50 USD) tickets – we chose to sit in the middle of the sideline, compared to endline tickets that were only 150 pesos ($9 USD). Though the stadium was pretty close to our condo, we weren’t familiar with the area or parking, so we used Uber to get to/from the stadium, at a very reasonable cost of 45 pesos ($2.50) each way. We had a great time at the game, sitting amongst a very fun and friendly crowd – primarily locals, but we did see a few other expats scattered about. The opposing team from Mexico City dominated the game, and La Paz had a very exciting shot that hit the upright, but in the end, the teams played to a 0-0 tie. I will admit that from the beginning, we weren’t sure that we’d be entertained by a soccer match, but went more for the cultural experience. But by the end, we both agreed that we had a great time, with constant action and a lot of chatter from the crowd. Based on the fun we had, I think it’s safe to say we’ll go to more games in the future.
South of La Paz, sits a mountain range with scattered small towns, many with historical ties to gold or silver mining. We explored the tiny town of El Triunfo, the local mining museum, and also the vaquero/cowboy museum. Both museums had lots of good information about the industry and local areas, as well as the impact the industries had on the larger region and back to Spain. We were able to get a combo ticket, paying 170 pesos ($10 USD) each for admission with self-guided tours and nice displays with full documentation in both Spanish and English. In addition to wandering the museums, we explored the processing areas nearby (again self-guided but with no signs or documentation), followed by lunch at a small roadside restaurant. El Triunfo was a worthwhile change-of-pace from La Paz, and I think you can see everything it has to offer in about half a day.
Our final week in La Paz included a ramp-up to Carnaval, which is similar to Mardi Gras, celebrating the five days leading up to Lent. We had overlooked Carnaval when finalizing our travel plans, which included moving out on Monday, just before the end of the celebration. As a result, we got to see a lot, though not all, of the festivities. Over the course of 3-4 days, we watched carnival rides get laid out and assembled, streets get closed, stages get assembled, and then many snack shacks were erected and occupied. On Thursday night, things were ready to go, and the festivities kicked off. We wandered the malecon, listening to music and trying some new snack foods, returning two more nights, as the crowds and festivities grew larger each night. On Sunday, a large parade started at 5PM (there were additional parades on Monday and Tuesday, after we left). Sunday’s parade coincided with the Super Bowl but we committed to experiencing Carnaval in La Paz, and the Chiefs typically save their energy for the second half, so that worked in my favor. The parade was lively and colorful, with many floats and costumed participants. We somewhat expected candy or beads to be thrown, but only one float had a small amount of candy, and no one threw beads. Perhaps that’s just a Mardi Gras thing? Overall, Carnaval was worth the experience, and we would go again, but perhaps not every night. Also, we found the majority of the food to be fairly average, and thought it better to eat elsewhere (with the exception of the one stand with good Oaxaca-style tamales).
As far as costs, Sandy and I were very happy with our spending, especially compared to our two months in Los Cabos! Now that we’re in our third year of nomadic life, we’ve gotten a pretty good handle on our desired lifestyle. And because of my geeky engineering background, we create an annual budget, which I track to on a by-trip and by-month basis. In addition to the entertainment value I get by playing with Excel, I figure that it keeps those skills sharp and gives me some puzzle-solving and critical-thinking opportunities to keep my mental acuity strong. So, with the new year came a new budget, with some adjustments to our planned spend based on the actuals we’ve been experiencing.
In La Paz, our condo averaged $50/night, below our new 2024 planned spend of $70/night. Our food (groceries, alcohol, and restaurants) averaged $44/day vs. planned spend of $41/day, which is close enough in our book. And our entertainment for the 4 weeks in La Paz totaled $580, or $21/day, basically double our planned spend of $280 or $10/day. The majority of that ($500) was the two marine excursions, and we know that those types of trips tend to be “bumpy” occasional spend, rather than the same at every destination. But we’ve got more interesting destinations to see this spring, and with the high season for marine excursions going through mid-March, I’m thinking that our entertainment spend may continue to be over budget for another month or so. We saw most of La Paz on foot and only took three nearby field trips, so we saved some money on our gas/travel spend while there. Overall, our savings (mostly on lodging) made up for the increased entertainment, and we came in at $117/day vs. a plan of $130/day (and much better than the $147/day that we averaged in Cabo San Lucas).
Sandy and I definitely enjoyed our time in La Paz. Living near the malecon kept us entertained and busy, and we appreciated the slower pace of life compared to Los Cabos. We rarely travelled on busy roads, felt overwhelmed by crowds, or got hassled by vendors. The weather continued to be beautiful – typically in the 70’s, and we only had overnight rain once during our stay. There were a few days with higher winds, where the boats were not allowed out of port, but our tours were never impacted. We both felt that La Paz was a nice city, with plenty of options for entertainment and food. We really enjoyed our snorkel tours, balanced by the fact that we never found any great spots to snorkel from shore (we had a couple more places to visit, but didn’t make it, so maybe they exist). Our Airbnb hosts were very hospitable, and we would consider staying in their condo again, but would definitely find something close to the malecon for the ambiance and walkability. Yes, we would return to La Paz, given the considerations that it's pretty far south (likely 4 days of driving from the border), with ideal temps only between November through April. And while La Paz does have an airport, it only services domestic flights, so not easy to fly from the U.S. without a connection.
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