November 23rd – La Paz – Jim’s Blog #2

It’s the day after Thanksgiving here in La Paz, and the summer warmth is still with us – as it should be just a few miles north of the tropics. Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving with a couple of other cruising couples, Ed and Cornelia Gould from A Cappella and Rob and Jan from Triple Stars (with their crew, Gil). While every other U.S. citizen here in La Paz seemed to be madly looking for and preparing turkeys, dressing, potatoes and gravy, and cranberry sauce to celebrate Thanksgiving, our little group decided that lobster would be a more fitting feast while we are in a location devoid of live turkeys but full of lobster. The lobster was delicious and we were able to give thanks just as well as with turkey.

When we first arrived in La Paz earlier in the week we thought we contacted a marina near town and were told to wait for a yellow panga (an all-purpose fiberglass boat with large outboard that is used for nearly everything down here – garbage collection, fishing, scuba diving, etc.) to direct us to the marina. When it arrived, it took us in a direction far from town and through a narrow gap in the shoal that borders the La Paz channel. We finally decided that we were being led astray and turned around to retrace our steps. As soon as we turned around, the panga took off without attempting to keep us behind them. We later found that there is a new marina being built across the bay from town, and they pay the panga drivers $10 per boat to direct new cruisers to their out-of-the-way location. Instead we anchored near town and used our dinghy to find a reputable marina to get a dock two days later.

We were wakened that first morning (November 20th) at 7:30 AM with a deafening sound of drumbeats and martial music coming from the edge of town on the quay. During the cruisers’ net at 8 AM that morning, we learned that this day was Revolution Day in La Paz (celebrating the overthrow of a dictatorship in 1910), and there would be a grand parade starting at 8:30 AM. We hustled up and dinghied in to catch the celebration. Luckily the event didn’t celebrate the overthrow of some U.S.-backed government; so we were welcome to enjoy the parade. At 85 degrees outside, we were perspiring (Sheilagh says she was “glowing”) in the hot sun in our shorts and short-sleeve tops, while we watched the marchers dressed in much warmer-looking clothing looking as if the heat didn’t bother them. For example the Special Forces were a tough-looking bunch with long-sleeved turtleneck black shirts and green camouflage trousers tucked into combat boots – and they weren’t even breaking a sweat.

It appeared that every person in town was in the parade – children, teens, young adults, and old adults – marching with schools, soccer teams, baseball teams, boxing clubs, karate clubs, volleyball clubs, military units, and even some bands. The parade lasted for at least three hours, and the town isn’t that big. It’s my contention that as each group finished the parade, they replaced the bystanders on the side; so the bystanders could get dressed up in a uniform of some sort and get into the parade themselves. The saddest sight was a color guard for a band made up of young adult women dressed in full business suits (long sleeves and long skirts) and high heels doing a goose step with swinging arms and clomping feet. One of the women had broken a heel and was doing her best to stay in step with the others. It had to be painful, and how anyone can march in high heels is a mystery to me.

I also noticed that, by the end of the parade, the drummers in the drum and bugle corps were holding their drums carefully against their left legs with one hand as they beat the step with the other hand between songs. I was reminded of my own drum-and-bugle-corps days when we developed large black-and-blue marks on the front of our left thighs during parades from the edge of the drum bouncing on our legs as we marched. By the end of a typical parade we were repositioning the edge of the drum to a less painful location on the leg whenever we didn’t need both hands to beat the march. Nowadays the modern drum-and-bugle-corps drummers have harnesses that keep the drums from beating against the body. But we had a “badge of honor” for the next week or so that was readily visible when we were wearing shorts or swimming suits.

I saw a couple of horses in the parade and was also reminded of the rodeo parades I marched in, where every fourth unit was a sheriff’s posse or a riding club. Part of the trick of marching in those days was to try to keep position across and in line while sidestepping the horse manure that built up. The better bands were in front; so they had less to dodge. We were not one of the better bands, and we marched with white shoes; so we kept less than perfect ranks trying to keep those shoes white as we tiptoed around the horse offerings. Later on clowns were introduced behind the horse units to pick up the manure and make it look like fun to do so. I don’t know what this has to do with cruising, but the point can be made that an absence of horses in a parade in Mexico is a real benefit in my mind.

While we were at anchor in the channel facing La Paz we were introduced to the La Paz Waltz – a dance involving anchored boats that change direction four times a day as the tide changes and causes a 3 knot current to flow past the town – first one way and then the other. The constant change of direction can cause an anchor to work loose; so we were constantly paying attention to our own boat and the other boats swinging around us to insure one of us wasn’t having its anchor dislodged, causing one boat to run into another. Because of this concern and the fact that we hadn’t had a chance to give a fresh-water wash to our salt-laden boat for over three weeks, we got a place in the local Marina de la Paz, and have been experiencing a more conventional live-aboard situation. That means we have been able to really clean the boat and ourselves with someone else’s fresh water. The tiny shower we have on the boat is useful, but not as satisfying as a real shower with room to move around.

Sheilagh and I have been doing a lot of walking around town every day for groceries, pharmacy items, internet cafes, etc. – averaging at least a couple of miles a day – and usually with a pack on our backs to carry the groceries, laptops, and other paraphernalia. We’re also going up and down the companionway multiple times a day and doing other work on the boat that involves lifting, pulling, washing, polishing, and other general activities that never seem to stop. We both feel we are slimming down a bit, since we can fit more easily into some of our clothing, but we have no scales to really measure the weight loss. We drink a lot more water and a lot less Coca Cola than we ever have in the past, and have noticed a healthy decline in our need for fattening snacks.

Today we have a Mexican crew polishing all of our stainless steel on the boat – and that’s a lot of stainless steel – for $50 total. Three of them have been working for about three hours now; so we think we are getting a real deal. I have found that “stainless steel” belies its name – it can be stained and it develops rust spots. So periodically it needs to be cleaned and polished to retain its luster. The Mexican crew is using tooth brushes and a special cleaner to get into every nook and cranny, and it looks very good. Sheilagh and I thought we’d have plenty of time to do jobs like this ourselves, but the cost-benefit tradeoff is just too good to pass up. Besides, we are apparently getting lazier and lazier as we continue our cruise to paradise. That’s it for now.