La Paz: 16 June 2023
Route
| Location | Latitude | Longitude |
|---|---|---|
| Mission Viejo | 33.563 N | 117.658 W |
| Tijuana | 32.541 N | 116.970 W |
| La Paz | 24.162 N | 110.315 W |
Journal
Today, Friday, we flew from Tijuana to La Paz, a 2 hour flight. We transited the US/ Mexico border via a marbled, air-conditioned, pedestrian bridge, Cross-Border Express, which facilitates seamless entry to Mexico and the Tijuana Airport. An easy 7 minute walk and you've moved from the United States of America to the United Mexican States. Our adventure begins.
The landing was terrifiying as, on approach, the pilot dipped the port wing at low speed and low altitude, plane sliding sideways through the air toward the quickly approaching ground. The pilot corrects, leveling the plane, heavy throttle, and climbing into the air for a second attempt, which is passable, bringing us to La Paz.
We quickly move through the two-gate airport. Within 30 minutes we have collected, and piled, our gear into the manual-transmission Nissan Urvan and are trundling along the pocked highway and residential streets toward our lodgings. Landscape is remarkably similar to Egyptian Red Sea, coastal Yemen, and coastal Jordan with sparsely vegetated, rocky desert, running directly to cyrstal coastal waters bound by blue sea.
After a quick-ish stop at Walmart to gather basic supplies for Saturday breakfast and lunch, we are winding our way through the neighborhoods of La Paz. It is not too long before we revert to 2nd-world driving mode, where traffic laws and signs are merely suggestions, and we begin to make good time to Nahuala Home. After receiving some guidance from locals, we locate the correct address and are home for the night.
Nahuala Home is a dormant hostel, out of service with the end of the spring high-season. We have the entire facility to ourselves. As with any hostel, the floorplan is a mix of communal space optimized for socialization, and awkwarldy configured living and bathroom space. We are happy to have the facility to ourselves but wonder about the abundance of internal security cameras. The interior core is delightfully air conditioned. Boys select a room with many bunk beds.
We enjoy a fine meal at La Peregrina. As a saxophone player serenades us in the bistro-light strung courtyard, we begin to settle in the holiday and all comment about our contentedness in this moment. After dinner we walk on the La Paz Malecon before a good night's slumber in anticipation of boarding the boat.
