I recommend a visit to La Paz to anyone.
La Paz is a nice city for cruisers and landlubbers alike. Many charterers provide boat excursions to the nearby islands for snorkeling, scuba and kayaking trips. During the winter when the whale sharks gather in the bay, you may be able to sign aboard a boat for a day trip to see them or even help marine biologists tag them. The visitor who wants to remain on shore can find a good meal anywhere, any time of day. La Paz has excellent museums, including the Museo de la Ballena (Whale Museum) along the waterfront's malecon (go for the cetaceans! Stay for the outstanding floor-to-ceiling display of their seashell collection!) [Malecon photo via huffingtonpost.com.]
Another favorite is the Museo Regional de Antropología E Historia de Baja California Sur (the Regional Museum of Anthropology and History). This museum's docents are helpful and professional but most of them speak Spanish only. If you aren't super-fluent in Spanish, take a handy Spanish-English dictionary along or just move slowly through the displays to decipher the Spanish text by yourself. Either way, you will do just fine. Browse through their gift shop - it's a museum in and of itself. Many of the items for sale are meticulous reproductions of ancient artifacts. We couldn't resist buying a couple of ceramic reproductions for our own collection. Bonus: the museum includes a written description of what you buy, just so no official in U.S. Customs wrongly assumes you have looted some Mexican archaeological site and claps you in irons.
So, yes - we went there and we did that. Hogged out in a variety of restaurants. Shopped multiple times at the weekly farmers' market. Bought our artsy souvenirs, as seen in these 2 pix. Had fun with good friends and -sadly - said goodbye to several who told us they were finished with cruising and returning home for good. The holidays were tasting bittersweet this year...
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