Roz in La Paz is on the move

FINDING YOUR NEXT GOOD BOOK
If you’re an English-reading bookworm in La Paz, lucky you. Books are not hard to find. (If I sound envious, that’s because I am writing this from Iquique, Chile, where I have searched in vain to scratch my itch for books in English). Here is a list of places to get books in La Paz, including both English and Spanish-language sources. These will be high-priority stops when I get back in town at the end of October. If I have missed your source of books in La Paz, please send word to rozinlapaz@yahoo.com

Allende Books
The city’s English-language bookstore reopened Oct. 1 after a summer break. Its new location is close to Jardin Velasco and the Cathedral, at Independencia #518, between Serdan and G. Prieto (612)125 9114. This tiny shop, which opened a year ago at its original location on Allende Street, has a little something for everyone. You will find a very nice selection of books on the Baja and mainland Mexico, as well as current fiction and non-fiction imported from the United States. The store features the Moon and Lonely Planet travel guides, maps, some materials for boaters and fishermen (Sea of Cortez Cruiser's Guide, most recent fishing maps of the waters in the Sea of Cortez and Pacific Coast), Spanish language study materials and dictionaries. There's an assortment of children's books, many bi-lingual, books featuring Mexico style interior decoration and desert gardening, not to mention cook books, some by local authors. You will also find many hand-selected gift items from the peninsula, mainland Mexico and Central America. And it's all in English. Open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 to 2. Allende Books has a website: Allendebooks.com

Allende Books is also a good place to find out more about the La Paz book group – to learn where, when and what book will be discussed. The book group is slated to resume in November. According to plans made last spring, for November’s meeting the group’s selection is Three Cups of Tea, One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. For the December meeting, the selection is Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett.

Librería Educal Libros y Arte
Most reading material is in Spanish, but this government-supported bookstore is a Mexican cultural gem when it comes to gift-buying and browsing. The store opened a year ago at the Antigua Presidencia Municipal de la ciudad de la Paz (Avenida 16 de Septiembre at the corner of Belisario Domínguez, (612) 128 94 21). That’s next door to the tourism office. You will find CDs, children’s toys and art objects, as well as books here. For more information (in Spanish), go to the website at lapaz@educal.com.mx

Libros de Cristal
Formerly Libros Libros (Books Books), Libros de Cristal is on the corner of Constitucion and Madero (Constitucion 195 (612)1221410). In English, you’ll find some magazines, a handful of art and Baja/Mexico travel books – not a lot for the English reader. But the selection in Spanish is excellent: popular fiction, kids’ books, cookbooks, some maps and travel books (not like Moon Guides, Rough Guides or Lonely Planet). The store used to stock paperbacks, but on a recent visit, that rack was gone.

Ramirez:
This large variety store bordering Jardin Velasco (Calle 5 de Mayo 204 (612)1227692) carries everything from chocolates to furniture. Their books section is mainly in Spanish, but you will also find some Baja books in English and a shelf or two of English magazines and mass market paperbacks. Their well-stocked shelves of Spanish-language books includes dictionaries in Spanish/German, Spanish/French, Spanish/Italian, Spanish/Portuguese.

Loto Cafebreria:
Its location is the 400-block of Independencia across from the side entrance of the Cathedral near Jardin Velasco. Loto is a coffee house, patisserie, sandwich shop, Internet café, gathering spot for smart young Mexicans in the evenings, art workshop centre and art gallery all rolled into one. And there is a free book exchange – Spanish, English and a smattering of other languages, too. Here is a sample of English-language publications you might find for sale at Loto. Dwell, Art And Deco, Architectural Digest, Cosmopolitan, Infashion, Southwest Art, B and W, Mac Life. And here are a few book titles you might run across: thrillers of Stephen King, titles such as The street Lawyer, by John Grisham; Black boy, by Richard Wright; The Virgin Blue, by Tracy Chevalier; Amistad, by Alex Pate. Loto celebrates its first anniversary with a fiesta Nov. 3.

Club Cruceros’ free book-exchange:
This book exchange in the Club Cruceros’ clubhouse is a great place to find beach reads, but you will also encounter the occasional Pulitzer-prize winner and classic. The clubhouse has magazines of a certain vintage and a VHS/DVD rental library. While you’re there, consider taking out a membership for $10 (or 100 pesos) per year. Club Cruceros de La Paz is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping less fortunate children of La Paz and to exchanging cruising information. In addition, club members organize a large variety of social activities. Members are mainly ocean cruisers, but landlubbers are welcome, too. Check out their website at . http://www.clubcruceros.org/ or visit the clubhouse at Marina de La Paz.