White sand beaches, periwinkle water and 70 degree weather is fantastic, but it didn't really inspire the holiday spirit in us. Being thousands of miles away from our family didn't help either. We were both rather unenthusiastic about the impending holidays. There was discussion of leaving Playa Tecelote, heading back to the city of La Paz, springing for a hotel room and eating at a fancy restaurant, but the thought of spending half of a week's budget on one evening put an end to that idea. Luckily a few days before Christmas we met our first overlanding couple.
Jeff and Julie are from Montreal and are in the process of driving from Canada to Mexico and then back home. I think I could safely say that they are our Canadian doppelgangers in that they are as introverted as we are. It's certainly a Christmas miracle that any of us ever spoke to one another in the first place, but it happened and we're thankful it did.
A meal was planned and runs were made to the grocery store to stock up on food and wine. I spent a seemingly ridiculous amount of time making a very Charlie Brown Christmas tree from desert shrubbery, shells, shiny blue and gold wine bottle foil, and wrapped in battery powered Christmas lights that Pete's mom gave us. On Christmas Eve we made the short walk to Jeff and Julie's house, an adorable brown pop up VW bus with white lights adorning the clothes line. The wind was unseasonably calm, the sky cloudless, the meal excellent and the conversation and company even better. I'm not sure where on our trip we'll be next Christmas, but this one will be hard to beat.
