La Paz - "The Ticket"

Another wonderful week in paradise! We still can't believe how lucky we are to actually be doing this!
We left Cabo Jan. 27 with a promise to return next year. Next stop was Pescadero, a small town near Todos Santos, on the Pacific coast. We had to meet the owner of the RV park in town & we were led 3 km. out to the site through fields of basil, peppers, onions & thyme. Campsite a short walk to the beach, crashing waves, but too windy for the surfers. Ran into 2 sets of people we knew on the beach, one couple from Kamloops who's seminar we attended on "RVing the Baja" (& here we are!) & the French Canadian couple we had Christmas Day dinner with. Explored local beaches & lunched in Todos Santos.

Another doctor visit, this time for myself with an ear & sinus infection - you'd think all the cervesas would have prevented that! Impressed with the well equipped clinic/ER & English speaking Dr. - total for exam & meds was 850 pesos, about $68.

I bought fish & shrimp tacos "to go" & they came with 6 little plastic bags of assorted toppings & salsas - can't seem to get enough of these.

We have relocated to the La Paz area - spent 4 nights free camping on 2 beaches, Tecolote & Pichilingue -  back on Sea of Cortez, amazing blue, green water, less waves. It was really windy, lots of new sand dunes so we tried the beach close to the ferry, Pichilingue, but had to leave as there were millions of tiny flies. We did have one night with a beautiful sunset, though. We visited the Whale museum & the Anthropolgy museum in La Paz -  finally convinced Robin that it wouldn't kill him to see a couple museums!

We finally bought an internet stick, it will work where-ever there is cell phone coverage - cost $20 for 1 GB/mo. for 5 months (current deal), just for Mexico.

We did a lot of hiking/mountain climbing around Tecolote - up to a cave high up a hill that was littered with old sea shells ? prehistoric man? Another 3 hour hike up & over a huge hill, found a seam of quartz crystals, lots of interesting rock formations & could look down onto nearby bays & beaches. An all day journey to Balandra Bay, hiking, rock climbing, wading in the ocean & ceviche for lunch.

We are now in La Paz in an RV park with all the amenities, will stay one more night then head to Puerto Lopez Mateos for a whale watching tour. We have been catching up with laundry, cleaning the RV inside & out & some shopping. I went out today to go to the local market for fresh veggies & had my first (& hopefully only) experience with Mexican traffic cops. I was driving in a busy part of town, I think I stopped at the stop sign, but I got pulled over by 3 female officers. They demanded my license, which I reluctantly handed over. None of them spoke any English, other than "ticket" & "office" - indicating that I did not stop, I would have to go to the "office", pay the ticket & get my license back. I was quite adamant that I wasn't leaving without my license - more Spanish - we had a standoff. I then asked what the ticket would cost & one of them wrote 550 on her hand (about $40). I indicated that if I could, I would just pay them & get my damn license back. I pulled out a 500 peso bill & held it up, one of them quickly pushed my hand down out of view & traded me the 500 for my license. No ticket, $40 poorer & a bit wiser. They actually have a name for this - mordida - underpaid cops who target gringos & hope to get paid off.
Robin was quick to tell me that he's driven over 5000 km & "no tickets!" My defense is that he has a navigator (me) & I did not.

Pictures: Sunset at Pescadero over our RV, Robin Pacific behind him, shrimp boat in the waves, me on a path to a lovely beach, the beach, sunset at Pichilingue, looking down on RV at Pichilingue, me inside the cave we hiked to, looking up at the mouth of the cave, sand dunes, Robin picking out quartz, me up really high/hiking, Robin mountain climbing!

Still living the dream & loving it!