Feliz Navidad de La Paz - Christmas in Mexico

Happy Holidays to all!!

Christmas in Mexico is a very big deal. It officially begins on December 12 with the Dia de Guadalupe, and continues through Noche Buena (Christmas Eve), Christmas day, and concludes on January 6 with the Dia de los Reyes, or Day of the Kings (aka the Twelfth Day of Christmas or Epiphany). This year in La Paz the Christmas holiday is an extra huge deal since their Mexican Independence day was pretty much obliterated by Hurricane Odile. The city went all out to make sure the streets are filled with decorations, Santa Claus in numerous iterations...

Santa Cow at the local market

...and tons of inflatable snowmen. Yes, snowmen! Go figure. Are they still called "Frosty" in La Paz? Maybe "Sweaty" or "Melty" would be more appropriate.

Lots of "Frosties" in La Paz

Tom and I were a bit unsure of how we would handle the holidays, since this would be our very first Christmas away from our families. But it turns out we do have "family" here in La Paz, and we have been enjoying the holiday season with our cruiser and marina friends.

On Dia de Guadalupe we joined our boat neighbors Manny and Lola from Desire for a walk over to a Christmas in the Park sort of thing. We were expecting much holiday tackiness, but it turned out to be cleverly decorated and filled with families and kids who were enjoying themselves immensely.

Manny, Lola and Sylvia make a Christmas postcard.

As you can see the kids love Santa.

On Noche Buena, or Christmas Eve, cruiser Katie from Pangaea, treated us to a concert of Christmas Carols held at the marina bar. Katie is a trained opera singer and has a beautiful voice. Her finale was O Holy Night which she sang a capella, and there was, quite literally, not a dry eye in the house. It was a very special night which made me feel much closer to my fellow cruisers.

Katie puts us in the Christmas Spirit with her concert of carols.

Poinsettias are VERY popular here, and in Mexico they are called Flor de Noche Buena, the Christmas Eve flower. I was surprised to find out they are indigenous to Mexico and Central America and were introduced into the U.S. in 1825 by a minister named Poinsett, hence its unimaginative U.S. name. While shopping, Tom and I were happy to discover that Bohemia beer gets into the spirit with their excellent holiday-release amber beer, Cerveza Noche Buena.

Bartender and amiga Conchita and I with Flor de Noche Buena

On Christmas night the marina restaurant held a special Cruiser's Christmas dinner, a traditional turkey dinner done gringo-style with all the trimmings. 

Good meal for a great price makes us happy.

Salad, dinner, dessert and one free wine or beer for under $18 including tax and tip!

It was surprisingly delicious, and even though we missed the over-the-top family feasts we are used to, it wasn't a bad runner up, especially considering it was 81 degrees and we were gifted with a stunning sunset.

The restaurant's nod to their local cuisine included flan for dessert which, although tasty, was a far cry from my sister's delicious pies or the traditional Finnish Karelian Pastry that I knew my family was enjoying...sniff. At least sis sent me a picture of these beauties...

Oh karjalanpiirakat, how I missed thee! 

We were pleasantly surprised to run into some friends from South Beach where we used to keep our boat. They were visiting a friend who had sailed his boat (Belle) down in the 2014 Baja Ha Ha. After dinner they invited us over to their boat to finish the Christmas with a little liquid cheer. Before we knew it the clock chimed midnight and Christmas was over! (But we still have New Year's and Dia de Los Reyes to look forward to.)

WARNING: drinking with Irishmen can be hazardous to your health!
(L-R, Belle owner Jack; Gerard, Sylvia, Mike)

So even though we missed our family and friends back home, we ended up having a very merry Christmas and happy holidays. A few more pictures of our holiday season can be found HERE.

And as we cruisers like to say, HO HO HO and a bottle of Rum!!