(January 2 – written by Dave)

Happy New Year!

Short ride today – just out to the ferry.  Tomorrow we’ll post about the ferry and Mazatlan.

We really enjoyed our time in La Paz.  We posted previously about general La Paz life, Spanish school, tortillas and how hard Mexicans work.  Today’s post is about us being locals.  We like to travel and see new things but sometimes wish we could stay places longer so that we can get to know the locals, to build relationships and potentially dig a little below the surface.  La Paz gave us a chance to dig in.

We didn’t know it when we booked our apartment here but just around the corner was Dulce Romero, La Paz’s top rated bakery/cafe.  Dulce Romero opened a little over 5 years ago when Dulce and her husband decided that La Paz needed fresh, hearty breads added to the daily routine.  They opened a small bakery turning out a different specialty bread six days per week.  La Paz residents took a liking and the shop grew, eventually adding coffee, a cafe and a now full restaurant.

We spent countless hours in Dulce, mostly studying Spanish.  We also did our best to work through their long list of tasty pastries.  Their quiet hours tended to be in the afternoon so that’s when we’d hang out.  We eventually got to know most the staff.  Everyone figured out that we were trying to learn Spanish – employees became tutors, tutors became friends and we became locals.

While we are excited to hit the road, we’ll miss our new friends from Dulce Romero.  Thanks to Victor, Israel, Ruth, Juan, Alejandro, Jorge, Betsy, Irene, Lelani and Dulce and all of the other folks at the cafe for helping us with our Spanish and letting us take over your bar area nearly every afternoon of over the past two months.  And thanks for the ferry goodie bag as well.  We’ll miss you guys a lot!

The ride itself today was all of about 14 miles.  The road had some ups and downs, which were quite difficult after having the past two months off the bikes (loaded bikes at least).  We also both had a case of the “starting your trip wobbles” as we re-learned how to steer a loaded touring bike.  These were nearly gone by the end of the Malecon and we were back to being smooth again by the time we reached the ferry.

The road out to the ferry is a dead end but it’s also a freight port.  So there were quite a few big trucks pulling double trailers.  We didn’t really enjoy this and can see why our friends simply stayed out here for two days when their ferry was cancelled a few weeks back.  I would not go out of my way to ride La Paz to the La Paz ferry any time soon.  Good thing, it could be years before we pass this way again (Senior editor note – hmm, I think I might have heard that tune a few times today…).

We are now at the ferry terminal – some 2 hours early.  But the waiting room is open so we don’t mind.  We are changed and have everything ready to dash onto the ferry and claim our 25 square feet of deck for our tent.  I’m excited about sleeping on the deck, it feels like a real adventure.  Nancy, well, she’s not a boat person and is probably just wishing that the whole thing was over.

More later from Mazatlan in a day or so…