La Paz

We knew it would be a stretch to make it all the way to La Paz before dark so we were prepared to stay the night in Ciudad Constitucion, the city before La Paz.  Along the way we had a long lunch in Loreto, a cute town full of white people.  Dmitri was responsible for a very minor fender-bender with a tailgater in Loreto while trying to park.  It was mediated by a traffic cop and resolved for a couple hundred pesos.  After lunch we pressed on to Ciudad Constitution and after a stop for ice cream and a playground, we decided it was worth taking a bit of a risk to push on to La Paz because no one wanted to stay there even for just one night.

We got to the Hotel Yeneka in La Paz with time to get a late dinner before cashing in.  The hotel was bare bones, with small rooms, cold showers, and cobwebs, but it was cheap and well-located in Central La Paz and easy walking distance to everything.   It was a quirky place (see Halloween photo below) and we really wanted to like it.  Dmitri had called the hotel staff at least 10 times before our arrival to verify several things – (1) that we could have our truck’s release of lien mailed there (we read that we’d need our title to get on the ferry and we didn’t yet have the title so this was the next best thing), (2) that they accept dogs, and (3) that they had secure parking.  On this 3rd point he was assured that the street parking directly in front was secure because someone was watching the front of the hotel 24 hours a day and they had never ever had an issue with break-ins for this reason.

The first day in La Paz was Halloween.  Nina wore her “costume”, the purple bunny mask she’d made on her last day of preschool.   She learned to say, very timidly, “trunco o dulce” and she absolutely cleaned up.  The store owners who did have candy, and most did, gave her a huge handful.  Her bag was full in no time.  She still has most of it.

The second day, a Wednesday, we awoke to some bad news.  Our truck window had been broken and several items stolen from the cab.  Most of the stolen things were no big deal, but they took the key to our wheel locks meaning we had no way to change a flat.   Dmitri went down to the local Honda dealership and got a new window and new set of wheel locks on order.  Parts arrive to the dealership on Mondays and Fridays and they couldn’t tell us which Monday or Friday it would be for us.  So we waited.  And we changed hotels to the lovely-but-above-our-budget B&B Casa Juarez which had a veritable compound to park our truck in, and also a swimming pool which was a huge hit with the littlest one.  Even Ted got to have 2 new friends.

We used our time in La Paz to try and take care of our paperwork we’d neglected to deal with at the border.   We first went to a Banjercito to pay our vehicle import tax.  Turns out you can’t go to just any Banjercito, you have to go to specific ones.  We were directed to go to the Banjercito at the ferry terminal and were given a list of documents we’d need to furnish in order to pay the import tax.  One of those documents is a tourist card, which we also didn’t have.  So our next stop was to the Immigration office where we learned that the ONLY place you can obtain a tourist card is the border.  No exceptions.  I, on the verge of tears, asked what we could possibly do, and the nice lady told us that some people fly to Tijuana.  Some people do.  Meaning this seems to happen to more than just the occasional idiot.

After licking our wounds, we booked a flight to Tijuana for Monday and found a “Pet & Breakfast” where Ted could stay.  Dmitri made a bunch of phone calls and got a prescription for the good malaria meds as well as Ted’s flea medication called into a Costco in San Diego.

TIP:  there are 2 kinds of malaria meds, (1) Maladrone, which is OK for young kids and has few side effects.  Maladrone cannot be bought in Mexico!  You can get just about anything else here but not Maladrone.  (2) Doccycycline, which is readily available all over the world, but cannot be taken by young children, you can never get a sunburn when taking it, and has several un-enticing side effects.

TIP:  it’s common knowledge that pet medications are cheaper and readily available in Mexico.  We found this to be patently untrue.  The variety of meds available is strictly limited.  So while it’s true you can find SOME kind of medication for any purpose, do not expect to find the type you’re accustomed to in the US.

TIP: 99% of the dog food available in Mexico has corn or “assorted cereals” as the first ingredient.  The other 1% has rice.  Bring as much high quality dog food as you can get past Customs and will fit in your vehicle!

Before we departed we swam with the whale sharks which was a highlight.  They are so huge and docile!  We got a bonus to also see flying fish, a pod of dolphins, and a manta ray.

We also decided to try and stop bleeding money in La Paz and do something different upon our return if the truck parts still weren’t in.  We decided to head down to Los Barriles to stay with a friend of a friend who has a property there and allows various acquaintances to come and stay on his property.