One of the things we had been told prior to our drive into Baja was that you should not drive at night. When we first heard this, we figured it must be because of "Bandidos".
As the warning continued, it turned out that the hazard was more likely to be potholes and cattle sleeping on the warm pavement.
The potholes we understood but cows on the road? How big a problem could that be.
Well, it turns out it might be VERY possible.
We never drove at night in Baja but we did see some cows and other things on the roadway.
Frequently, we would be traveling through remote, winding and undulating roadway where you couldn't see very far around the next corner.
As you would come around a corner or out of a dip, surprise!!!
You sure wouldn't want to run into this big boy on a dark night or even in the daylight.
The animals were also hard to see.
They all seemed to be wild. They were out in the middle of no where with no ranches, homes or fences within miles.
As we went around a curve, surprise!!
Sometimes, they would be off the road and sometimes they would be right next to the road .
As we continued across the desert, we saw more beautiful and desolate landscapes.
Then, we suddenly arrived at the town of San Ignacio, a beautiful oasis in the middle of the harsh desert.
We went into the town to look around. It was a very clean, old town with very friendly people. In the center of town was Mission San Ignacio which was built in 1716.
We walked up the steps to peer through the door and were greeted by a little old lady who was sweeping the floor just inside the doors.
She didn't speak any English but with our broken Spanish and a few hand signals, she invited us into the church. It was beautiful and after we started "oohing and aahing", she motioned us further into the church and gave us a tour of the whole facility.
After touring the main chapel area she led us into the living quarters. That felt kind of funny because it was so personal to see where the priest carried on his day to day activities but her frantic arm waving convinced us she really wanted us to see it.
It was very spartan.
It is apparently difficult to come into the 20th century when you are trying to modernize a building with 3 foot thick solid rock walls.
They apparently figured out how to install a light bulb and switch so they don't have to use candles anymore.
Conduit . . . . . . we don't need conduit!
After touring the mission and walking around the few businesses located around the beautiful town square across the street from the church, we continued back out into the desert on our way to Santa Rosalia.
Santa Rosalia is located on the Gulf of California and is an old copper mining town. The first thing you see as you come into town is lots of old mining equipment and the currently operating El Boleo mine. There are hundreds of miles of tunnels that are still being used to extract the minerals that are refined to produce copper.
Then you come into the town area where you drive past some of the old mill structures that were used to process the ore and are located right in the middle of town.
We drove through town and found a hotel to stay in.
The El Morro hotel was a very nice facility located on a cliff overlooking the Gulf of California.
The room was very clean and was around $ 27.00 U.S. per night.
After checking into our room, we went out and explored the town.
The town was founded by the French in 1884 to mine copper and other minerals. Although located on a beautiful coastline, the town is really not a resort but is an active commercial area centered on the mine and the trades and equipment required to support the mines.
In the 1800's, the French would mine the ore and ship it to Washington state where it was smelted into copper. The ships would then return with loads of timber that were used to shore up the mine shafts.
A unique feature of this town is that many of the structures are made of this lumber instead of the like the rest of Baja which uses brick and adobe construction techniques.
Once we found a place to park in the busy downtown area, we walked all around.
The first thing we came across was the Iglesia Santa Barbara de Santa Rosalia church, which is famous because it was designed by Gustave Eiffel who also designed the Eiffel Tower. This church was pre-fabricated in Europe and then shipped to Santa Rosalia and assembled in 1897.
The whole structure was made out of iron and was riveted and bolted together.
As we continued to explore, we came upon the Panaderia El Boleo which is a bakery that has been in continuous operation since 1901 and is famous for producing the best baguettes and pastries in all of Mexico.
Unfortunately, we arrived late in the afternoon and their inventory was almost gone so we didn't sample the goods.
Throughout the town area was old mining equipment including this old train engine that was used to haul ore from the mine shafts to the processing plant.
We were able to explore the whole town in one afternoon and then enjoyed another wonderful Mexican dinner in a small "locals" sidewalk restaurant.
The next day saw us on the road southbound again and we will tell you about that leg in the next chapter.
This has been a great adventure so far and we hope you will find the time to get out there soon and explore your world.
Tom & Suzie
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