Tag: La Paz

Carnival in La Paz

Part of the reason we have been traveling a fast as we have was so we could make Carnival in La Paz. There are two towns in Baja where Carnival is a big deal, La Paz and Ensenada, we couldn’t miss it. Since we were coming for Carnival we wanted to stay in town, preferably with in biking distance(no driving!). AquaMarina RV park sounded like the place to stay. However when I called she said they were full but that someone was supposed to leave but hadn’t yet. After two hours driving and I called again and she said to come on, she’d make room. Be careful on the way in because some of the roads Google directed me down were very narrow with cars parked on both sides. Somehow I made it through with a few inches to spare. Instead stay on the main road until the last minute. The park itself was fairly tight and we were the largest rig in there. It took a bit to get this bad boy parked but it was worth it once we were. The park was packed for the whole week.

The park is on the bay and you can go sun yourself on the adjoining property. The best feature is that it is only a 5 minute bike ride from the Malecon (the riverfront) and downtown, where Carnival takes place. The park was also extremely well maintained and had real American style full hookups. A nice bonus was how cool everyone staying there was, including the owner. We hung out and had dinner a few times. Speaking of the owner, she is an older lady with a interesting life story. She and her husband were one of the first people to do live-aboard diving excursions. Eventually they had a 100+ ft boat that she captained. She was the first woman in Mexico with that type of captains license! The diving was slow in the winter so then they built the RV park. We both highly recommend this park but I wouldn’t try it with anything larger than ours (35ft fifth wheel). In fact to get out I had to pull forward to the bathrooms and then backup so I could make the turn out the gate and down the steep hill.

Carnival was definitely worth the trouble. It was a true Mexican celebration, not something put on for tourists. The first part of the Malecon was like an actual carnival in the States, rides and ring toss games and what not. Then there were a bunch of stages(7) playing all night and a ton of food vendors. La Paz has a more mainland feel and we were able to get our first Tacos al Pastor finally. They weren’t as good as in the Yucatan but still fantastic. We also had a stuffed baked potato that had butter, onions, cream, carne asada, corn, peppers, and I’m sure it I’ve left something out. It was 100 pesos($5) and enough to feed us both. Delicious but not healthy 😉 Beers were 20 pesos($1) and 32oz mixed drinks 80 pesos($4). I love Mexico.

There is also a parade the last three nights and it was well worth watching. The floats are all super decked out, everyone is in amazing costumes, and the music is blaring with everyone dancing. The parade is the same all three nights but alternates where it starts.

La Paz is a real Mexican city and a great place to stock up on supplies being their largest city south of Ensenada. The diving and snorkeling is also supposed to be great but we didn’t go as we were still being chased by the incessant 20 mph north winds. Maybe on the way back…. I highly recommend checking out La Paz for Carnival if you have the chance and staying at AquaMarina and checking out the town even if you can’t.

Behaving like adults at the Bay of Concepcion

We decided to stay at Playa Santispac at Bahia Concepcion. It is one of the more popular of the 12 beaches that line the Bay, but it is large enough to fit everyone. We parked our rig right on the beach. Costs 100 pesos a night or about $5. No cell service here. Once again, the north winds followed us here making it too cold to swim or do any water sports despite the hauntingly beautiful and clear, blue water.

One day we drove with our new friends Hannah and Ty to check out a couple of the other beaches. We drove to playa El Requeson. It is a small beach and there is a cool sand spit that you can walk onto a little island. With the strong north winds, this beach is even more exposed than at Playa Santispac though. We also checked out Playa Coyote. There are a lot of snowbirds that come here and set up shop for several months. They take up quite a bit of space, but there is some room. This beach seemed to be a little more protected from the north winds and would be a good choice if you had to camp when the north winds were strong.

One morning we decided to go kayaking before the winds got too strong, While kayaking, we found the hot spring/hot tub that’s fed by the ocean. Unfortunately, the tide was too low and it was way too hot to get in. After kayaking we created a wind barricade with the kayak and RV and laid out in the sun a while.

There are a few snowbirds here and two restaurants. Ava’s restaurant and Armando’s. Armandos has a happy hour from 4-5 where you can get 2 for 1 margaritas for $1.50…niccceeee and strong too. We didn’t eat at the restaurants. Ava’s has wifi and showers you can pay to use, however we didn’t utilize these either. One convenient feature about staying at the beaches along the bay are the people that come around selling various groceries out of their trucks. We bought fresh fish, scallops, fruit, veggies, bread and cakes.

Despite the gorgeous scenery we decided to only stay three nights. The wind was very strong and, well, annoying. We are going to Ciudad Constitucion next as a halfway stopping point to La Paz for CAR-NA-VALLLLL!!!