La Paz

One of the things that this city is famous for is the Malecón - the 3 mile long walk that skirts the edge of the bay.  On Monday afternoon we decided to sneak in a walk before we went to dinner.  Someday we want to catch the sunset but with the time change the sun sets at 5:45pm!  I'm not usually thinking about the sunset at 5pm.  We missed it the first few days we were here and still haven't had an actual sunset experience, but it's reportedly the "best in Mexico", according to travel websites galore!  So we'll have to be sure to experience that a few times.

Ice cream is a must when walking on the Malecón - and we found Maracuya ice cream - a family favorite!

Life in Mexico...

For starters, our washer works great but it does not dry our clothes (contrary to what the owner told us)

Our house.  We have a front and garage doors at the sidewalk but the entire property is walled and the actual entrance to the house is the door you see back by the car.  So the carport is the front "porché" or "patio" as I learned in my Spanish class this week.

Of course, homeschool traveled with us.  I do love diligent, intense focus!

I've explored several grocery stores so far.  There is a Walmart here, which feels very much like a Walmart anywhere else in the world.  Around the corner is the grocery store Chihualdi which is like a BiMart - it's cheap and not that healthy but for a quick need like milk or toilet paper, it's very convenient.  Yesterday Shannon and I drove to Soriana Hiper which is very much like a Fred Meyer - clean, wide aisles, not cheap, but decent quality.  There were clothes and Christmas decorations and tools and all the main food things you'd need.  We stocked up on some things there.  There is one more superhercado that my spanish teacher recommended - Aramburo - that I want to try but it's a little out of my normal driving path so it entails a special trip.  The Soriana and Walmart I pass on my way to spanish class.

We've eaten a lot of tacos here.  Both restaurant and home made.  I mean, what else is there to eat?  

Things that we noticed:

We're particular about our bread and all bread here is highly processed.  Orowheat is an imported brand and pretty expensive, as well as hard to find.  There are not tortilla chips sold in stores except a certain type that are used for Chiliquiles.  (Which by the way, are a delightful breakfast staple that I'm going to have to start making).  These chips are thicker and not as deep fried.  I like them - they are more substantial.  But where are my JUANITAS from Oregon!!  ;-)

We can get all the same produce that we would find in the U.S, but not things pre-made like bagged salads.  We've been a little hesitant about lettuce while we get our washing stations figured out.  We are trying to avoid unhappy tummies in little kids so we've been fairly careful with what fruits and veggies we buy.  There is lots of yogurt.  Yogurt is a MAJOR food here.  International brands are easy to come by such as Dannon and Yoplait and even Oikos, as well as Mexican brands.  I eat dairy-free usually so I've been grateful to find Silk single-servings.  We eat yogurt with granola pretty much every morning.  There's also boxed dairy-free milk, lots of boxed cow milk, and refrigerated cow milk.  Josh was hoping for lunch meat but it's rare and not very appealing to us.  The hot sauce aisle makes him happy though.  Each hot sauce is under $1 USD and he has been buying every single one that appeals to him to try.

The kids have cousins here and so they've spent oodles of time in the pool, reading together, playing hide and seek, learning new Spanish words, playing games, and eating.