~ 2026 ~
After an Eight-Year Absence, The Final Visit to La Paz
| 01/10/2026 Tough day of driving today, made so by the weather and the very reason we have in the past avoided Baltimore and Washington by-passes (Interstates 695 and 95). For a change of scenery, we gave those routes a shot, figuring an early Saturday start might diminish the traffic. Basically, that was true, but a crash on 695 cost us an hour’s delay and another crash on 95 South of Richmond stalled us for another 30 minutes. I’m talking about dead stops for those times! We were rain free to York, then the rain started the rest of the way down route 301 to Richmond, sometimes harder than other times but a bad day to be driving with the wipers on all the way until we hit Interstate 85 from Richmond to the North Carolina border. Made up a lot of time with little traffic on 85, a great 4-lane road with a 70 mph limit the whole way. We are currently ensconced in a Hampton Inn outside Henderson, NC, just South of the Virginia border, having called it a day at 4:30. After a brief rest, we’ll try to find dinner.
Went to bed with the outside temp an unbelievable 73* and loaded the car at 10:00 a.m this morning at a very windy 53*. High temp on the road today was 59* with the wind buffeting the van with some pretty hefty gusts, but it was a bright, sunny day and a great day to drive. We managed 348 miles in the nasty weather yesterday, but the later start limited us to just over 300 today. All in all, a good day of driving Not rushing, we spent a lot of time today on a lightly traveled US Route 1 and stopped for lunch at a packed, tiny, local restaurant for the Sunday buffet. Everyone had heavy southern accents, but all were very friendly and, following the instructions of a large sign, I even got to “Kiss the Cook,” who had very obviously been sampling many of her dishes. We are resting comfortably in another Hampton Inn in Orangeburg, SC, and trying to figure out how to watch the second half of the Eagles game while squeezing in an evening meal. We expect to cross into the Sunshine State manana. Ciao!
Another long day on the back roads racking up 344 miles, but it was another great, sunny day to drive. Left the hotel in Orangeburg, SC, at 10:15 when the temperature read 32* and the wind chill at 28*! Where did that 73* go? It got to a high of 55* as we traversed wonderful, two-lane roads in both states where for long periods we saw no vehicles in either direction. We had to pass through a few small towns in SC and GA, largest of which was Waycross, but that rarely took more than five or ten minutes - much better ride than suffering the hectic chaos of route 95! We’re safely resting in our third-straight Hampton Inn here in Lake City, FL, where we’ve again found great rooms and sumptuous breakfasts, if any included breakfast can be so described. Florida may be the Sunshine State, but crossing the border today only improved the outside temp one degree to a chilly 56*. I guess we shouldn’t complain since we noticed on TV that snow, ice, and freezing temps disrupted many flights in the entire Northeastern US. We have had a couple unique experiences on the road so far: yesterday, in the outback of SC, we encountered a delay while one of two men on horseback riding a trail near the road had trouble controlling his steed and the animal bucked its way to the middle of the highway. The rider finally dismounted and after pulling and tugging on the reins led the frightened horse down the slight slope off the road and back to the trail while we enjoyed the show. The animal seemed scared of the little slope and the rider finally got him down by leading the way himself. A great 10 minute break! Today in Waycross, GA, we (and a dozen other cars & trucks) were stopped when a long train stopped on a road crossing, blocking both lanes. The train didn’t move an inch in 15 minutes or so when my navigator tired of the wait and ordered me to turn around by backing up in front of a blocked tractor trailer and taking to the back streets of Waycross until we got past the blockage. Sometimes, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey! We expect to reach our son’s house in FL sometime after noon tomorrow. It should only be a three or four hour drive from here, depending on how many back roads we take. Ciao!
Arrived safely at our son’s house at 4:00 after a leisurely drive that included a swing through the bay beaches, including Clearwater, Treasure Island, and St. Pete Beach with a grouper sandwich lunch in Dunedin. Four days of driving have us pretty worn out, so we’ll take a few days to recover. Ciao!
Hola todos! After a long, tiring day that began with a 3:30 a.m. wake-up call at a Fairfield Inn near the Tampa Airport, so that we could process through TSA and make a 7:41 departure, we have safely landed in SJD. We have learned why people our age stay home; we are dead tired! However, we’re in a little Mexican hotel that costs $93.53/night. I only mention that because my wife and our eldest son, were sure that we couldn’t find a room without a reservation and almost all the hotels here were listed at $300/night on YELP. So, I’m crowing a little! I know this city, although much has changed since my last visit in 2018. Of course, this hotel is not quite as luxurious as the very-American Hilton, but it is very Mexican-quaint! As tired as we are, we’ve been awake for 18 hours, we’re starving, so we’re about to limp to a nearby taco restaurant. Our knees are killing us, but we have to eat! Hasta pronto!
Feeling just a little guilty about your ridiculously cold temps while we are sitting outside in the shade on a beautiful porch awaiting our 2:00 departure for La Paz in gorgeous 80 degree weather. We’ll be traveling by car, driven by Alfredo, one of the friendly waiters in our little Mexican posada. Car rental prices here and with Uber to drive the 93 miles were exorbitant, so I negotiated a significantly lower price to have Alfredo do the driving. Several times previously, I have taken the bus from here, but the number and weight of suitcases makes that too risky (back, legs) for an old man. Hopefully Alfredo will do the lifting, too. We are almost fully recovered from the exhausting air flights, having enjoyed restful days and wonderful meals after full siestas. We are fully into the Mexican lifestyle and ready for La Paz. Oh, the meals have been wonderful after the first night’s gourmet, Japanese fare. Hasta Pronto.
We’re safely in La Paz after a scenic, 2.5 hour ride through breathtaking, sparsely-inhabited, desert-mountain scenery and occasional views of the blue Pacific Ocean. Our apartment is luxurious! Very modern furnishings: two beautiful bedrooms, two baths with modern showers, a well-furnished kitchen that we’ll seldom use, and three (count ‘em) large screen TVs with Netflix & Amazon Prime. Two problems that have arisen: rushing to open the “garage door” for Alfredo, I missed one of two, hard-to-see steps to the parking lot and fell. I crashed to the ground but, fortunately, my shoulder hit the wall and took most of the force of the fall. Helped up by two, young residents of this condo building, I suffered no pain and awoke this morning fit (well, almost) and ready to go. The other problem deals with the phone that will be required daily to call Uber to navigate the city because our location is too far to walk to the bayside boardwalk, here called the malecon, which is made of concrete and tile and extends three miles. We’ll be working on solving those problems today. Uber is so cheap here it’s unbelievable. Paid a taxi (because of the traffic where we were) $12 to take us to Walmart, but took an Uber home with groceries for $3.35. Tonight, we went in Uber to a great Italian restaurant for $1.75. Tipped both drivers a dollar and they were happy. At these rates it would be foolish to rent a car, even though we have a secure parking lot. The restaurant recommended by Pricilla, the Uber driver, after our favorite Italian recently closed, was spectacular. My squid-ink pasta in a light Gorgonzola sauce was topped with bay scallops. Fantastic. Joan had a vegetarian pasta in a light tomato sauce that she thought was the best she’s ever had. I’m starting to think we’ll survive here. Hasta luego!
We are surviving nicely in the gorgeous 80 degree, sunny weather of La Paz! We have deduced that the only real danger here is falling; the sidewalks are so dangerous with stairs, instead of slopes, in the middle of the block and driveways sloped to the street with sudden, short slopes to change elevations. One must always either walk on the street or constantly watch where each of your feet are going to land. Of course, the streets are no free pass with pot holes (but never frost here) lurking for a turned ankle and sudden fall. We’ve developed a verbal code where the lead walker vocalizes “step” to warn of imminent risk. Seems to be working OK. No cooking in, though we have a fine kitchen, we’re eating out two meals a day or dining on leftovers from the night before. Found a great, little coffee shop only a short, block and a half away where I can eat a sweet and/or bring home a mocha frappacino to my wife (her favorite) and they’re growing on me, too. Yesterday, Sunday, we had breakfast on Joan’s schedule (noon) at a wonderful place, Maria California, only a couple short blocks from one of my past three-month rentals. There was a 70-year old female singer, very familiar to me from eight years ago during my last trip here. After we finished a delicious Mexican repast, I approached the singer to place a tip in her tip jar and told her that I remembered her from eight years back. She looked at me and said, “wait!” She pointed at me and said, “Maria Elena,” my favorite Mexican song. I was flabbergasted and so was Joan when I recounted the story back at our table. The singer told me that she would never forget me, not as I thought because I always tipped her but because, she said, that she had to learn Maria Elena to please me when I came in many years ago. Amazing!! After “breakfast” we walked a dozen blocks or so to the place we stayed eight years earlier and pulled the clothesline that rang the loud bell to which it was attached, serving as a doorbell. My former landlord, Michael, answered the door, remembered me and we had a warm reunion. He showed us the small “casita” (one bedroom, one bano) that we could have rented for a lot less money had I had his contact info. I do now! He has three rentals on his property and the 2BR, 1 bano place I rented before is occupied for the next 12 days. His property is much closer to the malecon and we could have rented that after the 12 days were up. The one we’re in is much more luxurious and we’re getting accustomed to taking Uber once or twice a day. Hasta luego!
Starting to get accustomed to riding in Uber a couple of times a day and that’s saying something here in La Paz. For example, stop signs are just a suggestion and most streets have four-way stop signs, so drivers only slow down at those intersections and, if no one is coming on the intersecting streets, they keep right on trucking. They are also amazingly courteous, letting the first to the intersection to go first. The cruising through stop signs has taken some getting used to, but we now have our reactions under control. Also, the courtesy shown pedestrians here is amazing; even on streets with no stop signs, the cars and trucks all stop to let the pedestrians cross. I have mentioned that in previous blogs, but it still is something to which we needed to get re-accustomed (sentence re-structured because a working English teacher will probably read this and I almost ended that sentence with a preposition). Yesterday, we had lunch at a dockside restaurant named just that. The menu had my wife a little ferhoodled. She mentioned out loud while perusing said menu, “Oh, look, they have Philly Cheesesteaks here, but I wouldn’t trust that here (meaning Mexico).” So, she ordered a Chicken Milano that turned out to be very dry, since she wouldn’t use any of the provided sauces all of which almost melted her fork as she tasted them. It was good that she had ordered a light beer to cool her palate after tasting them. She expressed a shocked, “I don’t believe you” when I ordered the Philly Cheesesteak that turned out much tastier than her chicken breast. Hasta pronto.
Four stages for live music covered the malecon for eight or 10 blocks, but only one was putting out the vibes as we walked past all of them on Sunday after dining at a new, less-expensive, hole-in-the-wall, pasta restaurant where the food was very good. The music inspired me so I grabbed a young (50’s) senora and took a few spins while my wife hurriedly attempted (but failed) to photograph us, although she did get a photo of the senora a few seconds too late. Streets were blocked and traffic was horrendous, so we waited for half-an-hour and finally, after three cancellations by drivers, we strolled several blocks to a more-accessible location and stopped in an open-air restaurant to rest and drink pina coladas as requested by our daughter. Just as we were finishing our drinks, I saw somebody waving at me from outside the restaurant and finally recognized Michael, my former landlord. I waved him in and bought him a drink and he sat with us for an hour or so, before accompanying us up the hill to an intersection where Uber could get to us. Michael seemed a little lonely and down on his luck; he mentioned not being able to afford going out much and that many of his friends had died. Michael is half Danish, wouldn’t sell me Greenland, and has sailed much of the Caribbean and across the Atlantic several times. His stories and his English really seemed to entertain my wife and she really enjoyed the day. We’re trying to avoid the malecon now so we don’t get marooned again. Yesterday we went to a large, modern shopping mall for lunch and stopped at a different supermarket on the way home. We’re finally getting most of the supplies we need: milk, hairspray, shower soap, delicious orange juice, cereal, cookies, ginger ale, bananas, protein bars, etc. The (free) weekly cleaning lady, Katie, comes today to wash & change the bed clothes and towels, do the dishes, & sweep the floors; she does a great job and I tip her 200 pesos ($10) which seems to really please her. Enough for now. Hasta luego!
Apparently, Mexico has made the news because we’ve received quite a few requests for wellness checks. From what we’ve heard and read, the bad stuff is in the Guadalajara and Puerta Vallarta areas which are across the Sea of Cortez from here. We’re going about business as usual and feel very safe here in the city named Peace. If something bad were to happen and you get a call for ransom, they can’t ask for much for a couple of over 80 year olds. Anything over $100 each would be excessive, so hold tight! Let me describe the activities for the week; it’s been an interesting and relaxing one. One day (Monday? Who knows?), we ate lunch at the other market, Bravo, where I had a bowl of Pozole ($8.75) and Joan had a pork platter (very-cheap, daily special.) When finished, we walked outside to the bus stop and caught the first bus that stopped. Peninsula Sur was painted on the windshield of the school-bus-type vehicle and we were the 2nd & 3rd passengers aboard. Before the 10-mile or so trip ended, the bus filled to standing room only with students and workers heading home. The impressive thing was the number of men and boys who stood up and gave their seats to women and the elderly. We circled through dusty, unpaved streets where people disembarked. The ride was extremely rough, over several curbs, with deep “potholes” everywhere - a twice-daily trip for the locals. When we arrived back near our stop the bus emptied of the few passengers left aboard and I asked the driver if I owed any more money and he said, “no” and gave me a fist bump as if to congratulate us for enduring the trip. Interesting! Most days our schedule consist of me walking a couple short blocks to a coffee shop for an iced latte or a mocha frappacino and a small cookie or croissant. Iced drinks are much preferred in the daily temps that reach 80* almost every day. I then bring the same back to my wife who is usually taking a break from her sleep. She finishes breakfast, then returns to bed for the rest of her slumber. I finish my Spanish studies, emails, and news updates, then wake her so she can begin her preparations for our 2:00 departure on Uber for lunch. The servings are so big that we often bring half home for an evening meal. Today, Joan decided that she needed a day of rest and that I should take the free ferry alone to the golf course to hit a few balls. It went well and I hit most balls very well, except for the two shanks I hit while experimenting with my swing. The guy in the pro shop (the pro?) also remembered me from eight years ago when I played a couple rounds with him. I hit half a bucket, quit while nothing hurt, returned to the mainland on the ferry, and had lunch nearby. The menu at Estrellas Del Mar had, under the tacos list, one called Tiger’s Favorite. Since I’ve seen Tiger Wood’s yacht one time in Cabo San Lucas, I assumed that’s who they meant. The simple ingredients were tuna, avocado, and salsa. Sounded good and I thought we golfers should stick together. It wasn’t even close: those two tacos were the best I’ve ever had! The tuna, all seafood is so fresh here it’s ridiculous, was the size of a pack of chewing gum done rare and with a generous, matching slice of aguacate. We’ll definitely be going back there for dinner some day soon. I then walked across the street from the restaurant to get a quote on a car rental so that we can explore a couple nearby towns in a day or two. Hasta pronto!  It appears that I’ve been a little lax in providing info on daily activities here in Mexico, because my friends from Argentina have wondered if I’m still breathing. I’m sure that hordes of others are also wondering “what’s up?”, so here goes: By far the most interesting and tiring day of the past couple of weeks has been this past Saturday. We planned to take the local bus to Tecolote, a 40-minute ride slightly north of the city past the famous beaches of Pichilinge and Balandra for lunch overlooking the turquoise waters of the Sea of Cortez where I’ve eaten several times before. After checking on Friday at the bus station and learning that buses leave every hour on the hour, we caught (barely) the noon bus and noticed, because of the circuitous route the bus took through town, that the annual, huge triathlon that started and ended on the Malecon (think a concrete & tiled boardwalk) was still ongoing. No problem, we were soon past the end of the malecon and headed for a fresh seafood lunch and a quick return to La Paz. As we exited the bus, however, I inquired of the bus driver when the bus back to town would arrive. Imagine our shock when he told us the hourly bus could not return until 6:00 p.m., because the road was closed for the triathlon. Our estimated, one-hour lunch had just turned into a five-hour marathon! We spent the five hours watching locals frolic in the waves, talking with the friendly, young couples sitting next to us under the beach umbrella to which we relocated after the sun scorched us, and eating lunch there, fighting the persistent flies that followed our plates to the plastic table. A couple pina coladas helped pass the time as did the chips and chicharrones that the young folks shared with us. The Mexican people are very, very friendly! 5:45 finally arrived and we headed to the sand parking lot to be among the first to board the bus - NOT! We were near the back of the line of 20 people (all locals) waiting to go home. More than an hour later as darkness started to approach, we were still STANDING, waiting for the bus. We became friendly with the others in the line, but our old knees and backs were getting to be a major problem. Suddenly a car with two young (isn’t everybody younger?) drove slowly by with two fingers out their open window, signifying that they had room for two more in their car. Picture this: 20 people standing in line for more than an hour waiting for the bus, darkness approaching rapidly, and all of them insisted that Joan and I take the car home. Unbelievable and we were so exhausted that we took them up on it! Yes, we were the only gringos and by far the oldest folks in the line, but still! The traffic was so bad on the way home, we never saw the bus pass us on the two-lane road, that we were bumper to bumper all the way back. We wondered if our friends in the parking lot got home before morning. The two drivers were gentlemen and worked hard with their phones to find the location of our condo and dropped us right at our door! They didn’t ask, but I paid them generously for their trouble. We were exhausted, but absolutely thrilled to get back from our planned hour or two lunch trip after 7:30 in the evening. Slept in most of the following day, but knees and backs were fine. Last night, we had a lovely, even romantic, dinner at a new location for a restaurant I have dined in several times before. The restaurant, Estacion Uruguaya, is a typical parrilla (wood-fired grill) where Uruguayan cuts of beef are grilled to perfection. We split a picana (beefsteak), with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies, each drank tinto veranos (summer sangria-like), and split (I got a spoonful) of flan, served with her favorite dulce-de-leche sauce. We’re now preparing mentally for Saturday’s checkout here in La Paz and a return to San Jose Del Cabo for a three-night stay before heading back to St. Petersburg where we’ll impose on our eldest son for a few days before heading north in our van. Hasta luego! We have arrived safely in San Jose Del Cabo after several hours of driving and a Cabo San Lucas traffic jam most likely caused by Spring Break and the hordes of visiting American college students. We were driven by Alfredo, the friendly hotel employee from our previous stay in San Jose. He took us on a short drive through Todos Santos, a lovely, little desert/Pacific Oceanside town where we have stayed before. As we approached Cabo San Lucas, we were halted for 30 minutes or so in the traffic jam that forced Alfredo to hang a U-turn and take the toll road bypass around Cabo. By telephone, I had arranged a pickup in La Paz at noon today and asked Alfredo, who speaks very little English, to make a reservation for three nights at the little Mexican posada (Terranova) where he works and we stayed in January. He called me back, telling me the Terranova was full on the dates we wanted, so he made reservations in a newer hotel in the same price range. Though we’re on the second floor with no elevator, we’re thrilled with the room. It has a beautiful pool, very modern hotel amenities, with breakfast included for the same price as Terranova. Just lucky, I guess. Alfredo and the 20-year-old desk clerk carried the luggage up to the room and we then took Alfredo to the restaurant of his choice for lunch. He chose seafood (Mariscos) and took us to a thatch-roofed restaurant that I didn’t know existed. We had a great lunch - did I tell you how fresh the seafood is here?! Enough for today; three nights here and we board the plane for Tampa and St. Petersburg. Hasta pronto. |
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