8 Fun Things to do in La Paz With Kids (Mexico)

Celine and I have dreamed of swimming with whale sharks for as long as I can remember. But, after our kids came along, we wanted to wait until our kids were old enough to do it too! When we decided to go to Los Cabos, Mexico for a family Christmas vacation, we knew we had to make the short trip to La Paz with kids, so we could all swim with the whale sharks.

The great news is that we discovered many things to do in La Paz, Mexico with kids. In addition to the swimming with whale sharks tour, we snorkeled with sea lions, went kayaking in a beautiful bay, hiking, and more!

If you are wondering why I keep saying La Paz, Mexico (instead of just La Paz) it’s because a few months prior to this trip we visited and wrote a post about La Paz, Bolivia with kids too! Apparently our family loves visiting places called La Paz!

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8 Amazing Things to do in La Paz, Mexico with Kids

With so many family-friendly things to do, La Paz quickly became one of our favorite places to visit in Mexico with kids. Here’s our favorite activities from our 5-day trip:

1. Swimming with Whale Sharks

The main reason we came to La Paz with kids was to go swimming with whale sharks. As it was so important to us, we were excited to wake up on tour day to see blue skies and calm waters.

We met our tour group at the marina at 9 a.m. and were on the water shortly afterwards. As we made our way towards the whale sharks, our guide helped us fit all of our equipment, including wet suits, life jackets, snorkels and masks. We were happy with the quality of the gear and they had appropriate sized gear for the kids.

The La Paz whale sharks are surprisingly close to town, so it was a reasonably quick boat ride to them. We had to stop to register with the government officials to enter the area, then had to wait our turn (only a few boats are allowed at any given time).

These strict regulations made the experience very enjoyable as it felt like there was no one else out on the water with us. Plus, I really liked how it never felt like we were over-crowding these beautiful, gentle creatures.

The whale sharks which frequent the waters near La Paz are primarily juveniles, measuring as long as 13 meters / 43 feet, which is pretty close to full size adults.

Once in the official area, our excellent captain maneuvered the boat to an area close to a whale shark. There were only 8 of us in our small group tour, so our guide split us into two groups of four. Our guide got in first, then each of the groups took turns swimming with the whale sharks.

My heart was pounding with excitement as I waited for our turn to go in. When given the signal, we all jumped in and swam towards our guide, who was at a good spot near the whale shark.

The water was a bit murkier than I had hoped, but due to the immense size of the whale shark, it quickly came into view. I knew the whale sharks were big, but I simply couldn’t believe the size of them! They are so gentle and slow in the water, they are so pleasant to swim next to.

We each got three ‘drops’ with the whale shark, meaning we each got three turns to swim with the whale shark. Truthfully, we should have gotten more, but the other boats in the area were having trouble finding one to swim with.

Given everyone on our boat had three excellent encounters, so we did the generous thing and let one of the other boats take our whale shark. It was Christmas Day, so it was our good deed for the day.

Our kids absolutely loved snorkeling with the whale sharks. They are both really strong swimmers, but they still required a little help from us and the guide to keep up with the speed of the whale shark.

It was the incredible size of the whale shark that made the experience so memorable for our kids. They have gone on plenty of snorkeling tours before, but have never seen anything quite as magnificent as a whale shark in the water.

Swimming with a whale shark was a bucket list item for Celine and I, and I’m so grateful that we got a chance to share this experience with our kids during our family trip to La Paz.

2. Playa Balandra Kayaking, Snorkeling & Hiking Tour

If there was ever a tour custom-built for our family, it’s this one! An active family day tour in La Paz’s most beautiful area? Yes please! There are so many reasons why this Playa Balandra tour was perfect for us:

First of all, we really wanted to visit Playa Balandra, the most stunning beach in the area, but visitation is highly regulated there’s a lot to know before attempting to visit.

There are two visitation windows in a day, each capped at 450 people. Needing to get to a remote beach super early and line up in hopes of getting in, isn’t our idea of fun. Going on a tour to Playa Balandra removes all of that hassle!

Secondly, we love doing active things with our kids, so to find a tour in a beautiful beach location where we could kayak, snorkel and hike with our kids is amazing! These are so many of our favorite family activities!

And, I’m happy to report that our active tour to Playa Balandra hit on all marks. Thanks to our private transportation (arranged by the tour company, but not included in the tour), we were at the park gates with plenty of time to spare.

Kayaking Playa Balandra

We started our day of family adventure with some kayaking. Playa Balandra is in a long inlet with super-shallow, very calm turquoise water. We paddled towards the most inland part of the inlet, where we kayaked through the channels of a large mangrove forest.

Home to many species of wildlife, we saw many large and interesting fish in the shallow water and many birds. Our favorites were the snowy egrets, a blue heron and a magnificent osprey.

After kayaking through the Playa Balandra mangroves, we made our way back out and stopped at a small island of rocks called ‘Pelican Rock’, which as you may guess is home to a large number of pelicans. The pelicans are here due to the large number of fish in the waters around these rocks, which is where we got out of our kayaks to go snorkeling.

Snorkeling at Playa Balandra

I’ve never gone snorkeling straight from a kayak before, but it was relatively easy to get in and out of the kayak. Pelican Rock isn’t that big, so we were able to snorkel around the island a few times during our 30 minutes of snorkeling time.

The snorkeling at Playa Balandra near Pelican Rock was amazing, some of the best we’ve done as a family. The water was cool, but crystal clear and there was an abundance of coral growing on the underwater rock formations, which was home to a large amount of tropical fish.

I wish I could list the tropical fish species we saw while snorkeling at Playa Balandra, but that’s not my expertise. I can tell you that we saw a large number of trumpet fish, countless Sargent Major fish, a very large black and yellow angel fish and some brilliant purple little ones. There were countless other beautiful tropical fish, which you’ll have to come and discover for yourself.

Hiking to the Playa Balandra Viewpoint

After concluding our snorkeling at Playa Balandra, we rode our kayaks back to shore to begin the next adventure.

One of the many reasons Playa Balandra is the most popular beach near La Paz, Mexico is its brilliant turquoise water. When we first arrived at 8 a.m., the sun wasn’t yet high enough to create the water color. By the time we finished up our kayaking trip, we were able to enjoy the beautiful, clear turquoise color this protected area is famous for.

We live in Banff, Canada which also has some lakes which are world-famous for their water color. We know from experience that the best way to enjoy the natural colors of water, is to get up high to see. Thankfully, there’s a short, but steep hike to a viewpoint which gives an outstanding view of Playa Balandra.

Our kids stayed at the beach to play, so Celine and I made the quick hike up. We are so glad we did as it was truly incredible. Some of the most beautiful beach scenery we have ever seen was in these amazing beaches in Crete, and I can confidently say thar the scenery from the Playa Balandra viewpoint rivalled that from our family trip to Greece.

Hiking From Playa Balandra to Playa el Tecolote

After returning from the Playa Balandra viewpoint, we began the official hiking portion of our tour. Our goal was to hike from Playa Balandra to Playa el Tecolote.

This was one of the most beautiful and fun family hikes I can remember. We began the hike walking through the clear water along the rocky shorelines of Playa Balandra. There was a very curious trumpet fish in the shallows who tagged along with us for a while.

After rounding a rocky corner, we emerged at another long sandy beach lined with many tall sand dunes. At the far end of this beach was another rocky section, where the famous Balandra mushroom rock is located. We stopped so our tour guide could take some family pictures of us with the mushroom rock.

The next section of hiking was a lot of fun, as we walked underneath a rocky overhang, created by wave erosion. Not only was it a super fun section of the hike, but the rock provided some welcome shade from the powerful tropical sun.

After hiking across one more beautiful sandy beach, we began the final leg of our hike. We had to climb up and over a hill of volcanic rock. The hill was quite high, and we enjoyed amazing vistas of this beautiful area, including views of the colorful Isla Espiritu Santo across the water (which is featured in our seal lion adventure below).

Beach Time at Playa el Tecolote

We ended our amazing Playa Balandra tour with a delicious ceviche and quesadilla lunch on the beach at Playa el Tecolote. Our guides had put up a big tent for us to eat under, which was a nice touch and a welcome relief from the hot sun.

After lunch we had about an hour to enjoy some family fun on the beach at Playa el Tecolote. This was our second visit to Playa el Tecolote, but we didn’t mind as it’s a beautiful beach near La Paz. As with our first visit here, we had a lot of fun playing in the waves, and watching the hungry pelicans dive into the water for fish.

3. Snorkeling with Sea Lions

We met our tour guide for our sea lion snorkeling tour at the giant pearl statue on the Malecón at 9 a.m. sharp. Before long, ourselves and another family hopped on our boat and were on our way.

It’s a 105 minute boat ride to the sea lion colony at the very northern tip of the north end of Isla Espiritu Santo National Park. Thankfully, there were lots of fun and interesting things to stop and see along the way!

Gaviota Island – Blue Footed Boobies

Our first stop was at Gaviota Island (also known as Seagull Island). You can practically smell this island before you see it as it is completely covered in a thick layer of white bird poo. The guano is so thick that it looks like it snowed! Naturally, our 10-year old son found this hilarious!

So, why would we stop at Gaviota Island if it smells so bad? Blue Footed Boobies! I was so excited!! Ever since seeing them in the Galapagos Islands (pre-kids), Blue Footed Boobies have been my favorite bird, but I didn’t know you could see them anywhere else in the world. Seeing Blue Footed Boobies in La Paz, Mexico was a huge, and amazing surprise!

After visiting the Blue Footed Boobies, we spent most of our transit time scouring the horizon for exhale puffs of the visiting humpback whales. Although we didn’t see any, it helped pass the time until we reached the sea lion colony.

Snorkeling with Sea Lions

The sea lion colony at Isla Espiritu Santo National Park is amazing! Home to an estimated 600 – 800 sea lions, there are sea lions everywhere you look. There are sea lions on the rocks, there are sea lions in the water, you can hear them honking, you can see them jumping out of the water, they are everywhere!

To get a sense for how special the sea lion colony is, we circled the entire rookery once in our boat. The captain slowed down in the spot where the baby sea lions were kept by their mothers. The rock & water combination here is ideal for the young sea lion pups to learn to swim. There were so many sea lion babies on the rocks – they were so cute!!

We finally reached our docking spot and we got into our snorkeling gear. We had brought along our kids’ snorkeling gear during our family trip to the Big Island of Hawaii earlier in the year, but the kids liked the provided snorkel gear instead.

Our tour required everyone to wear a life jacket and wet suits were made available (we didn’t wear them, as the water was chilly, but bearable).

Our time in the water swimming with sea lions was amazing! The sea lions tend to stay close to the rocky shoreline, so we all quicky swam towards shore. Almost immediately we were greeted by a playful sea lion. It swam so close to our daughter, it was quite the thrill for her!

During our 30 – 40 minutes in the water snorkeling with the sea lions we had lots of amazing sea lion encounters. A favorite moment of mine was two playful sea lions wrestling with each other, just feet away from us. They were having a ball until a very large male swam by, causing them to stop.

In addition to swimming with sea lions, the crystal clear waters were home to many large schools of tropical fish. There were fish of all sizes and colors, including angel fish, parrot fish, seargent majors and more.

After snorkeling with sea lions, we made our way to a beautiful beach for an included picnic lunch of ceviche on tostadas. After lunch we spent our time sifting through the endless supply of beautiful seashells on shore.

Dolphin Watching

On our way back to La Paz, we stopped to watch a huge pod of dolphins. It’s hard to guess, but I estimate there was at least 30 dolphins in the water near our boat. They were very playful, with many jumping high into the air. On these wildlife trips, you never know what you will get. We had hoped to see some humpback whales, but a huge pod of playful dolphins was almost better!

Frigate Bird Colony

Our final stop on our sea lion tour was at a secluded bay with a frigate bird colony. Another of my favorite birds from the Galapagos Islands, frigate birds are amazing as they look like modern day dinosaurs. There are an estimated 1,600 mating couples at this important frigate bird colony. We even saw a cow nosed ray swimming near our boat through the shallow emerald green water.

Going on a sea lion snorkeling tour was one of our favorite things to do in La Paz with kids.

4. Playa el Tecolote

As with every other tourist who visits La Paz, Mexico, we wanted to spend a day on the beach at the famous Playa Balandra. But after discovering you need to arrive over an hour ahead of the opening window, we opted not to go for a beach day there and just stick to our kayaking tour there instead.

But, we had a full free day in La Paz with kids, so we wanted to visit a beautiful beach with them. After Playa Balandra, the second most beautiful beach near La Paz is Playa el Tecolote.

La Paz Playa Bus

As we visited La Paz, Mexico without a car, we needed to find an easy and affordable way to Plata el Tecolote. Rather than spend a ton of pesos on a taxi, and risk not getting a ride back to La Paz, the Playa Bus was the perfect solution for us!

The Playa Bus departs from the La Paz Malecón bus terminal every hour. We boarded our Playa Bus at 10 a.m. It made several stops along the way to Playa el Tecolote, including a stop at the northern edge of La Paz, Playa Coromuel, Orchid House Baja Hotel, Playa el Caimancito, the Ferry Terminal, Playa Balandra ticket office, with Playa el Tecolote as the final stop.

It only took 45 minutes to get from central La Paz to Playa el Tecolote at a cost of 80 pesos each. Sit on the driver’s side of the bus if you want ocean views the whole way. Return buses from Playa el Tecolote to La Paz depart 45 minutes after the hour (10:45, 11:45, etc.).

Playa el Tecolote

To be honest, we didn’t like Playa el Tecolote at first. Although we could tell it had really nice, soft white sand, it felt really claustrophobic. There’s a line of restaurants on the beach, and the waves were nearly hitting the restaurant chairs on the sand. It felt like there was nowhere to lay down our beach towels.

But, we kept walking and before long the restaurants stopped. We had arrived precisely at high tide, so that also helped explain the shortage of sand for our towels. Once we settled into our spot on the beach away from the restaurants, we started to see why Playa el Tecolote is one of the most popular beaches near La Paz, Mexico.

It’s a great beach to spend a day with kids. The setting is beautiful with cactus-covered rocky hills behind, the red-colored island of Isla Espiritu Santo just offshore, and an abundance of light-turquoise water in-between.

Our family loves to go for long beach walks looking for treasures, and this is one of the best beaches we’ve visited in a long time for discoveries. There’s an abundance of interesting rocks, coral pieces and intact sea shells all along the long, white sand beach. If you like people watching, there’s a long line of campervans, with folks who seem to be staying here long-term (they are an interesting bunch!).

The waves were near perfect for the kids at Playa el Tecolote. They were just big enough to be a thrill for the kids to jump up and over, but not too big that we were ever concerned about their safety. There must be a healthy population of fish in the water, as there was a large flock of pelicans repeatedly diving into the water for a quick meal.

A few important notes for families visiting Playa el Tecolote with kids:

• There are a lot of small rocks underwater for the first 20 feet or so. We highly recommend wearing water shoes here to make your time in the water much more enjoyable.
• There is no cell service and no lifeguard on duty.

Although Playa Balandra and Playa el Tecolote are not in the city, they are beautiful enough and easy enough to visit that they earned La Paz, Mexico a spot on the most beautiful family-friendly beach destinations in the world.

5. Walking the Malecón

The Malecón is a long oceanfront boardwalk in La Paz, Mexico. It’s one of the nicest features of the city and we took every opportunity we could to go for a walk along it. In addition to the beautiful ocean views, there are many amazing sculptures along the way, including a whale shark, a huge pearl in a shell, orcas, a mermaid chasing a dolphin, hammerhead sharks and a colorful La Paz sign.

We walked on the Malecón for roughly 4 km / 2.5 miles from Playa el Coromuel back to central La Paz and had a very enjoyable time. It’s sometimes hard to find some good places to get some exercise in tropical destinations, so we were grateful to have a nice, wide walking path where we could enjoy a nice long family walk and talk, while enjoying some amazing coastal scenery along the way.

6. Treat Yourself to Ice Cream

We visited the Giulietta e Romeo ice cream shop after an enthusiastic recommendation from our sea lion snorkeling tour guide. He said he always takes his family there whenever they visit him in La Paz. As promised, it was very good ice cream!

A few days later, we stopped at La Michiacana for ice cream after our trip to Playa el Tecolote. It’s right on the Malecón and we noticed how busy it always seems to be, so we gave it a try. To be honest, we thought it was much better than the Giulietta e Romeo ice cream shop.

7. Pirate Ship Playground by the Malecón

If your kids are looking for a fun playground in La Paz, head to the giant pearl sculpture along the Malecón. There’s a great pirate ship playground there for your kids to enjoy.

8. Playa el Coromuel

There is no beach in the city of La Paz, Mexico, so the nearest beach that people can go to is Playa el Coromuel. It’s a quick 4 km / 2.5 mile taxi ride from town (which cost us 200 pesos).

Although kids can have fun at any beach, Playa el Coromuel is not the nicest beach in the world. There’s a ‘nice’ view of the nearby power plant belching black smoke from its two smoke stacks. Plus there was a decent amount of broken glass on the beach.

If you have the time, I’d recommend you take your kids to one of the much nicer beaches near La Paz, like Playa Balandra or Playa el Tecolote.

If you only have time to visit Playa el Coromuel, you can enjoy watching all the pelicans dive bombing for fish near the long, charming pier. Plus they have kayak and SUP rentals, and a restaurant with seating right on the sand.

4 Day Itinerary for La Paz, Mexico with Kids

After spending 4 nights at the amazing, family-friendly Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas, we took a 4 hour bus ride from Cabo to La Paz. We spent 4 days in La Paz with kids doing some of the most fun outdoor activities imaginable!

Day 1 – Snorkeling with Sea Lions

For our first full day in La Paz with kids, we went on our snorkeling with sea lions tour. This tour took up most of our first day, so we only had time to get ice cream at Giulietta e Romeo and then a fun family walk along the Malecón.

Day 2 – Swimming with Whale Sharks

Our second day in La Paz, Mexico with kids was Christmas Day. We wanted to do something really special on Christmas, so we knocked a long-standing item off our bucket list – swimming with whale sharks!

The whale shark snorkeling tour was a half-day activity in the morning, so after a good lunch, we hopped in a taxi to Playa el Coromuel for our annual family Santa hat pictures on the beach.

Playa el Coromuel wasn’t very nice, so we didn’t stay long. Instead, we had a very enjoyable family walk on the Malecón back to La Paz.

Day 3 – Playa el Tecolote

We didn’t have any tours or activities planned for the third day of our family trip to La Paz, Mexico. After a great breakfast, we hopped on the Playa Bus and spent the day at Playa el Tecolote. It was a perfect, lazy day at the beach after the first two hectic days in La Paz.

Day 4 – Playa Balandra Kayaking, Snorkeling & Hiking Tour

On our last full day in La Paz, Mexico with kids, we enjoyed a full day tour at Playa Balandra. We arranged private transportation to get us to Playa Balandra early enough to secure entry, then we enjoyed an amazing day of family activities in one of the most beautiful destinations in Baja California Sur.

After our amazing 4 days in La Paz with kids, we concluded our family vacation to the Los Cabos region with 3 days in San Jose del Cabo with kids.

Where to Eat in La Paz, Mexico with Kids

We rented an apartment for our family trip to La Paz, Mexico. Normally when we get an apartment, we self-cater breakfast and lunch most days as we don’t really enjoy eating out three meals a day. As it turns out, there is no supermarket anywhere near central La Paz, and the mini-markets don’t carry much selection of healthy food.

So, we ended up eating out three meals a day at a wide variety of family-friendly La Paz restaurants. Here are some of the restaurants we really enjoyed:

Quinto Pisto (Breakfast and Dinner)

Quinto Pisto saved our bacon on Christmas morning, when many restaurants were closed. We needed to find somewhere open for coffee before our whale shark tour, and thankfully it was.

Located on the 5^th floor of the Hotel Seven Crown, the ocean views from Quinto Pisto are incredible. In addition to coffee, we also ordered banana bread and a cinnamon bun. The portions were very generous and both were delicious!

We had such a good experience with breakfast, that we returned to Quinto Pisto for our Christmas dinner. Being Christmas, we wanted something special, and we were able to secure a table with ocean views.

Our son ordered a hamburger off the adult menu; it was so big, we didn’t think he’d finish it, but it was so good, that he ate every late bite.

Our 12-year old daughter ordered a plate of nachos, which were also very large and very good. We were warned about how big they were, so I ordered less tacos than otherwise, so I could polish off the rest of her nachos. Celine also ordered steak and tuna tacos, and they were amazing!

See Quinto Pisto on Google Maps

La Chata Centro (Breakfast)

We found this amazing breakfast place about 5 minutes from our apartment. It was outside the main tourist area, but it was bright, clean and was very popular with locals. The kids each got a huge stack of pancakes, while Celine and I each ordered a traditional Mexican breakfast.

The food at La Chanta Centro was excellent and was much more affordable than our breakfasts along the Malecón.

See La Chata Centro on Google Maps

Restaurante Vid’ah Bistro (Lunch)

We stopped for lunch at Vid’ah Bistro on Christmas Day after our morning of swimming with whale sharks. They had a limited menu that day, but what we got was excellent. Celine and our daughter each got toasted bagel sandwiches, our son got French toast, while I got chilaquiles. The food was amazing, as was the view of the ocean.

See Vid ah Bistro on Google Maps

Taqueria Felix (Dinner)

We have travelled to Mexico many times with our kids, and have learned that the best tacos are always served outside the main tourist areas in restaurants with plastic tables and chairs. Celine found Taqueria Felix on Google Maps; it was a very highly rated taco shop about a 10 minute walk from our apartment (away from the tourist area of town).

The walk through residential area of town was enjoyable and felt safe, and once we arrived, Taqueria Felix didn’t disappoint. It’s one of those places with only three items on the menu and they do them really well. We all ordered taco asados, and they were delicious!

Being away from the tourist area of town, dinner here cost about half what the rest of our family dinners in La Paz cost.

Sofia Pizza Restaurant Bar (Dinner)

Although we could eat Mexican food all day, every day, sometimes we like to give our kids a break and go for some familiar comfort food. When we travel internationally, this is almost always a family pizza feast.

We had an early morning pickup scheduled for our Balandra Beach kayaking tour, so we wouldn’t have enough time to go to a restaurant and eat. The night before the tour we went to Sofia Pizza for a family pizza feast, and then ordered an extra pizza which we brought back to our apartment for our pre-tour breakfast the next day. Genius!

The pizza at Sofia Pizza was really good. A flatbread pizza with a strong crust, we each enjoyed the pies we ordered. The pizza for breakfast the next morning was perfect and got us on our way fueled up and ready to go!

See Sofia Pizza Restaurant on Google Maps

Ocean Café Baja (Dinner)

If everyone in the family wants something different for dinner, take a look at the Ocean Café Baja. This small café is just a few blocks off the Malecón and has a bit of everything on their menu. Celine and I were able to get the fish tacos we had been craving, while our daughter got avocado toast and our son got a hamburger.

See Ocean Café Baja on Google Maps

CinaRoll (Breakfast)

CinaRoll is a bakery & restaurant on the Malecón near our apartment. We enjoyed breakfast here on an outside table with a nice view of the ocean. The kids were happy to order pancakes and mango smoothies, while Celine and I enjoyed avocado toast.

See CinaRoll on Google Maps

Buzos (Dinner)

Buzos is a popular, higher-end restaurant with a waterfront location along the Malecón. We ate here on our first night in La Paz with kids, primarily as it was near our vacation rental and had a good selection of items on their menu.

Our daughter ordered fettucini with butter from the kids menu, while our son ordered a meat lover’s pizza from the adults menu. The pasta was really good, but the pizza was soggy and wasn’t the best.

Celine and I each ordered a different variety of shrimp tacos, which were both quite good. This was one of our most expensive meals in La Paz with kids, but overall it was just ok.

See Buzos on Google Maps

Where We Stayed in La Paz, Mexico with Kids

When I was planning our family trip to La Paz, I looked long and hard for a central hotel near the Malecón which had family-friendly room configurations. Despite my efforts, I couldn’t find any such family-friendly hotels in La Paz, Mexico.

We ended up getting a 2-bedroom vacation rental on the southern edge of the central tourist district. Although it was ok, we didn’t love our vacation rental as it was on a noisy road, which impacted the kids sleeping a bit.

If you don’t mind sharing 2-queen beds in a single room, there are plenty of La Paz hotels to choose from. We went to the rooftop restaurant in Hotel Seven Crown many times – it looked really nice and had an excellent oceanfront location. The kids kept asking me why we weren’t staying there!

If you’d prefer a more family-friendly 2-bedroom configuration, check out these La Paz vacation rentals.

Final Thoughts – La Paz, Mexico with Kids

We loved all of the nature-based adventures in La Paz, Mexico. Swimming with whale sharks was a lifelong dream, and it didn’t disappoint. We hope you enjoy visiting La Paz with kids as much as we did!