La Paz

The first European known to have landed in Baja California came ashore here. In 1533 Hernán Cortés sent two ships north along the Pacific coast; on one of them the navigator Fortún Ximénez led a mutiny, killed the captain and sailed on to the bay that is now the port of La Paz. His crew found the local people diving for large pearls, plundered them and abused the women, and in the fighting that followed Ximénez and several companions were killed. On 3 May 1535 Cortés himself arrived, named the place Bahía de la Santa Cruz and tried to found a colony, but supply ships were lost in storms and the settlers were soon ordered home. The name California was applied to the abandoned land around this time.

The city was founded in 1720. Franciscan missionaries held political and religious authority over the south of the peninsula between 1768 and 1803, and in 1854, for four months, La Paz served as the capital of William Walker's short-lived Republic of Sonora, which collapsed for lack of support. Pearls, silver mining, fishing and farming sustained a small port town for the next century.

John Steinbeck visited in 1940 and described the town in his 1947 novel The Pearl; the town also features in his travel book The Log from the Sea of Cortez. La Paz became a state capital when Baja California Sur gained statehood in 1974, and its population has grown greatly since the 2000s.

La Paz thinks of itself as the calm, orderly counterpart to Los Cabos: a capital of government offices, universities and families, where tourism is welcome but does not set the pace. The name means peace, and the city's pride is its bay. The Malecón is its living room, and maleconeando — driving slowly up and down the seafront at night to see and be seen — is a local pastime.

The sea also shapes its intellectual life. The city is home to three leading marine biology institutes, the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, CIBNOR and CICIMAR, drawn by the exceptional biodiversity of the Gulf of California, and much of its tourism is built on watching wildlife rather than on resorts. Its literary place comes from Steinbeck's The Pearl and from Scott O'Dell's children's novel The Black Pearl, whose hero lives in La Paz.

The annual Carnaval La Paz is one of the oldest festivals on the peninsula, with parades, music and traditional dances reflecting both Indigenous and colonial influences. People from the state call themselves sudcalifornianos, and the culture of ranching and fishing in the surrounding countryside is never far from the city.

About 250,000 people lived in La Paz at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in Baja California Sur, and smaller towns such as El Centenario surround it. Its municipality is the fourth-largest in Mexico by area.

As the state capital, La Paz lives largely from government, commerce and education, alongside fishing and tourism. Eco-tourism is the most important part of the visitor trade: snorkelling with whale sharks and sea lions, diving, kayaking and hiking on the islands. Migrant workers from mainland Mexico have long made up much of the labour in farming, fishing and tourism.

The rhythm of the day follows the heat. Mornings and evenings are the busy times, and on summer nights the Coromuel wind off the Pacific cools the city and fills the Malecón with walkers, cyclists and slow-moving cars. The now-defunct airline Aero California had its headquarters here. Growth brings familiar questions about water in a desert and the effect of busy wildlife tours on the animals they visit.

Seafood dominates the local table, above all lobster, sole, clams and shrimp. Clams are so plentiful that they are cooked in many ways: pickled, breaded and fried, or stuffed. Shrimp are eaten grilled, fried or baked, as in the regional speciality filete imperial de camarones, and other local dishes include callo garra de león, made with scallops, pescado tatemado and ceviche. Fish and shrimp tacos are sold across the city.

The ranch kitchen of the south of the peninsula is just as important. Machaca is beef that is well cooked, shredded and then cooked again in its own juices, eaten with fresh cheeses and the flour tortillas typical of the region. Oregano is the favourite seasoning, and damiana, a wild herb, is brewed as a tea and used in a traditional liqueur.

Sweets come from local fruit: guava, mango, pitaya, green papaya and figs in syrup, as well as dried white figs and mango. Empanadas filled with cheese or with sweetened beans are popular snacks.