First Day Back... La Paz, Mexico March 19, 2012

I flew into La Paz yesterday afternoon. Travelling from Seattle to La Paz doesn’t take more than four or five hours door to door but in that time you travel to a completely different land. From the rain and snow flurries of March in the Pacific Northwest to sunshine and desert landscape of the Baja: from a world with too much of everything, to a land where nobody seems to have enough. I've learned from our last time here in La Paz, what the people lack in material things they more than make up with in smiles and a willingness to help visitors to their land. The friendliness of the Mexican people and the American ex-pats ease my transition south of the border.

The taxi dropped me off at the marina office. I hoisted my bags from the taxi into a waiting dock cart and wheeled it to the office. I told one of the girls behind the desk that I was back and needed a key for the dock. She welcomed me back to Marina Palmira and gave me the key after taking 50 bucks for a deposit.  It was a warm afternoon, so I bought a six pack of Pacifico beer. The refrigerator was started yesterday by the guy who was watching our boat and I thought it needed something to keep cold. I found the boat much like we left it, safely tied up to the pier, second slip from the gate. Her decks were covered with a light layer of dust and the droppings of few passing sea birds like business cards casually left behind to remind us of their visit, nothing that a little soap and water couldn't remedy.

I was not anxious to leave home this time because Cindy and Alex weren’t coming along. Cindy was back at Microsoft working long hours on another highly visible project with an aggressive deadline.  Alex was back at Woodinville High School with a renewed commitment to get good grades so he could get into a good college. Just before I left Alex came down with a virus that gave him a sore throat, headache and pimples all over his body. The doctor ruled out Chicken Pox but he couldn’t definitively say what virus it was that Alex caught. It was hard to leave home with all this going on but my plans were set and I had crew coming to La Paz in less than two weeks. I had to get the boat ready for the trip north and I really wanted to have the boat back in Puget Sound for the summer. I reminded myself that I had tried to help Cindy while I was home by taking care of the house, and doing the cooking and cleaning while she was working so hard. Since I was not working I could also help Alex with his school work and drive him to his activities and that made me feel less of a heal for leaving them.

The three months that passed since leaving the boat in La Paz before Christmas passed quickly. During this time I was still on my sabbatical from work which gave me the opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with Alex, that I really enjoyed. I guess Alex enjoyed having me around too because he gave me a big hug before I left for the airport. The night before, Alex asked if we could watch a family movie together. It had been a long time since we had all sat together to watch a movie: in fact the last time was when we were moored in Puerto Escondito. This time between cruises has shown me that special memories can be made at home too.

After dumping all my bags below into the cabin, I walked along the sea-side walk they call the Malecon to the center of La Paz and had dinner at the Tail Hunter restaurant and bar. Its name reflects the sporting interests of its owner. He’s a deep sea fisherman and “Tail Hunter” is what these sportsmen are called in some circles. Yeah I know some of you younger bucks are probably thinking there’s another sport that goes by the same name. If you tried to practice that sport at the Tail Hunter you’d probably come up short, nothing but old Ex-Pat sailing couples at the reef they call a bar. From the balcony of the restaurant I watched as a parade made its way down the street in front of the restaurant. A police truck led the procession, with a school band following close behind. Several groups of school kids in different school uniforms followed, then a float with a Mariache Band followed.  It wasn’t a big parade but it was fun to watch them march by as I ate my dinner, and it was a wonderful welcome back to La Paz.

When I got back to the boat I moved enough gear aside to make room for my bags in the cabin, then I cleared the port berth, spread out a sleeping bag and settled in. I drank a beer or two and tried to read but didn’t get past the first few pages.   I woke at 1AM with a dry mouth and tried to quench my thirst with the remains of my last beer. That didn’t help.  I woke up again at 2AM still parched and uncomfortable from the hard mattress.  I finally resorted to drinking the boat water that’s been sitting in the water tanks for 3 months. Tomorrow morning I’ll make it a top priority to buy some drinking water and I’ll put it next to the beer in the refrigerator.

Well there you have it, that’s was my first day in La Paz. Tomorrow I’ll begin getting myself and the boat ready for the cruise north. I invite you to visit my blog again in the coming days to see what develops.  Cheers!