With our official business in La Paz complete, I want to explore the city. We ask directions to the Old Town and the Malacon; navigate there easily and find a suitable parking space. It is a glorious day; hot but cooled by the sea breeze with a clear and blinding blue sky above and intoxicating turquoise water beyond in the bay; perfection. We wander; poke into a few shops and one charming gallery where an endearing clay monster calls to me and I adopt him. The shop keeper carefully wraps his protruding extremities in bubble wrap; I part with my $15.00 and we continue our leisurely stroll. We want to exchange a $100 American bill and stop into several banks before finding one that will accept American currency. Finally successful and hungry, we begin our search for a restaurant for lunch. For those of you who don’t know our bad habits, Art and I have an extremely difficult time deciding on any restaurant. Art is always certain that a better choice is just around the corner; or we have different criteria, so we often read menu after menu before making a decision. Today is no different, but we eventually ask the advice of an inn keeper and following his directions we choose an open air restaurant along the Malacon. I think that Art and I both know that the food here will leave us disappointed but nevertheless, we order a platter of the days catch to share. We are visiting off season and there are not a lot of tourists in town; a good thing. A large soft drink truck is making it’s delivery to the restaurant, blocking our ocean view and the food is disappointing. We hastily depart La Paz for our drive back towards San Jose Los Cabos.
I love road trips, especially when I am not the driver and I successfully navigate us through the maze of La Paz and back onto highway 1 heading south. When Art grows tired, I take over the driving and when we pass through El Triunfo, Art spots a road side gallery of some interest and suggests that we turn around. I make an abrupt U turn and pull off into the dirt parking area in front of a simple roadside shop. A lone man sits reading in a chair on the raised shaded porch of the shop. After brief introductions and a look around the gallery, he invites us to sit down and visit. Link is in his mid to late 60’s. He has opted for Mexican citizenship and has purchased considerable property in El Triunfo where he is has built his home and is the process of constructing an inn. He has a local sweetheart. Before long, the three of us hop into our rental car to drive the short distance back into town so that he can show us his digs and to share a drink together. El Triunfo was a mining town and the smelting tower still stands, constructed by Eiffel. We walk the circle of the town in just a few minutes ending back at the local cafe, resurrected by a California man from Camarillo. Link orders a beer and Art and I share a coffee. The pastries are heavenly. We depart two hours later with regrets and drive another hour towards Los Barriles where we find a room at the Los Barriles Hotel, recommended by Link.
Art wishes to rest so I leave him napping and I walk down to the beach to enjoy the magic of the afternoon light on the water. Los Barriles is an American enclave. There is not much that is authentic here, but the evening light on the bay glows bright. A few local men fish for their catch and ostentatious American yachts are moored in the tranquil bay beyond. After an hour wandering along the beach, I return to our large, simple and clean motel room and rouse Art. We set out in search of dinner but the restaurant choices are few. I do not want to settle on the sports bar so we walk a block further down the street until we are accosted by a woman from Tahatchapi, California, who recently opened a small sushi restaurant in Barriles. She guilt trips us into eating at her establishment but happily our decision results in two of the most delicious Tempura Shrimp dinners that we have ever eaten. Her small establishment fills up with another 4 or 6 patrons and we nosh and drink heartily before walking back to our motel. Art and I take a late night dip in the hotels pool; another couple also enjoys the cool of the water on a warm Baja night.