Today is our longest driving day so far. It’s a 4.5 hour trip south to reach La Paz, our next destination. We arrive at our campground of choice at 3pm and are happy to find spots available. We always try to arrive at our next spot between noon and 3pm as it’s late enough that people have packed up and left but soon enough that a new round of travelers haven’t yet arrived. Sure enough a half dozen more campers arrive shortly after we got settled.
One of the perks of being at a secure campground is that we’re comfortable leaving our trailer there while we take the truck out around the city. We didn’t waste any time getting to Walmart (which feels really weird to say since we rarely frequent them in the states). This is the largest city we’ve been to in all of Baja by a long shot and the opportunity to pick up some groceries and supplies that we couldn’t get anywhere else was an exciting one.
I’ve had a running Walmart list going for the last few weeks and we only were able to find about half of what we were looking for. This got me thinking a lot about wants vs needs. In the states, when I make a list, I expect to find most of what I’m looking for. Here, I know I can’t count on that. So as we unloaded our groceries in to the camper I noticed how stoked I was for what we did find rather than being frustrated for what we didn’t get. That’s when I realized that the majority of our list was comprised of things that would be nice to have, not things we necessarily needed.
I think the word need is used rather loosely. If we were to get better about citing our true needs vs wants we might find that we already have most of what we need and then some.
I flew into La Paz for a Mexican writers conference about fifteen years ago. Spent a few nights there bundled into the same hotel, attending readings all day long and hanging out at night. The city occupies a lovely setting right on the water. But you know that already. Smart idea to stay in a hosted campground. Security is always an issue. I am happy for you being free to drive where you want. We took a one-day charter bus trip to Todos Santos and Cabo San Lucas. The cape region is magnificent. But I would not want to be there during hurrican season. Good thing you aren’t there that time of year. Thank you again for your welcome words and photos.
La Paz is a great city, though a little big for us. Such a great location though, right on the water. You’re right about hurricane season though, the central area of Baja definitely suffered from Hurricane Kay last fall.