As we get ready to leave La Paz I want to write down some of our experiences and observations. The internet connect has been somewhat iffy here at the boat. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten connected and started writing emails or posting to Myfamily.com only to completely loose everything when I try to send or publish it. Then I’m so disgusted with myself I don’t even try to connect for several days to re-write everything. When I do connect again, I’ve forgotten what I wrote about before.
We usually get up by 7am each day to listen to the Amigo Net on the SSB (single sideband radio). Don on Summer Passage, transmitting out of Oxnard CA, gives his weather forecast for Mexican waters and south sometimes to northern South America. Many times we can’t hear any of the net because of our location here in Marina Palmira, tucked up against the hills. Don broadcasts again in the evening on the Southbound Net. Sometimes the clearest transmissions are from way down in Zihuatanego. Don is truly amazing and provides a real service to all the English-speaking cruising community in Mexico because of course NOAA would not be providing weather for Mexico, only the United States. As I understand, Don is in his 70’s and has spent many, many years cruising Mexican waters. He gives boaters warnings when not to attempt to cross the Gulf of Tehuantapec or the Gulf of Papagallo. Sometime the winds blow in excess of 50 knots and the seas exceed more than 15 feet. It can be a horrible experience if you are caught out there in that and very dangerous.
Steve and I have been taking Spanish classes three days a week with Raymundo right here in the Marina. Raymundo also offers tours to Todos Santo, the Cacti Sanctuary and Los Triunful as well as whale watching out of Bahia Magdalena and teaches English and Spanish classes the other three days a week in Todos Santos. I have taken two of his cooking classes in which he picks us up, gives us ride to and tour of the local grocery store, then delivers us to the home of his sister-in-law, Patricia, who with his wife, Julieta actually teach the class. In the first class we learned how to make chili paste from the dried poblano chilies and tomatilla sauce for three kinds of enchiladas; pescado de tomate, enchilada rojo de pollo and enchilada verde de pollo. In the second class we made two kinds of chili rellenjos; carne picadillo and queso. The chili rellenjos then were topped with a wonderful consume that made all the difference to the flavor. While I took the classes, Steve got to enjoy the results, and actually continues to enjoy the results because I learned so much. Julieta speaks English very well, but Patricia is too shy to speak any English although she clearly understands English.
Although I’ve been taking the Spanish classes for a few weeks I really can’t be understood. I find I can’t speak either English or Spanish when I’m trying to speak to a local. One day I told a woman in a store, when she asked where I found the skirt I was holding, “Yesterday” I said and pointed ‘over there’. She only smiled at me and it took me the rest of the day to figure out what I had said. Communication seems to work better with me speaking English and the person I’m speaking to responding in Spanish because I can generally understand what I’m being told. Actually most all of the residents understand English, especially those involved in retail or service. There is a very large American population here in La Paz, many of them having lived here more than 10 years. I went to a ‘Ladies Luncheon’ the other day and found nearly 30 women there. They have been meeting for lunch once a month for twenty five years! Most of them are land based former (or never) boaters. From what I gather, the group was only a small percentage of the community. One woman told a friend of mine that she had lived here for 14 years and her only regret was that she had never learned Spanish.
In many ways though, the community is very ethnocentric; Americans and Canadians moving in bringing their culture and not even trying to learn Spanish or appreciate the very rich Mexican culture. Sr Raymundo was lamenting the changes happening to Todos Santos since it has been ‘discovered’ by artists and now has lots of trendy shops and galleries. The farmland is being bought by foreigners and pricing the local Mexican right out. It’s changing into a little Aspen, much like Bend is. It is much worse in Cabo San Luis with homes costing millions of dollars. Cabo San Luis is neither an American nor Mexican city. It’s very expensive with very clearly haves and have-nots and no obvious middle class Mexicans.
La Paz in contrast is truly a Mexican city and has a flourishing middle class from what I can see and from what Sr Raymundo has told his classes. Several city-wide projects are underway. One of which is developing the malecon (water front walk) with paving, lights and plantings. We noticed work has begun on widening the road from La Paz to San Jose del Cabo. There is very little pan-handling although just recently someone (or several persons) went on a ‘tagging’ or graffiti spree. The Mexicans appear to be very hard working, starting early in the day and working long hours. Often the work they do is very hard physical labor, as in digging ditches and remodeling with picks and sledgehammers. In many businesses, the employees all wear uniforms from the bus boy to the cashiers to the office staff. This gives all the employees a neat and clean appearance. And yet a lot of the work is involved with cleaning; sweeping, mopping, washing windows and washing cars (out of buckets to conserve the water).
