La Paz - The Peace

We've connected with my Mom and John and we're all kicking it here in La Paz. It is so great to see them. My Mom has a room at a resort called La Concha. Stevie and I managed to drive the sprinter through the security gate and park in the back lot. We've got a great bivy spot 50 yards from the beach. Que Padre!

We love this sleepy little town. I call it sleepy because frankly, its practically empty. That has been our experience in almost every place we've traveled in Baja. US tourists are terrified of the drug wars. People have stopped traveling to Mexico and in doing so they've pounded the death nail into businesses and families all over Mexico. Hotels are empty, construction stopped, restaurants boarded up. Even the RV park we had planned to stay at here is La Paz was shut down. The situation with the drug cartels is truly sad, and so is the way the war is being fought. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where the drugs are going and therefore who is funding these cartels. WE are. The USA. We have 5% of the worlds population, yet consume 60% of all the illegal drugs produced in the world, more than any other country on earth. Rarely proactive, we also spend less on education and rehabilitation. No, our reactive solution is to throw offenders in jail. 80% of all prisoners in the US are incarcerated on drug related charges. We've arrested 10 million people for marijuana since 1965. How much money have we spent? How effective has it been? When will we wake up and try something new?

Time and again the locals tell us how distraught they are about the drug war. You can see the frustration on their faces. Although the violence is, for the most part, between the army and the "bad guys", and despite the fact that it is isolated to small sections of Mexico, the effects are felt as far away as sleepy La Paz, Baja, where all the people want is "The Peace". TREE