Today we had no tours planned. It was to be a beach day and a day to recover from the gentle sway that only sea legs can appreciate.
Well, it wasn’t exactly a day without a schedule. We’re Geissinger’s after all! Our plan was to eat-in: scrambled eggs and left over carne asada taco fixins from a few nights before. Then a gentle stroll along the now very familiar Malecón seeking the public bus depot. We had learned that a Playa Bus (Beach Bus) traveled frequently to the remote beaches for a reasonable fee and this was suggested to us (remember Amalia from Alonso Tours?)
It might be helpful to know that we have tried our very best to research how to visit the beaches of El Telecote and Balandra. Balandra is a protected area and requires a digital pass for one of two 4-hour windows. They actually kick everyone out at noon and admit the next group in at 1:00, with the aid of a loud speaker and fake police siren sounds, just in case you don’t understand Spanish instructions…..the blaring siren is obvious enough! They suggest you arrive up to an hour before your entry time as once the park admits 450 individuals, no further admission will be allowed. Sounds like a circumstance we wanted to avoid.
So back to this Playa Bus. In theory, this is a wonderful idea. Some sort of public transportation that runs up and down the 15 miles road connecting La Paz to these magnificent and remote beaches — just buy a ticket (still not sure if you pay for a round trip fare up front or just a one-way fare as needed). It’s even advertised as a sort of Hop On Hop-Off style.
Incorrecto! (That’s actually the Spanish word – look it up!)
We arrived at the bus depot at 8:00 on the dot. Asked about the Playa Bus and the lady selling bus tickets suddenly decided she can sell all bus tickets except for the Playa Bus. However she pointed out the back doors towards the reversing and departing Playa Bus and waived us along hurriedly. With the four of us holding a beach umbrella, towels and beach bags full of the day’s drinks and snacks the driver of the Beach Bus seemingly ignores the obvious attempts to flag him down. Finished reversing, he then puts the machine in drive and proceeds to exit the small bus terminal.
The a sweet little janitor sets down her mop and motions us to return to the bus depot waiting room, then hurries us out the front door. We were now going to cut off the driver at the stop sign out front – a fresh attempt to board the Beach Bus.
In a flurry of Spanish words and gestures – the driver made it clear that we were not to board the bus and we should wait until 9. Dejected, we turned on our heels and pondered our next move. We would get to the beach today. Wandering a bit back on the Malecón, we found the local La Paz letter sign for a family picture just to help pass the time.
At 9 am we arrive back at the bus depot, as instructed. Others were now gathering, so this felt a bit better knowing that tourists from Seattle and French Canada (jerks!) all shared similar plans for the day. After watching larger commuter buses come and go, the Playa Bus finally sashays into the terminal, mind you, it’s now 9:15 (so much for the schedule) and just when you’d think he would pull up to the sunscreen lathered beachgoers….nope, he backs into a spot on the far side of the terminal and seemingly shuts off the engine.
Wait, what????!!!
I only tell this story to help convey the utter frustration we were all feeling. Why was this so hard? Why wouldn’t this be a better system for such a popular destination? So we broke down and ordered a DiDi (a different kind of Über) and within minutes Jesus had us piled into his silver Hyundai and we were headed north out of town, nearly unable to shake the frustration of our morning and the regret of not calling for the DiDi at 8:05 after the very first turn in this unfortunate sequence of events.
It wasn’t easy to shake the those feelings but we wouldn’t let it spoil our day. Jesus was nice enough and attempted to chat with us – but Spanish is not our strength and English wasn’t his – and the further north we drove the worse the signal would become to support our Translate app!
We arrived at La Playa Balandra at 10:00 and so we had 2 hours before the morning visitors would be asked to leave. We made a plan with Jesus (to be clear – our DiDi driver was named Jesus.) — he would return at noon to pick us up and take us north to the next beach – El Tecolote.
Don’t worry – I’m about talk about the beaches, but I have one more rant – the nice man guarding the Balandra Beach entrance reminded us of the rules and asked if we had our digital pass. Which of course we didn’t. He shrugged his shoulders and let us proceed. I swear – everything we read online about how to visit arguably one of Mexico’s top 5 beaches was wildly unclear, misleading and flat out incorrecto!
Okay – from here on we had nothing but amazing experiences. So let’s get to it!
Out fist impression of Playa Balandra was amazement. An enormous bay of crystal clear water only 2-3 feet deep nearly all the way across. Along this first beach’s shoreline were numerous Palpamas, thatched tiki umbrellas set in the sand on thick wooden poles. This bay is more like a bay within a bay, surrounded by tall rocky hills spectacled with the Mexican giant cardon (side note: this iconic tree-sized cactus is actually the world’s tallest cactus, reaching up to 60 feet tall)! After setting up our umbrella and parking our stuff firmly in the sand we set off into the crystal clear water to explore this park. Seclusion and pristineness – two words to describe what we saw. In waist deep water we found adorable puffer fish happily cruising the bay, even some sort of large needle fish poking around.
The bay was shaped a bit like a snowman, with half-moon beaches separated by rocky inserts and more beaches around the next corner. Our goal was to see the famous Balandra Beach Mushroom.
Insert google message here: The Mushroom Rock (“El Hongo”) at Balandra Beach in La Paz, Mexico, is an iconic natural, gravity-defying rock formation shaped by centuries of wind and water erosion. Located in a shallow, turquoise bay, it is a protected, must-see landmark accessible via a shallow walk. The rock was famously repaired with cement after being knocked down.
I actually mapped our route on Google Maps and the round trip “hike” through water and along the shoreline was nearly one mile, but a fun adventure….except for the jelly stings Kaia got on her ankle. While we all understood a good dousing of pee would provide much needed relief, nature just wasn’t calling for the rest of us so……As we returned to our umbrella spot for a drink and snack we were already getting the warning messages on the handheld PA systems. I thought of the familiar late night announcement: “attention K-mart shoppers…..”
We packed up and made our way along the road the taxi meeting point and sure enough, right on time was Jesus, rolling up to take us to our next beach experience. What a sweetie pie, as we open the trunk to dump our belongings……there was a plastic bag with 4 large bottles of water! 🥹 Just 1 1/2 miles up the road (honestly if and when I return, we could have walked) we arrived at Playa El Telecote. This northern most point of the La Paz peninsula faces Espiritu Santo (home to yesterday’s adventures) with nothing but the royal blue ocean waters between.
Another wildly spectacular beach with views one could only dream about….or photograph in order to properly remember! However, a totally different vibe than the nature park status of Balandra. El Tecolote was instead a classic Baja California beach side destination. In the center were a slew of beach bars and beach rentals. On either side families fanned out with their umbrellas and chairs. Further in each direction vans, RVs, travel trailers overlanders were spread out. Like a scene from Mad Max, these vehicles ranged from expensive Mercedes sprinter vans to classic rusted out Winnebagos, and everything in between. On a short walk through this informal campsite I even found (and photographed) a road runner! Super cool!
From our new spot the spectrum of colors before us was breathtaking. First, crystal clear water lapping gently at the shore. Seriously, like bottled water – it was that clear. Then shades of turquoise that would make the Navajo Indians a little jealous, Then much further out the striking navy blue, deep blue water of the Pacific (technically still the waters of the Gulf of California, though Google Maps tells me we are just 112 miles away from the Pacific, just north of the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula.
Two hours at this beach was just right – sure we could have stayed longer, but it was time to get a last load of laundry going and organize for the next mornings departure – headed back to Mexico City for the second leg of our trip.
Dinner at Bismarkcito for some amazing shrimp machaca tacos and another excellent margarita! La Paz was a wonderful place to vacation. Not an unfriendly person to be found (except that Playa Bus Driver – but he was probably just misunderstood). The vibe was casual, authentic, party-ish. We agreed it was an excellent representation of Mexican beach life. The world is a big place but La Paz should make any travelers list. And while I haven’t been to Cabo myself, I’ve heard that those who make La Paz a day-trip from Cabo wish they had it the other way around.
I hope I always remember: whale sharks, sea lions, flying rays, margaritas, genial Mexican smiles, the Malecón and her statues and those warm, even fiery, colors of her sunsets. Every one of our four sunsets were equally stunning!