Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!  We hope that everyone had a fantastic Christmas and are now enjoying some well deserved time off work, school etc!  

Leaving Catalina Island, we were headed for the Greyhound bus, bound south for San Diego.  After a ferry trip, train trip, 3 hours in a queue at the bus terminal, then the painfully slow bus trip, what was realistically a 3 hour trip turned into a day long journey... But we finally made it alive, notwithstanding the horror stories of the Greyhound bus system in the USA being 100% accurate!

We spent a chilly two days in San Diego, where we visited Old Town (dating back to the 1800's) and went ice skating which, I can tell you, is a lot harder than it looks but heaps of fun!  We also played giant chess and went on some free rides at the Pier.

We then caught the Trolley to the Tijuana border where we crossed as easily as crossing the street! We paid for a Tourist Card, had our passports stamped and 'Voila!', we were in Mexico.  Straight from Tijuana we jumped on a bus headed south down Baja California to La Paz. Before we left for our trip, Mum had the best intentions of learning some Spanish and teaching me some also... however, the trip inched closer and closer and well... it never happened.  Upon entering Mexico, it became immediately apparent that this was a big mistake... HUGE!!  The notion that many people in Mexico would speak a little English is completely false.... all I can say is Thank Gosh for our Lonely Planet Phrase Book which helped Mum muddle her way to buy the bus tickets, transfer at the next station, board the right bus and finally, after a 24 trip, make it to La Paz with little to no injuries (except for Mum's pride!)....  Oh, and also my travel sickness which, until this trip, we didn't even know was an issue.... I managed to soil our sleeping bag with a power chuck thanks to the bumpy, winding roads... I must say "Thankyou" to the kind hombre who lent me his packet of wet-ones!! Gracias!!

So, we made it to La Paz where we then found ourselves stranded for the next week due to the seasons festivities... but that was alright! La Paz is a beautiful coastal working class community which was extra vibrant because of Christmas.  Here we visited a really cool Whale Museum where I learnt all about whales and dolphins.  I got to hold a whales tooth (they are really heavy!) and see the skeleton of a massive Blue Whale.  While in La Paz I got a haircut, ate some yummy ice-cream, made pancakes, found  Rapunzel's tower and helped Mum with life's boring chores like the laundry...

We celebrated Navidad (Christmas in Spanish) by attending a midnight mass on Christmas Eve.  We had seen many beautiful nativity scenes around the town however, we couldn't work out why there was no baby Jesus in any of them.  When we went to visit the Cathedral a couple of days ago, a lady there told us that the baby Jesus is brought out at midnight mass on Christmas Eve.  So we went to the service along with many others and although it was a bit boring because everything was in Spanish and we couldn't really understand, we did get to sing along to a couple of songs like "Silent Night" when we recognised the tune.  At the end of the mass we lined up to have our turn at kissing the baby Jesus before it was placed onto the nativity scene.  It was very beautiful in the cathedral with lots of lights and big chandeliers sparkling everywhere.

We awoke Christmas morning and Mum and I exchanged our presents.  I got a cool book about Whales and the Marine Life of Baja California and  a whistle, some hair ties and a hair clip.  I also got the Narnia 3 DVD, but it turned out that it was just filmed in the cinema (in 3D no less so it is all blurry!) and it is in Spanish.... I had a go at watching it but lost interest quite quickly!!  For Christmas, I bought Mum a Central America travel guide, a DVD and 6 bracelets... Mum gave me 30 Mexican Pesos (around $3) to spend and I found out that I could get 6 bracelets with this money so that is what I bought!!

The rest of our Christmas was very cruisy... we read our books, had a party with Ascot on the roof of our hostel, pampered ourselves with hair and face masks and painted our nails. We also got to talk with Dad, Nana & the Owens on Skype which was exciting! On Christmas night, we went for a walk along the Malecon and saw all the children with their new bikes and remote control cars out playing. There was a small fair set up and I got to go on a whirrly ride...

Now that Christmas is over, and the La Paz transport system is back up and running it is time to move on.  Goodbye to Pension California (our home for the last week), goodbye to our favourite taco stand (the beef tacos are divine!) and goodbye to La Paz... Tonight we are catching an overnight ferry to mainland Mexico. Fingers crossed that the seas are smooth and my upchuck reflex is off the clock! 

We hope that everyone's Christmas was as enjoyable as ours!!  Have a safe and happy New Year...... We love you and miss you all x