February 15, 2015 - Playa Tecolote to La Paz

We took our RV into La Paz, Baja California Sur, this morning so we could see some of the events of Carnaval. We camped at Campestre Maranatha again, and were surprised to see Simon and Kimbra, a couple we have criss-crossed a few times on the way down. They invited us to share a table with them this evening which they reserved for watching the Carnaval parade, so we agreed to meet them there.

We went into town early for lunch and caught a bus (10 pesos each) just outside the RV park which dropped off about five blocks from the Malecon where the Carnaval events would be taking place. Strolling along the area we hoped to see some of the Carnaval stuff, but everything was closed up!

We found a local restaurant, El Estadio, which had been recommended for fish tacos for lunch.
It was very popular with the locals – when we arrived the line was out to the street with people waiting to get their food. They were large tacos, and the prices were good, but not the perfect fish taco we have been searching for. After lunch we took the bus back to the RV to rest before evening.

The parade started at 5 pm, but it was after 6 pm before it got to our vantage point. There were lots of floats and groups walking in the parade. Tonight the parade went from west to east on the Malecon, so we were looking into the setting sun as they passed by. The will have the parade again on Monday and Tuesday and rotate the direction in which it travels.

The parade lasted a little over an hour, then Kimbra and Simon headed back to the camp and Tobey and I stayed to grab dinner and see the sights of Carnaval. There were several stages set up along the street with music, dance groups, and comedians.

In addition to the entertainment, there were the typical midway games you would see in the US and also cash gambling games! The game below was a dice game where you placed your money on a number and if the roller hit your number, you got $$$. There were several different games of chance available for gamblers.
There were two huge displays of blankets and the guy up on the stage was conducting an auction to sell them. He would have the guy on the pavement open up the blanket and walk them around for the crowd to see and touch – then he would add two or three more blankets to sweeten the sale! It was pretty entertaining.
This guy was really good at spinning cotton candy. Before he finished, he added two other colors of cotton candy and the bag was as tall as the lady on the left! I have never seen that much cotton candy at once.

We stopped to watch the guy in the picture above demonstrate his slicer and juicer tools. Seems like we see this demo at any fair you go to, and he offered not one, but two, for the price of one! How could we pass it up? Oh yeah, we remembered the same tools we have at home and NEVER use!

We planned to catch the 10 pm bus back to the RV park so we got to the bus stop and waited, and waited, and waited. The 10 pm bus never came, and neither did the 11 pm bus. At 11:30, a bus came, but he said he was “off duty” and the next bus would come at 12:30. We decided to go back to the Carnaval and walk around while we waited. We got back to the bus stop at midnight – just to see the bus pulling away! Tobey chased after it, a police man tried to stop it, but we were out of luck.

We could have gone back to watch more music and catch the 2 am bus, but I was done. We finally flagged down a taxi and got back to the RV park about 12:45 am! Taxi cost – only $150 pesos (about $10.75 USD). It was a more than the $20 pesos ($1.45 USD) for two on the bus, but I didn’t care, I was tired!

It was an entertaining day, but one day of Carnaval was enough for us.