Saturday, July 16, 2011

No Comments?


       Anyone out there? I’m still learning and am not sure I have the options set correctly. Please do me a favor and try to post a comment. Has 'Blogging for Nimrods' been written yet? I’m back in La Paz for a few weeks with time to figure this out. Any language is fine, Urdu even, I would really like to see if it works. Since I’m back where I can’t order food without pointing, pay without holding out a handful of change or get a plastic bag without an interpretive dance it really doesn’t matter if I understand the comments. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll probably use a translating program out of sheer curiosity and gratitude.

     La Paz is a wonderful city. If you’ve never been, put it on your list. It’s easy to fly here, so I did when the house in Los Angeles where I’ve been staying sold. The future is a wide open blur again, just the way I like it. Seven years ago a talented medium told me I would be living near a church with two towers. A little vague, but every time I moved somewhere new she asked me to send her a picture of the local church. I have many times and none of them matched her mental image, until now. I sent her this picture and sure enough it’s the one. I first visited La Paz twenty years ago and the city keeps drawing me back, confirmation from the great beyond accepted.  

    Cathedral de Nuestra Señora de la Paz (Our Lady of Peace) is a simple stone building dating back to 1860. The city took its name from the church and the park in front of the simple facade is alive with family entertainment such as bingo, puppet shows, music etc. In the evening it’s a lovely, low key place to absorb the culture. And the pews are a fine place to sit quietly when it’s too hot to do anything outside but fry bacon on the sidewalk. The chunky black object in the foreground is a replica of the famous Mushroom Rock of Ballandra Bay just south of La Paz. Rumor has it the real rock was destroyed in a storm, but reproduced and replaced so visitors would not be disappointed and this is a spare in case it happens again.


     There is another Catholic church, a good walk from downtown and much larger than the modest original church. As things go it will be a long while before it is finished, understandably the project has been affectionately nicknamed Our Lady of Perpetual Construction. Southern Baja has very few problems, except a lack of tourism as a result of U.S. State Department warnings about visiting Mexico, but how can anyone resist visiting when natural wonders are faked just to keep tourists happy?






3 comments:

  1. Hi Catherine: You have inspired me to visit La Paz. I love the Sea of Cortez, anyway. Enjoy your posts immensely. Hugs Kathryn

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  2. Commenting as requested! Keep 'em coming... always a great pleasure to read your blog!

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  3. Catherine - I'm here! I wish I was there!
    Larry

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