La Paz: Camping, Beaches, Water, and of course THE FOOD

On our way back up north we did another extended stay in La Paz. La Paz is the capital city of Baja California Sur and therefore has lots of money and infrastructure. You can get pretty much anything you need, and for us that meant water!

Campground

There aren’t any campgrounds in downtown La Paz as far as I could tell, so we settled in about 10 miles outside. Campestra Maranatha campground was one of the nicest we found in Baja. There are plenty of bathrooms and showers that are cleaned constantly, beautiful landscaping, a pool, a cafe on site, and we had an amazing neighbor. Many travelers spend a few days at local beaches and come to Campestra Maranatha to shower, do laundry, and hop on the wifi before hitting the beautiful beaches again. We were lucky to camp next to a fisherman who was very generous in sharing his Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) and Tuna catches!

Public Transportation

The bus conveniently picked us up at 20 past the hour right outside the campground and drops you off 40 minutes later in the middle of the Malecon (Spanish for pier). However, we learned he will literally pick up up and drop you off anywhere as long as it’s on the route. We didn’t sweat the details the first time, and had a little trouble figuring out the bus to get home. We (incorrectly) thought worst case we’d just get an Uber back. So, several drinks later we realized there were no Ubers in the area. Our waitress kindly ordered us a driver through another app and took us to Walmart. Yes, they have a Walmart. It did catch on fire while we were there. But that’s a story for another time. Again, we didn’t sweat the details and weren’t sure where the going home bus route was, but Walmart helped us get a ride the rest of the way. They were using an app called InDriver. I guess Uber just takes too big of a cut, and InDriver doesn’t. After this we figured the bus route and times, and just stuck to that. It was only $10 pesos per person one way, which is like $0.50 usd.

One time the bus broke down and several people pushed us to our back up bus. Surprisingly, we were still on time! The picture is of us getting on the bus after John ran after it because we were a few minutes late. Like I said, he'll pick you up anywhere on the route!

Water

I think I talked about this in a previous blog, but it’s the biggest question we have gotten traveling through Mexico. What about the water?!

And having gotten sick here, it’s absolutely an important question because that was the sickest I’ve ever been. I wouldn’t travel here without some sort of parasite detox or charcoal again.

Anyway, right or wrong, here’s what we did and would probably do again. We only filled our freshwater tank with purified water that we paid for at local stations. We have this filter that we use when filling in the states, but weren’t sure if it’d do the job in Mexico, so we stuck to paying for filtered water. Many travelers use the campground water and filter it with a variety of filtration systems. We decided we didn’t want to introduce new bacteria into our tank and we’d just pay to fill. We definitely recommend having this adapter when traveling to Baja if you plan on only filling with purified water. With a little perseverance and MacGyver-like ingenuity we figured out how to fill our tanks at a local water purification location. The men working there were so nice and helpful. We speak minimal Spanish, they spoke minimal English, and one gentleman was deaf which added another layer of communication difficulties. But despite this we figured it out and made sure to tip well for their time and help. Plus, when we went back a second time they were closed due to their electricity being off, and he lead us to another store that was open.

In Baja we have only used our tank water to wash our face and hands, dishes, and brush our teeth. We shower and potty at campground bathrooms to conserve our tank water. When not at campgrounds, we of course use our facilities, but using campground facilities stretches our fresh water and black tank space longer.

Our drinking water comes from our filled bags that we run through our Berkey. We have these bags, which have come in handy because when they’re empty they fold right up and store under the bed.

The Malecón and the Food

The Malecón is Spanish for pier. La Paz’s Malecón is a 3 mile stretch along the Sea of Cortez with a designated bike lane and huge sidewalks. It is touristy, but also provides many restaurant and shopping choices. I felt very safe exploring this city. Again, using Google Maps we tried a variety of restaurants. Some of our favorites were:

1. Bismarck-cito- great seafood. It’s known for lobster I think, but we had clams and clam chowder in a bread bowl, twice.

2. Sorstis: a little off the Malecón, but delicious Italian food and pizza. Very cute for a date night. There was a wedding reception there the night we went, but still plenty of other seating.

3. La Peregrina: Located right off the Malecon. This was a really cute restaurant with indoor/outdoor seating. We went during the day, but I bet it'd be cute lit up at night. We had great woodfire pizza here.

4. Cervezeria: great burritos and happy hour specials.

5. Harker: craft beer with a great beer delivery system on a pulley system from one building to the next. This place also offers a bunch of tours.

6. Mariscos El Toro: this place came up several times on blogs. It was good. Lots of other comparable places though in my opinion, but it was always crowded.

7. Mariscos El Pulpis 2 Chametla: This place wasn't on the Malecon, but it was walking distance to the campground. It is known for its cocoteles (cold seafood), but we were kind of ceviched out at this point and stuck to cooked seafood. This is where Lucy ate MANY marlin tacos.

Beaches

About 40 minutes north of La Paz are some of my favorite beaches in Baja.

Pichilingue:

Pros: beautiful turquoise water, free to park right at the beach, cell service, 2 restaurants on the beach, small and not crowded, very chill, fruit vendors with freshly cut fruit (we got the mango)

Cons: not as pretty or as big as other beaches around there, restaurants weren’t very good and were expensive, can get blocked in during high tide if you don’t know where to park.

Tecolote: my favorite beach

Pros: BEAUTIFUL, free to park right on the beach, several restaurants and vendors with wifi, lots of space

Cons: no cell service- but I suppose that could be a pro depending on what you want

Balandra:

We didn’t go here, but I think it’s regulated in shifts to visit, has a small parking area, but it’s supposed to be gorgeous. There is no overnight parking here.

Next time:

My bucket list next time would be to do a boat tour to Espiritu Santo Island and swim with the sea lions. Finding tours seemed pretty easy along the Malecón.

Questions?

My next post will answer our most frequently asked questions about traveling to Baja and spending 3+ months here. If you have a question, drop it below or send it to me on social media and I'll include it in the post!