| Monday, April 22, 2002 12:45 p.m. MDT La Paz, Baja California Sur Dear
All:
Well, it's as I expected . . . sometimes it's just a matter of hanging in there . . .
By late Friday, early Saturday, a few days ago, I had reached what felt like the limits
of my tolerance for adventure, newness, challenges, not being Spanish bilingual, and just
the general heat and starkness of the desert. While the Baja Peninsula was undeniably
beautiful, in terms of the mountain ranges, the awesome size of the cactus (saguaros over
thirty feet tall), and the clear skies and views of the Pacific and Sea of Cortez, in some
respects, after two weeks, I wasn't sure if I was having as much fun as it had initially
felt like. While the tiny towns of 3,000 to 10,000 inhabitants I passed through held their
charms (e.g., Santa Rosalia, the French copper mining town was a blast), after walking the
few streets (say, an hour to 90 minutes circuit), I sort of felt . . . OK, what's next . .
. and while my "hotels" were pleasant enough, they really weren't much more than
a bed (in some cases, barely that), and . . . well, no place that made me want to stay and
set awhile.
Hoping to find someplace that "grabbed me," I kept moving, and without paying
enough attention, I started going a little too far, too fast, and getting a bit tired.
Saturday afternoon, I decided it was time to try something. From Héroica Mulegué, I took
the bus, seven hours, to La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, and a town of 100,000
plus. Even if it didn't grab me, I knew I could either do a 200 km bike loop to see the
"Cabos," (Cabo San Lucas, San Jose Del Cabo, and Todos Santos), or just say
farewell to the Baja Peninsula, and take the ferry over to Mazatlan, and check out
mainland Mexico and see how it grabbed me.
I got in on the bus at 5:00 last evening, rode the 15 blocks to my hotel, with not too
much hope, and ... heaven! If you could see this hotel, you´d all think I was crazy. It's
called Casa de Huespedes Hosteria del Conviento. (I think Guest House of the Convent
Hostel). My room, well, it's basically a cell, you know, like for a monk. But!, it´s
CLEAN and BRIGHT, and I love it. It's probably about 10´ by 10´feet, BARELY, and the
style would be, oh "Flintstone" modern. Everything is made of concrete / stucco,
with a sort of rounded flintstone rock kind of look, a waist high shelf the length of the
bed (about a foot away), a 7 foot high, 18 inch wide, open closet type space, with a low
shelf and a hanger bar (actually made out of metal), and, oh yes, one piece of wood
furniture . . . a tiny nightstand that JUST fits between the bed and the shelf. On the
other side of the bed is a narrow strip of tile floor, a little less than a foot wide,
where I can squueeeeeze my bike. At the foot of the bed, next to the "closet" is
a door that goes into the bathroom, which is about 2 feet wide, and runs the length of the
room. Right as you walk in, the tiny sink is in front of you, halfway down is the shower
head, and at the far end is the toilet. It's all tiled on the floor and slopes down to the
center where the shower drains. No doors, no windows, no shower curtain . . .just all
open.
Oh yeah, no window in the room either. There´s a wooden framed opening at the top of
the entry wall, with wooden slats . . . sort of like a built in, immobile, large venetian
blind that provides ventilation. Thank god there's a ceiling fan. But hey, at $110 pesos a
night ($12.50), who´s complaining. No bugs, no mosquitoes and it's secure. (As I have a
large industrial bolt on the inside of the door, to lock myself in at night ... no
doorknob. And when I leave for the day, I padlock the door shut from the outside. We´re
talking CHARACTER folks!) The thing I really do love about it, all kidding aside, is that
my room enters into a cute courtyard around which the other cells are clustered. There's a
small patio table, a glorified campstove built into a tiled flintstone barbecue center
(for communal use), and various wooden benches with cushions scattered about. Half is open
air, the other half covered with a corrugated metal roof. Believe it or not, it's
incredibly charming. There are lots of potted plants, little masks and bull skulls on the
walls, a few maps and paintings, and just a general feeling of . . . oh . . . i dunno what
you´d call it. I sat this morning and wrote for an hour, and was in heaven.
I had planned to go see the museum today, but was so relaxed, that I just decided to
wander the streets and see the town. The Malecon (beachfront promenade) is not only nice,
but is the first thing in Mexico that I have seen in an active state of being repaired /
renovated. They have completed placing patterned red and white tiles on 90% of it, and are
finishing the rest, working even as I walked along the mile length this morning. It's so
NICE to see something that´s not run down, and looks as if it's seen better days. On my
wanders, I found a little internet cafe / art gallery, with a cool tourist map of all La
Paz.
Though my Lonely Planet Guide Book is incredibly thorough, it missed the two language
schools in town. Had I not just chanced on the tourist map, I wouldn´t have known about
them. The first one I stopped at is in a BEAUTIFUL private home, about 15 blocks east of
downtown. An American women owns the home, and started the school. The education director
and teachers are all native Mexicanos. Classes are $200 for five days a week, four hours a
day; and homestay is $105 for private room, 2 meals a day, for seven days. I´m gonna go
check out the other school after finishing here, but am 99% percent sure I'll sign up with
the first. It looks and feels great. She has already told me about the family I'll be
staying with, and my gut says it's right.
A large part of the reason I'm inclined to it is that I had such a nice night in La
Paz, last night (and a nice day again, this morning). In contrast to Tijuana or Ensenada,
and even many of the smaller towns in Baja, where you see English everywhere, and it feels
as if the whole purpose of the town is to suck dollars from Americans, La Paz is a real
city. Small enough to be slow paced, large enough to have things to do. The Malecon, and
the town plaza (four blocks inland) were all completely packed last night, with Mexican
families, buying hot dogs and ice cream, walking the dogs with the kids, teenage couples
holding hands . . .just a REAL town. It was SUCH a pleasure. I even found a movie theater,
and saw Shallow Hall, in ENGLISH! with subtitles. Unlike, say France or Israel, where the
crowds TALK through the movies while they read, so you can´t hear the dialogue, it was
perfectly quiet and I enjoyed the movie. Again, it was kind of cute, 80% of the crowd was
young couples between 18 and 30 on dates, and it was a nice feeling.
My stomach is TOTALLY used to Mexico, I go from street stand to street stand ordering
my tacos de carne azada, piling on the guacamole, chiles, onions, tomatos, and LIME!, then
top it off with ice cream or churros at another stand. Cheap, filling, tasty.
So, it looks like I'll be here in La Paz for a while, becoming Señor Español . . .
and generally relaxing. I´ll keep you posted on Mi Familia (a widowed mom - spanish only,
MAKES you talk with her, and her bilingual daughter), and will give you the address of the
School if it turns out I can get mail there . . .
I think that's about it . . . take care all . . . J |
