July 10th

Today we went on a restaurant treasure hunt. We had a map, some vague directions, and a sense of adventure. After several wrong turns, we stopped a young mother and asked (in our best Spanish) where the restaurant was. She answered, in excellent English, "What do you want to eat?"

She suggested that we go to a restaurant on the Malecon called the Bismark-cito. We knew it was a great place because we were the only gringos there!

Here I am with the most delicious grilled shrimp (prawn-size)! Bud had a large seafood cocktail featuring clams, octopus, shrimp, scallops, and white fish. We headed home after two Pacifcos and with full tummies. Yummm.

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Bud took the third picture from our table, so you can see how close to the bay we were..

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Weather -- cooling off, only 105 today!

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July 9th Tecolote Beach

We are planning a day trip around Espiritu Santo Island, so drove to Tecolote Beach today to set it up with the guide service there. The first photo shows the landscape through the desert. Location map Zoom out to get the whole picture.

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The next two pictures show Tecolote Beach. Note the boat similar to the boat we'll go on (yes, it is small!) and the man who is raking the seaweed and other debris off his section of sand. Nancy was looking forward to some shopping, and was surprised to find that the commercial highlight here was the guide service. A few bars and "restaurants" featured poles driven into the sand with thatched roofs and sand floors.

On the way home, we drove by the Baja Ferry terminal. The ferries go daily from La Paz to cities on the mainland of Mexico. The ferries are for people and cars, but the majority of the vehicles are large commercial trucks. For scale, look at the two men standing in front of one of the loading ramps in the first ferry picture. ~~ Note the security fence around the ferries. Location Map Zoom out to get the whole picture.

Weather -- Oh my gosh, it's HOT!! A high of 108 degrees F. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

July 8th

Today we went shopping at the "Cow Store". We don't know its real name - all the gringos call it that. It's a large mini-mart in a convenient location, although the produce isn't as fresh as the other local markets and the prices seemed high.
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We also went to a mall containing a store called Soriana. It looks like a Wal Mart, and the food selection is very good. Here we found little computerized price tags next to each item. Because the price of the merchandise fluctuates according to the value of the peso, these tags give up-to-the-minute shelf prices.

Bud took this picture in the Soriana parking lot. The blue and white signs are for handicapped parking. The green and white signs are parking slots for mothers with babies. Finally, someone has realized how difficult it is to shop with small children!

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Weather report - HOT, HOT, HOT - high of 107 degrees F. at the house.

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