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Published: February 17th 2013
Feb 15 – Friday – La Paz – Today I guess I must have slept through the rooster crowing and slept in till 8 AM. I had my usual tea and granola (since Muesli is not available here) and just woke up a bit. I tried once again to get on the internet and got the same old “identifying” message so gave it up after a bit. Bob was taking the bus back to Cabo today around 1:30 and I was meeting the guy at the water’s edge to go on the whale watching tour. So after easing into the day a bit I went back to my room and finished loading up my stuff then told Bob Adios and have a good trip to Cabo. Then I dragged my suitcase up the hill….for there always seems to be a hike up a hill anywhere you want to go…stopping a couple of times to get my breath back, to where Morales Street meets Decollado Street and the the Pension California is located. I checked in for 3 days at M$250 ($19.70) a night and put my stuff in my room. This was at 11:00 and after checking in I walked down
to the Malecon to take the whale tour at 11:30.
It ended up being 11:30 Mexican time which means they would get me on a 12:00 tour. I told them OK I would take a walk and maybe come back at Noon……Suddenly there was room on an 11:30 boat….imagine that.
So I got on the 11:30 tour with me and 3 Mexicans and we went out for what I thought was a quest for whales. The little boat bashed and hammered its way through the waves hitting it all the way out and the view of La Paz and the mountains behind it on the way out by itself was worth the M$350 ($27) fee.
We arrived at last in an area where other little boats were looking about. Some of the boats had people in diving gear. One of the Mexican women spoke English and when I said I didn’t see any whales she said we were looking for whale sharks. So I guess that was that. After a long time looking and getting bounced around in the little boat by the big waves we saw a shadow in the water moving. The divers
jumped in and we tried to see the shark. It was huge judging from the size of the shadow moving down there. The divers tried to get over near it but the whale shark didn’t want to have anything to do with them and moved away before they could get near it. At one point the shark passed directly under out boat.
The life vest they had on the boat and which we were required to wear were all too small for me to close as it had been in Cabos when I had been whale watching there. So If the boat went down I guess I was out of luck because I doubt that the open life vest would have been much help.
In any case the shadow wasn’t much interested in us and moved away from us so that was that. We started heading back towards La Paz and that suited me just fine as getting tossed around by big waves while in a little boat wasn’t my idea of a good time. By this time I just wanted to get off the damn boat and back on solid ground.
When I got
back to shore I walked up the Malecon a bit stopping from time to time to sit on one of the many benches to just enjoy the fresh air and view of the bay. Then I eased back up the hill to the Pension California.
I invested the rest of the day in getting my room set up at the hotel and checking out the Mexican Market up the street about 50 yards.
I also got a fish taco at the Supertaco taco stand at the junction of Madero and Decollado and just outside the Pension California. The tacos there were recommended by the tequila and vodka drinking pair at the Yeneka Hotel. I would have much preferred an Asada (beef) taco but it was Friday and Lent so I had to get fish. It was OK. I will have to try their Asada taco though before I go. I actually ran across the young couple again and they looked unfazed by their nights partying. If that had been me drinking that much tequila and vodka before even going out to party I would have been laid up for 3 days.
Later in the day before I
went back to the hotel I made sure to go to the OXXO on Madero Street about a block over and got a couple of big bottles of water to drink. They don’t have filtered water at this hotel so I have to buy my drinking and tea making water at the OXXO down the street. They are some good size bottles and only cost 13 pesos ($1.00) each.
They have a fridge at the Pension California where their guest can put their milk, cokes or whatever in so that is good. I cannot for the life of me imagine why they don’t have a microwave here. Their “kitchen” is abysmal to say the least. I’m not sure I would eat anything prepared in it. It doesn’t look like it has been cleaned in a while.
Oh well. I guess that what you get for $19.70 a day.
Frankly I think I have experienced the “real Mexico” enough to suit me. I’ll be glad to be back in Cabo on Monday.
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