La Paz, Mexico 7:00 to 3:00
For a change, we went to breakfast earlier than Jon and Michelle. Their hiking/beach tour wasn't scheduled to start until 9 am and we needed to be off the ship by 8 am to catch the shuttle into the town of La Paz.
The ship was docked about 11 miles north of downtown La Paz and a shuttle was available to passengers...$14 each for a round trip ticket. We had purchased our tickets in advance for the 8 am shuttle and I was concerned that we needed to make sure we didn't miss our bus. I needn't have worried. When we got off the ship there were maybe half a dozen busses lined up. No one even checked the time on our tickets. We could have easily come an hour later and been fine.
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| A shuttle bus waiting to load by the ship. |
The ride to La Paz took about 30 minutes as we drove through desert-like terrain full of cacti. The bus made one stop for anyone who wanted to go to the beach (no one did) before pulling into the bus station right by the Malecon. Once we arrived I was happy we had chosen to come early while the temperatures were still on the cooler side.
The wind was gusting off of the water as we walked along the Malecon near the bus station. There were numerous sculptures that upon closer inspection revealed they were constructed from old gun parts!
My knee was stiff and sore but Bob was patient and we kept going slowly, going inland a block towards Our Lady of Peace Cathedral (Nuestra Señora de La Paz in Spanish). We arrived at the church just ahead of a tour bus full of people (good timing!) Watching as they were rushed in and out quickly, I was glad we were on our own schedule.
After meandering in and out of a few shops and exploring the area near the Malecon, we made our way back to the bus station. I needed to use the restroom and knew I had seen one in the bus station but when we got there it was locked up and no one around to inquire about a key. A bus was just starting to load so I convinced myself that I could just wait until we got back to the port.
Luckily there was a restroom as we entered the terminal building at the port. Once that need was taken care of, it was time to shop in the outdoor market set up by the ship. My knee had just about reached its limit of steps by then, but I really wanted to find birthday gifts for our two granddaughters. I found some pretty inlaid silver turtle earrings that I thought would be perfect for the oldest (who loves turtles!) I bargained a little with the seller and when I decided to get a second similar pair for the other granddaughter we agreed on the price of $21 total for both pairs.
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| The craft market at the port. |
Back on the ship, Bob and I got pizza and brought it back to enjoy on our balcony. We were sitting in the shade and it was rather cool, but oh so much nicer than what we would have been experiencing back in Minnesota. Having access to cell service in the port, we were hearing rumors of a winter storm that was headed towards our home town.
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| Dinner with a view. |
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| Construction near the ship. |
Bob and I both took naps after lunch and I woke up when Michelle texted that they were back on the ship. They had enjoyed their day but Michelle admitted I would have struggled on the hiking portion of the tour.
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| Jon & Michelle on the hiking portion of their tour. |
I wanted to watch as the Ruby sailed away from La Paz, but by that time our balcony was in full sun and too hot for my comfort. I convinced Bob that we should go sit at the back of the ship on Deck 16 overlooking the Terrace Pool below. This area just outside Sabatini's and Adagio Lounge was set up with upholstered arm chairs and wooden tables. What?! I couldn't imagine having living room type furniture outdoors but they must have just carried it out for the day. We went back to check later in the cruise and it was all back inside Adagio.
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| Sailing away from the port of Pichilingue |
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| So strange to see this kind of furniture on an outdoor deck! |
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| On our way to Mazatlán. |
An even bigger discovery was that when we walked through the Cafe Caribe on the way back to our cabin it was set up for "afternoon snacks" and they were serving fresh scones! It was too close to dinner time to indulge and probably a good thing I hadn't discovered this earlier in our cruise! (Have I mentioned how much we love the scones on Princess?!)
Even though we arrived at the MDR earlier than normal for dinner, it was on the later side when we left because Jon had ordered a second main dish part way through our meal. Michelle and the guys went ahead to get seats in the theater while I stopped at the shore excursions desk. After rebooking the earlier shuttle I needed to turn in our original tickets so we could get a credit for those tickets (as I had been told yesterday.) But...when I explained this to the guy working behind the desk he seemed skeptical and didn't want to process the refund. He went to the back office to discuss the matter with a supervisor and eventually came out and agreed that they would credit our account. After getting so much conflicting information about the shuttle bus in the first place, I was really fed up with the shore excursions department after this last encounter.
Luckily the others had been able to save me a seat because I walked into the theater just as Don Ellis Gatlin was beginning his show, "A Tribute to Musical Heroes". He was joined by Jay Smith on violin. It is always fun to hear popular songs that you can sing along with!
Michelle and I had talked to some ladies in the restroom after dinner and heard that the comedian, Steve Caouette, was pretty entertaining. The four of us made it to Club Fusion just in time for his 8 pm show. He was really funny and did clean material which was refreshing.
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| "Laugh Lounge" in Club Fusion |
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