ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

We are now in La Paz waiting to take the 18-hour overnight ferry to Mazatlan tomorrow. We entered the enormous city and stopped at a supermarket to get some basics. It was like walking into a super Wal-Mart/mall. We searched and got what we needed….got hit up for some money when we left for having someone “watch” our car – we were unaware that we had committed to a personal security guard and went on our way to find a hotel for the night. We drove along the Malecon (waterfront street) of the bay and found a hotel that was in our price range…..Nuevo Peking. It is a Chinese owned and themed hotel with a Chinese restaurant downstairs….a very strange hotel, but has AC and was on the main strip. We thought we were leaving after the first night. We packed up, went to buy a temporary vehicle permit for the rest of our way through Mexico and went to buy the tickets. We were told that they ran from Mon-Sat. We arrived, got the vehicle permit at the ferry office and were told that the ferry going to Mazatlan only ran Tues, Thurs and Sat. the ferry tickets could only be bought across town that day. Bad news is that we would have to stay in La Paz for an extra night and run around town to get the tickets, good news is that we were early and avoiding the crazy crowds and long waits that the next day would have.

There is no surfing in La Paz, so after we bought our tickets across town, we spent our entire second day running around the city streets, all named after revolutions. After finishing a book each, we searched for the cheap lunch that we knew existed, but wasn’t close to the tourist strip where we were staying. Eventually, we found a Mexican market in the middle of town after being convinced that people in La Paz just didn’t eat tacos. We found fresh, healthy tacos for about .90 each. Chris parked in a bus lane and ran to the car when he realized we were getting a ticket. Instead of screaming lo siento (I’m sorry) he was screaming cierto (right or correct)! Gringo Chris luckily got us out of the ticket and we were able to finish lunch. [read on]

After four days of “vacation living” in Todos it was time to get on with the trip. This was our first extended stay in one place so far and the first area of Baja we envisioned returning to some day. We learned how easy it is to forget about the journey as a whole and settle into a routine of comfort that is difficult to find on the road. With our time limited we knew we would have to keep moving to save room for other places and experiences. Although we’ve spoken mostly about the beaches and our guesthouse, the town itself is also a vibrant Mexican community filled with friendly, creative people. The climate is warmer than in Northern Baja and slightly more tropical. The area has also become somewhat of an artist settlement for local and expatriate artists. This has added a certain cuteness to the already charming seaside town which has not escaped the eye of tourists or realtors. However, Todos remains very quaint compared to the commercial explosion that is Cabo about an hour South.

Many of the people we spoke with told us Cabo might not be worth more than a pass through since we favored smaller, backpacker-friendly surf towns. However we approached it with open minds and enjoyed the scenic coastal drive South. As we entered Cabo San Lucas for the first time we could see how people either love it or hate it: if Hard Rock Café, huge resorts, top-notch shopping and T-shirt outlets are what you want from Mexico (or you find yourself with no place to go for Spring Break), this is for you. Otherwise, you might want to look elsewhere for a real Mexican town and an entirely different experience. We spent a few hours here in awe and mostly just trying to find our way around. We searched for beach access, but there was practically none. All of the beaches were restricted to staying at a resort or living in one of the high-rise condos. [read on]