Do not pop into La Terraza in La Paz in hope of getting a quick snack. A pioneer among Mexico’s sidewalk cafes, a plaque on the wall reveals La Terraza has been a landmark along the shores of the Sea of Cortés for nearly seven decades. A few of the customers look like they have been nursing the same beer ever since the place opened.
Some folk may not be overly impressed that La Terraza dates back only to 1940, but in 1940 there was precious little going on in La Paz. The town lived up to its name. It still does. “Somnolent” might describe it better.
They say things are about to pick up. But then they have been saying this for years. “Things are about to pick up” might well be engraved somewhere as the municipal motto.
La Paz appeals to vacationers who cannot afford the prices in Los Cabos, some 200 kilometers down the Baja California peninsula. Or vacationers who simply object to paying something like a peso per meter to ride in a taxi. All right, that is an exaggeration. Wholesale rates are available for longer rides. In La Paz, the best beaches are a little way from town, but at least transportation is cheap or, in the case of Tecolote – a 25 kilometer ride and famous for its seaside restaurant -- completely free.
Fishing, kayaking, snorkeling and scuba diving bring vacationers to La Paz. Winter is the best time of year to be there. The peninsula sizzles in the summer. During winter, whale watching is in season. The creatures – ugly but friendly 60-ton gray whales on their honeymoons – usually leave in March, starting a long swim up to the Arctic Ocean. They return for the Christmas holidays.
Kayaks also come from Alaska and other lands in the far north although I doubt that has anything to do with the whales. Kayaks originally were Eskimo canoes, watertight and entirely covered with animal hides except for an opening into which one or two people can squeeze in. In La Paz they are made of plastic. Double-bladed paddles keep them moving. Aficionados head off to one of the remote spots along the shore or to Espíritu Santo, or one of the other islands, where they will camp overnight, serenaded by sea lions and squawking birds.
Snorkeling – peering through goggles beneath the waves while breathing through a tube – usually is part of a kayaking expedition. Sea lions take delight in playing with snorkeling swimmers. No one ever gets hurt, or so I am told. Scuba diving – breathing from a tank of air while swimming several meters beneath the surface – is more complicated and requires special equipment as well as special training. Both, however, are spectacular in the Sea of Cortés with its giant manta rays and fish far bigger than the dwarfs that inhabit the coral reefs of the Caribbean.
The really huge creatures, of course, lurk the deep waters further off shore. Marlin and sailfish and lesser game fish first brought tourists to La Paz and are the reason so many keep coming back.
La Paz, with 250,000 inhabitants, is a real city, capital of Baja California Sur, a bit of provincial Mexico by the sea. Being a free port, it has some surprisingly attractive shops. Cosmetics are an especially good buy. The choice of restaurants is ample and while none would win any prizes, several at least are quite good. Most, like La Terraza, are located along the Malecón, also the address of a few nightclubs, discotheques and several bars featuring live music.
No one worries about thieves skulking in the streets after midnight. No army of vendors has seized the sidewalks and no beggars cluster about cars waiting for the few traffic lights to change.
Europeans are beginning to discover La Paz. Englebert Humperdink bought a hotel there a few years ago and he seems to be doing better as an absentee innkeeper than he is as a crooner. His name lures in the continentals.
Americans are coming in, too, in increasing numbers, although nothing that anyone would call a mob. La Paz is more of a cult travel destination, the thinking man’s Baja, one might say.
Investors also have plans to construct two golf courses where none exist now. Los Cabos, meanwhile, has more than any other area in Mexico and is building more. But I have to be realistic. Cabo San Lucas, with its Cabo Wabo and Squid Row, boasts its own Hard Rock Cafe and table dancing emporiums, not to mention a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet and a Pizza Hut.
In La Paz you have to make do with La Terraza, a sidewalk cafe that’s nearly seventy years old with service that is anything but swift. True, it is not the only place in town to eat, but it is the only place you do not want to miss.
Just allow them plenty of time to bring you the check.
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