More days, more sights

We spent the last two days on tours from La Paz. Yesterday, we went to Todos Santos, a gentrified community on the Pacific coast about 90 minutes away. Todos Santos was our first official crossing into the tropics. In addition to the usual tourist traps, they had some artisan shops with hand-made clothing, rugs and jewelry.

Amy looked at some of the clothing but nothing quite suited her, so we went to the hotel coffee bar for refreshments. Next, the group drove to have lunch at a hotel restaurant on the beach. Not "at the beach" but "on the beach": the table and chairs were in the sand, on the beach. The wind was blowing, so it was quite cold. They distributed Mexican blankets; Greg wrapped himself in one to keep warm during lunch.

When we returned to La Paz, we were greeted by Gabriel, the owner of the caravan tour company. Gabriel took the ferry from the mainland to spend a day with the group. Gabriel asked for honest feedback, but he got way more than he expected. For example, Greg said that while he's having a fantastic time, he said that they could have better explained some things like the number of days between laundry (more than the amount of underwear that Greg packed...) or the distance between fuel stations (a problem for a couple of the "big rigs"). Unfortunately, this entire exchange got a bit heated.

Today, Gabriel led the tour around La Paz. La Paz is the capital of the state of Baja California Sur, a city of about 300,000. One person asked Gabriel's French-Canadian wife France about a recipe from the boat tour earlier this week. France struggled to understand the question, so Greg jumped in and translated into French! France was a bit surprised that someone spoke French, but it cleared up the question.

The bus first stopped at a history museum. Perhaps the most interesting thing was a discussion of the shamans of the original peoples of the area; these human figures with rabbit-like ears are a symbol we've seen around Baja. (One is pictured in the first "A" in the photo at top). Better yet, next to the museum is a pastry shop that sold just a few items: a small round bun filled with sweet cheese, a small flat pastry that tastes like a gourmet Pop Tart, and a small rectangular cake called Beso de Oso (Bear's kiss), which is a light, moist chocolate cake with a light dusting of coconut. ¡Delicioso! We were fortified for the short walk to the cathedral. Gabriel explained how the Spanish adapted Catholicism to local customs, while Amy and Greg successfully avoided getting zapped by a lightning bolt as we dozed off in the pews.

Following a short walk in a park across from the Cathedral, we went to a local pottery shop. The owner showed us how they make the pottery by hand, which reminded Greg when he was a young boy and made pottery with his grandfather. We browsed the shop for a while and eventually purchased a pair of coffee mugs. Finally, the group went to lunch and got fish tacos at the beach. This wasn't quite the King of Tacos, but it was still very good. We had time for a quick walk along the beach promenade, and finished with a stop for groceries at Wal-Mart, which Greg now wants to call Wal-Mercado.

Tomorrow is a big day: we drive to our southernmost campground in Los Barriles. After Los Barriles, we start the long drive north.