So, on our last beach snorkel, we decided to head back to Playa Tecolote.  Unfortunately, the timing with the tides and the Playa Bus meant we would be heading out at a low tide, but we were hopeful all the same.  At least the wind from the past few days had died down and we wouldn’t be bouncing against the rocks!  With that in mind, we packed our snorkel gear, wetsuits and towels and headed down to catch the bus, first stopping for one last visit to a couple of our favorite vendors at the Tuesday market, and then one last coffee and chocolate croissant at Mas bakery – oh, so yummy!

It is important to note that when you visit the farthest beaches here (Balandra and Tecolote) there is no internet.  We had laughed at the adventures of a Youtube celebrity when he decided to take a Didi (the Baja version of Uber) out to visit Balandra without making sure he had a way back.  It was hilarious, as we watched his dawning realization that he was truly stranded.  Of course, it all turned out well when he befriended another couple at the beach and was able to get back into town with them.  But that would never happen to us!  We now consider ourselves to be well versed in all things beach related here in La Paz.

We bought our ticket for the bus, making sure that we had purchased return tickets. On a previous trip out, we had bought one way tickets by mistake!  Oops, won’t do that again!  You can purchase a ticket at the beach, you just have to make sure you have cash. Tickets in hand, we hopped on the bus.  We chatted on the way out with a young woman from Calgary.  She was here in town on her own and headed to another beach for the day.  We gave her some tips on places we really like to eat (another blog post for later!) and said goodbye as she got off at her stop. 

Tecolote is the very last stop on the bus route, but we enjoyed the ride, taking in the views of the beautiful waters off the shore here and thinking it was our last time doing this until we return next winter.  

We got off the bus at the very last place to get off.  At Tecolote, you can hang out in the central area where all the beach restaurants are, head to the right to do some snorkeling or go to the left end of the beach.  This is where we were headed.  We dropped our gear, donned the wetsuits and headed into the calm blue waters.  It was so warm today, we probably didn’t even need our suits, but since we had them we were going to wear them.  Our first view, once we put our masks in the water, was of a large school of pale little fish that we often spot off the shores here.  I didn’t get a good enough look at them to make an id, but there were a lot!  We moved on, towards the rocks where we had seen so many colourful fish before but today they all seemed to be somewhere else!  We swam all the way out to the little beach we had gone to before and saw nothing at all!  What a disappointment!  Our very last snorkel in La Paz and we were skunked!  As we made our way slowly back to the beach, I thought to myself, well, at least we got out and had some exercise today. 

We got out, rinsed off the suits and sat in the sun to dry off.  Jim wasn’t feeling too great and for a bit, we thought of just catching the early bus back to town.  However, after a rest he felt better and so we headed over to the little restaurant to grab some beer and fish tacos.  We had forgotten how big the portions are here and ended up with WAY too much food, but we packed it away, thinking it would make a good leftover dinner. 

Beers finished, it was getting close to the time we needed to head over and catch the bus, so Jim went up to pay the bill.  We have eaten at so many restaurants down here, and often have used our credit card to pay, so today we hadn’t given it any thought, assuming that we would use our card for lunch.  So, imagine our surprise when the guy at the till said it was cash only.  Oh well, cash it would be.  Except, except except… remember we had stopped at a couple of vendors and then had coffee?  Well, that had used up the extra cash we had and so we didn’t have enough to pay for our lunch!!!!  What?????  How is that even possible????  I guess we had gotten just a bit too comfortable and thought we were prepared when we actually weren’t!  Jim walked down to another restaurant, where they do take credit, to see if there was a cash machine, but of course, there wasn’t.  And while he was doing this, the bus we had wanted to take back came and went.  Jim returned and we sat and tried to figure out how we were going to get out of this pickle.  There were other tourists around, but I just couldn’t make myself go up and explain what a couple of dummies we were to anyone, so in the end, we left Jim’s driver’s license with them, promising that we would be back in the morning with the money we owed (it was about $20).  Good grief!!! How absolutely embarrassing!  We wandered down to the other end of the beach to wait another 1 1/2 hours for the last bus of the day back.  We did have enough pesos to buy a beer each, but the wait seemed to take forever.  When, at long last, the bus arrived, we piled on for the ride home, not quite as cheerful as we had been on the way out.  

The next morning, our very last day in La Paz, we woke up early, ate a quick breakfast and dropped off our last load of laundry to be done for this trip.  Then we had to decide how best to get to the beach to square our bill from yesterday.  The cheapest option would be to take the Playa Bus out and back, but this would eat up most of the day and so we decided to spend the bucks and take a cab – all the way out and all the way back.  The guys at the restaurant were cheerful and happily accepted the large tip that Jim added to our bill and our driver also happily accepted the tip we handed him when we arrived back in town.  So, what was the total cost of our lunch yesterday?  Well, the original 385 pesos had ballooned to 1000, factoring in the tips and taxi ride.  That’s quite a lot for two beers and two fish tacos!  I mean, they were good and all but 1000 pesos??????  In case you are wondering, that’s about $61.00 Canadian.  What you might pay for a decent meal at home.  And really, could you get a better view for a meal?  

So, thus ends this cautionary tale of life in La Paz.  When you go out to the beach, make sure you have enough cash, make sure you know if you will need internet, and make sure you ask if they take credit!!!!!!  We have spend the rest of today packing up and making sure we are ready to head out tomorrow.  Tonight we will dine at a restaurant we enjoy (where we KNOW they take credit), watch our last sunset here and go to bed dreaming of our return to La Paz next winter.