Buenos Dias Everyone;
Our next stop is Mulege which is
situated on the Rio Mulege. It's a little oasis with palms and
mangroves along the river. Our campground is on the river and has
been flooded several times. This area
has had about 4 hurricanes
since 2006; the one is 2006 was the worst. A good rain could also
flood anything along the river as we learned it drains a very large
area and it's all mountains around Mulege.
We walked into Mulege and visited
the museum. This museum is housed in an old prison. Our guide
didn't speak too much English so as far as I could figure, the prison
was built in the early 20th century and was in use till
some time in the 40's. The prison had no doors on the cells. There
were usually 2 or 3 people to a cell which would have been very cozy.
The women were housed next to the kitchen and of course did all the
cooking for the prison. Some prisoners were allowed to go to work in
the town for the day and would be called back to the prison with a
conch shell. The “very bad” prisoners were kept in an area
behind a locked gate. They even had an isolation room where water
would be dripped on the prisoners head. Even in this area the
individual cells didn't have doors on them. The museum also houses
many artifacts from the Mulege area including old sewing machines,
old typewriters, all manner of farm equipment and tools. We then
walked along the other side of the river and discovered a small piece
of malecon that was left after a hurricane.
The Baja is home to 700 known sites
of cave paintings. Two of the sites near Mulege are reasonably
accessible in the Trinidad Canyon. We drove out to Rancho Trinidad,
stopping at a citrus ranch on the way. Here we were able to buy
oranges, grapefruit and mandarins for next to nothing. The Rancho
Trinidad is giving the guides access through their
land to the
paintings. We pay 100 pesos each and we get access plus a fabulous
bathroom, a place for lunch and the rancher also keeps the trail in
good condition and has even made signs for the plants. From the
ranch we walked about 1 km where we have a choice of swimming or
riding in a broken down kayak across a small lake made by a dam.
Four of us chose to swim and 4 chose to ride. That means 5 trips for
the guide as only 1 person at a time and 1 trip for the backpacks.
And let's just say the swim was very REFRESHING!! The first site is
at this point and while it's not really a cave, it's an inset which
has protected the paintings. Deer, hand prints, a turtle, coyote and
lines (which may be a way of counting) are the most prominent images.
Red and white are the most used colours although some black, orange
and yellow were also used. Then it was off to the 2nd
site which was a bit more challenging that we thought it would be.
We were walking up a canyon over rocks, through water and finally a
climb up to the site. The guide said 600 meters, we thought closer
to 1 1/2 kms. These paintings weren't as clear but we could see
deer, fish, starfish and something that looked like a praying mantis.
In some places it looked like new paintings were painted over old.
Then it was time for the return trip and that included another REFRESHING swimacross the lake. We had a burrito lunch at the ranch
and then the return drive to Mulege.
We also drove out to the
lighthouse and walked up to the top.
It was time to leave Mulege and
drive to Santa Rosalia.
We stayed south of town in San Lucas Cove.
A very nice campground right on the beach although most of the beach
from sites are taken up by permanents. Santa Rosalia is a copper
mining town. Copper was discovered here in the late 19th
century and in 1884 Boleo, a french mining company, bought the rights
and built the town that survives today.
The infrastructure included
600 kms of tunnels, a copper smelting foundry, a pier and a 30km mine
railway. The buildings are wooden with a french architecture style.
There's a french bakery that dates from 1901 and you can still buy a
baguette today.
The church was designed by Gustave Eiffel. It was
apparently showcased at a World's Fair in Paris and ended up in a
warehouse in Brussels where the story goes it was destined for South
Africa. The manager of the mine saw it there, bought it and had it
shipped to Santa Rosalia. The Boleo mine was there till 1954 when it
became too expensive to mine the copper with the techniques they were
using. The Mexican government continued mining till 1980 when they
closed the mine down. In 2001 a Canadian company became involved and
once again copper, cobalt and zinc are being mined. We also visited
the
Frances Hotel which was built in 1886 and is still in use today.
It has cloth walls, high ceilings and plank floors. The museum is in
the old Boleo offices houses all manner of typewriters, adding
machines, a board room and presidents office and pictures showing not
only the mining but other activities that went on in Santa Rosalia.
From Santa Rosalia we went up over the "devil's backbone " to San Ignacio where we stayed at “Rice and Beans”. This is another oasis in the desert with palm trees and water. We had RV entertainment when a caravan of 21 pulled into the park and we got to watch them get parked.
Unfortunately Donna was not feeling well so we did a hike to the San Ignacio Mesa which gave us a wonderful view of the town and of the Three Virgins. San Ignacio Mission and the adjoining Rock Painting Museum were very impressive. This is a pretty little town that in my mind signified 'true' Mexico.
The other thing we find amazing is these little Oasis' that are all over the place where water finds its way to the surface bringing on wonderful little micro climates!!
Hope this finds everyone getting
warmer. Drew and Donna.
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