City of La Paz

On our drive down the Baja peninsula we have traveled through several mountain ranges but I did not have their names until now.  Our guide for the city tour explained that the mountains on the north end of Baja are called the Sierra San Francisco, the mid peninsula mountains are the Giant Mountains and near La Paz and down to Cabo are the Sierra Agua or Lake Mountains.  

Our first stop on our city tour was at the city museum where we learned the history of the Baja from the early indians to modern day. We also gained some knowledge about the history of Mexico in general and the Baja in particular.  La Paz was founded in the late 1800’s as a fishing port. Since the Sea of Cortez feeds into the Pacific Ocean, the food fish are plentiful for the ocean fish to feed on.  This makes commercial fishing along the end of Baja very profitable.  But when the recession hit the continent in late 1980’s the fishing also went down and La Paz was hurting.  It was then the Mexican government stepped in and created a tourist industry for Cabo which extended up to La Paz.  Today 80% of the industry in La Paz is tourism and 20% is government.

We then stopped at the Lady of La Paz Cathedral.  Established in 1720 by Jesuit priests it was the 7th mission in Baja with the church in Loreto as number one. It is made mostly of pink limestone and built in the Spanish style except for the roof which is of French design since this area was occupied by the French at that time.  As in most Mexican towns, the church is on one side of the city square with the government buildings on the opposite side.  We then visited a bakery, the vegetable and meat market and the junk shops on the Malecon/sea shore.

We had a large lunch at a restaurant on the Malecon.  I ordered fried Red Snapper and got a whole fish!  It was not only interesting to look at but very tasty.