La Paz was a pleasant surprise because i wasn’t planning on going, i booked it the day before, and i had zero knowledge about it coming in other than there were whale sharks. and the best surprises come from having zero expectations! :D

like all my trips, i had wanted to end #make2020flouncyagain with a bang (i ended #wanderlustandwifi one year ago in the Amazon), and my whole trip i had whale sharks in the back of my mind. i missed their season in holbox, but they were heading towards la paz in baja california, and since conquering my bucket list is one of my favourite pastimes, whale sharks were a strong motivation for the last hurrah of my trip.

then i got invited on a dream press trip in december so my time in mexico was getting cut short. i booked a flight home from puerto escondido, so i could do my quarantine and be good to go for that trip. it was gonna be BADABINGBADABOOM the best month ever (followed by the next 4-5 months ever — stay tuned !!).

then that trip got cancelled because, well, COVID, so we were back to square one.

i decided not to board my flight home to vancouver and booked a flight to la paz to see the whale sharks after all, instead. and ended up extending my stay for almost a week because it is JUST SO DAMN PLEASANT.

Arriving in La Paz

touching down in baja california felt like a totally different mexico after the yucatan peninsula and oaxaca (see my blog posts here):

baja is dry and desert-y rather than jungly and humid. the temperature here is actually perfect, as you can wear cute vacation-y clothes and not be sweating (tulum or puerto) or freezing (mexico city or oaxaca). in the morning it’s breezy enough to go for a run and in the evening you can even wear an Adventurelust sweatshirt if you want to feel cozy.

La Paz is much more developed and manicured, with paved roads and a bike lane replacing puerto’s sandy streets. there is a beautiful malecon (promenade/seawall) lining the glassy Sea of Cortez, lined with palm trees and elegant statues, sparsely populated with people walking with an ice cream cone, out for a morning jog, or rollerblading. it feels touristy not in that there are a ton of english-speaking tourists or resorts or tacky souvenir shops like playa del carmen, but in that it doesn’t feel like off-the-beaten-path mexico with street dogs joining you for dinner. there are lots of local mexican tourists and people come down from cabo san lucas for the day (it’s about a 2-hour drive). taxis have air conditioning instead of roll-down windows that kinda work, and the wifi actually works here! also you can flush tp down the toilet! also, there are (basically) no mosquitos! these were all welcome changes to my trip after my last 2 months of backpacking.

my fave street in La Paz, up the hill next to Harker

i do have to say, because everyone’s always like “you love everywhere” — overall la paz is not toootally my vibe kinda place, but as i said i came in with zero expectations and it was just a really nice experience for me. very pleasant.

Whale Sharks

the main draw to la paz (at least the reason i’m here) is WHALE SHARKS!! they’re in season october-april (after they’ve made their way over from isla mujeres and holbox). snorkelling with these gentle giants of the sea is one of the top bucket list experiences for any marine life lover.

it’s very regulated so there are only 14 boats allowed at a time, and 1 boat gets to snorkel with the whale shark at a time. the first boat can start snorkelling at 9am but it’s first-come first-served so you may be waiting a couple hours out on the water till your time slot.

i went snorkelling with them with www.lapazwhalesharks.com, who i highly recommend! i was able to collab with them thanks to the owner Morgan and coordinator Neftali, and i also went with them to the beautiful Balandra Beach, the mushroom-shaped rock, and snorkelling with sea lions.

whale sharks are MASSIVE, the biggest fish in the sea, but they’re filter feeders and harmless to humans! (although stay 3m away from their swaying tail cause it might whack you like a barn door). the longest recorded is like 18 m, the one i swam with was about 4 and i still felt like it was the size of a bus. the visibility wasn’t amazing but i jumped in and swam alongside it 3 times and the second time was very mindblowing. it’s crazy to be able to swim along with a creature that huge. i definitely want to spend more time with them but it was a great first experience and i really like how there are a lot of restrictions here to protect the whale sharks.

To Eat / Drink

okay go to La Mentita for yummy healthy food and “No Bad Vibes”, i had a poke bowl here for my first meal and it was such a cute space.

Doce Cuarenta cafe is my fave cafe, loved working from here and the smoothie was bomb.

mexican restaurant Tailhunter has 30-40 peso tacos ($2-3) and they are GOOOOD. i got fish and shrimp and came back for another round (they were right by my hotel)

my friends got hot dogs and hamburgers by the street stand by the malecon (like the part where it extends out kinda by the La Paz sign) they said it was amazing and it looked delish!

Nim for delicious/slightly pricier food, a nice dinner spot

i LOVED La Miserable Mezcaleria! there was a bit of live music in their courtyard and the cocktail was yummy and i don’t even like mezcal.

Harker is the spot!! rooftop bar overlooking the ocean, delicious pizza, and i came back for the veggie omelette. i repeat, this is the spot.

Mariscos Bizmarkcito is always full with locals so usually a vibe (La Paz can be kinda sleepy otherwise), it’s upscale seafood, i got pizza here. v into pizza in case you don’t know me at all.

Bagel Shop if you like bagels (who doesnt)

otherwise i went to a couple bars along the malecon with some new friends one saturday night but it wasn’t really a lot going on (COVID).

Other Stuff

i stayed at Hotel Pekin which is a random hotel for $30 CAD/night, but i LOVED IT!! i never stay in hotels but it was so nice to have my own room for my stay here (i was here 6 days) and it had the most INCREDIBLE OCEAN VIEW. from MY BED. i was obsessed with sunsets and sunrises here.

along with whale sharks, you can also go to Espiritu Santo island, snorkel with sea lions, rent a kayak

go scuba diving (i didn’t go but Cortez Expeditions is the one if you do, Luke’s the best!).

i did an awesome hike up to overlook the beautiful Balandra Beach where the views were insane, but my fave part might have just been the cacti and mountains at the beginning. cacti for days.