The saga of the birthday cake

We checked the itinerary and saw that Greg’s birthday would be on a travel day during the return part of our trip. This let us scope out bakeries on the initial southbound portion.

On March 12, we arrived in La Paz. Next door to the campground is a nice cafe with cakes on display. We realized that we would return on March 20, the day before his birthday. This seemed like a perfect way to celebrate. Amy ordered a cake for the 20th to serve during the caravan’s nightly happy hour.

Around the same time, another caravan member had a family emergency, requiring him to fly home to attend to family members. His wife continued on the trip, with the plan for him to fly back and rejoin us, much like Amy did earlier. The schedule needed to be rejiggered to accommodate his return.

In the morning of March 14, Amy used her best Spanish and was able to order a personalized chocolate cake to be picked up on March 20. An hour later, we learned that the schedule was changing in order to pick up the person with the family emergency, so we would not be stopping back in La Paz. The wagon master also let Amy know that there would be a surprise cake in Las Barriles to celebrate the three birthdays on this trip. So Amy went back to the cafe and in her second best Spanish, canceled the cake. She figured that one cake would be enough. Greg did not know about the surprise cake (…it was a surprise…), and he was quite disappointed that there would be no cake for his birthday.

The next day, the wagon master informed us that the schedule changed once again and we would indeed stop again in La Paz on March 20th. But with the knowledge of the second cake, Amy chose not to reorder the cake.

On Monday March 17, we had the cooking class that finished with the surprise cake for the three travelers with birthdays. It was a huge hit, especially with Greg. While eating, Amy explained how she ordered a cake, canceled it when the itinerary first changed, then decided not to reorder it when the itinerary changed again since two cakes would be too much. Immediately, the others sitting nearby jumped in to let her know that more cake was needed and expected! Amy clearly did not read the room.

This leads us back to today. We returned to the campground in La Paz. The cafe still has delicious cakes. So we waited for the nightly happy hour and bought a Dulce de Leche cake for the caravan.

During the happy hour we learned that the flavor is similar to a shmoo tart, a specialty in Winnipeg that is served at Bar Mitzvahs. The cake was delicious and we all enjoyed it.

There remains one problem: Greg’s birthday isn’t until tomorrow. We don’t know if there is a bakery nearby in Ciudad Constitution, the town where we will spend the night. But if there is, the group may demand a third cake!