Final La Paz post

A few last highlights of our time in La Paz 

Walks and Friends

We found other kids on sailboats in La Paz. We were very happy to find another 5 yr old boy, Cooper, from sailboat Whiz. He and Kyle had a great time chasing pelicans, playing at a park, and having a bite to eat.  Hopefully we’ll see Cooper again further south in Mexico. I wish I'd had my camera when we went to the park with Frances, 5, and Eleanor, 7 (I think) from Del Viento. They are headed North to the Pacific Northwest.  

    

The malecon is still one of our favorite walks.  Sad news to report though – the tail on the manta ray was broken off last week.

The pictures below are from the area just North and East of Marina Palmira where we like to go for walks.  There is the walk up to the cross and also an area thick with saguaro cacti that we enjoy walking in.  Kyle likes the trash area that unfortunately comes before the nice saguaro trails. There is lots of construction debris that he marvels at. 

Departing La Paz, BCS

We are planning on leaving La Paz this week.  Our destination is Puerto Vallarta and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (at the North end of Banderas Bay).  

We have thoroughly enjoyed staying in La Paz.  To list a few of the highlights: 

Bagels

Fresh baked bagels sold by Patty from teh Bagel Shop. She brings bagels and cream cheese by Marina Palmira to sell on Mondays and Fridays (sometimes also on Wednesdays).  This might be the only bagel shop in Mexico where they bake their own bagels each morning.     

Kyle liked the bagels so much he wanted to set up his own bagel shop and sell them off the boat. I explained to him we would need a Mexican business partner to run a business here. Not one to take “No” for an answer, Kyle decided Ken might be part Mexican.  He was looking at me and then looking over at Ken and he said, "Dad's skin is darker than yours mom. I think Dad is a Mexican since he is darker than you and can speak Spanish." Ken is actually very fair, blond hair and blue eyes, but he has a good tan from all the sun. I was laughing pretty hard by the time he got his full theory of Ken's lineage out. Needless to say, we won’t be opening a bagel shop here in the marina.

Around the World Acrobatics Show

At the end of January we were lucky to have the Around the World Acrobatics Show here at Marina Palmira. It is a show put on by a French couple on the boat La Lopioute.  A few pictures are posted below and a video with their whimsical music. Their 4PM performance was a comedy, while the 6PM performance was  romantic and quite awe inspiring. 

Ken came back to the boat after watching the evening performance and said, “That has to be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.”  The sunset in the background, with the masts from all the boats in the marina helped make their show one we will not soon forget.  

   

Windy, from Del Viento,and her two girls, Eleanor and Frances, invited Kyle to join them at the nearby park together with the two girls from the La Loupiote boat. The older French girl, 12 yrs, spoke Spanish and French, but no English, but their younger daughter, 3 yrs old, only spoke French.  The language barrier wasn’t a problem until Kyle was trying to apologize for tagging the younger French girl a bit too hard and knocking her down.  Se va?  doesn’t quite convey “I’m sorry.”  Despite the fall, the little girl brushed herself off and there were no hard feelings. 

The French family is going to sail to the South Pacific this Spring.  

Circus Rolex

We got out with some of our friends from the marina to see the circus.This was Kyle’s first circus. It was earsplitting loud. The performances were entertaining, albeit at times there was a fine line between a Chippendales act and a circus act. There were marvel comic strip clad performers, Superboy, tigers, horses, clowns, and flying trapeze artists.  

The strong men from Colombia  

White Tigers 

Watching the acrobatics

During intermission, the teen heart throb Franccesco, who did everything from tiger training, acrobatics, clowning, and horse back stunts, also posed for photos with all the young girls in the audience. The families lined up with their daughters.  Each girl would go up and sit on the Percheron with Francesco standing next to them. Sometimes the mother plus a couple daughters would all stand around him for their pictures. After each photo, Francesco would give each girl and, if present, the mother a kiss on the cheek. An affectionate peck to each one. It was very sweet.  A few days later, I was reading an article about the upcoming presidential campaign here in Mexico. One fellow running, Enrique Pena Nieto for the PRI, seems to be the equivalent of Franccesco for women voters. Whenever he arrives to give a speech, he has to first navigate his way through a mass of fawning female supporters, many of whom he gives a kiss on the cheek to.  

 Homeschooling

 The homeschooling is coming along. Kyle is working on his reading, math, history, a little geography and a little Spanish.  We also have plenty of time for “free works” as he likes to call his unstructured school time for art and sometimes for nature walks. 

Working on Math

Kyle created a worksheet for Christina to work on - quite challenging! 

Free works