Arrived in La Paz at 5:30 tonight

We left El Rosario yesterday morning, hoping to reach Loreto, not only did we get a late start but we spent an hour or more in Guerrero Negro having a nice lunch before continuing on.  We spent last night at El Morro Hotel high on a cliff just south of Santa Rosalia.  The scenery all day long, yesterday, was breathtakingly beautiful.  Cactus of all varieties, more than you'd ever see anywhere, boulders of all sizes, palo verde trees, and mostly gently winding roads through hills and valleys.  The steep valley just before Santa Rosalia is named Cuesta Inferno.  There doesn't seem to be an understandable translation, but we think it must be something like Hell's Valley or Canyon.  The road is steeply curved for maybe 4-5 miles, from the top of a mountain down to the shore.  And the view was breathtaking, all the way down.

Today we had a special treat.  Our close cruising friends, Rob and Linda on Cat'n About, are anchored at Puerto Escondido, just south of Loreto.  We stopped off to visit them -- it's been almost two years since we last saw each other -- and after an hour of non-stop talking had to say goodbye for now so we could drive to La Paz before nightfall.  They'll be back in La Paz in about a week, just enough time for us to get Damiana back together -- so we'll have lots of time to visit, play cards, and enjoy La Paz with them.

Dusk set in around 4:30, so we didn't make it into La Paz before nightfall, but we're so familiar with this area that we continued on, drove through town to Costa Baja, the marina (and resort) where we keep Damiana.  Roy got on board and opened the hatches, removed the mildew retardant bags that were still hanging, and without any further delay drove up to the hotel on premises where we are now.  We'll move onto the boat tomorrow.

For those who were worried about our driving down, we can assure you that we saw nothing worrisome.  We were waved through 3 or 4 military checkpoints by smiling Mexican soldiers, seemingly happy to have American visitors in spite of all the negative publicity.

We have finished off another bottle of Tempranillo with Manchego and Goat Cheese and crackers, so off to bed for a good night's sleep.

~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~