John Steinbeck was a famous American writer from California who won both the Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize for Literature. Some of his most notable works were set in California and examined social issues through a lens of sympathetic humor and keen social perception. The city of La Paz, Mexico has a unique geographic location that causes the regular Corumuel winds, a phenomenon where cool air from the Pacific Ocean is drawn into the relatively warmer air above the Sea of Cortez each afternoon and evening until morning. This occurs because unlike other parts of Baja California, La Paz has no major mountains blocking the winds from the Pacific Ocean from flowing across its deserts and beaches.