May 30 to June 13

Heading out of El Burro Cove we were greeted by dolphins all along the way. We had a hand line out with our new lure that we had purchased in Mulege.  I was down below and had just come up on deck when I heard a loud snap.  Hank thought I had stepped on a book which was lying on the cockpit bench, I heard the snap and looked at the hand line and saw nothing but the reel.  It took us a moment or two to decide to turn around and see if we could spot the rubber snubber.  We did but it was floating free with no sign of the line, lure or large fish in sight. 

 We arrived at Punta Chivato and anchored right off the hotel on the point.  It was a beautiful sandy beach with many houses that were being built or already in use.  As we were completing our anchoring, S/V Sea Esta came into the anchorage.  We called over to them and asked if they wanted to go to shore and eat at the hotel.  The hotel is beautiful and very quiet for there were only 4 guests. The pool was so inviting that we had to pull ourselves away from it and continue on to the bar.   We were told that dinner started at 7 and we could enjoy a drink until that time.  We had a gorgeous view of the sunset and our two boats at anchor as we sat with drinks in hand.  It doesn’t get much better than that! Dinner was a four course affair with a fixed price, which made sense to us since there were not that many people at the hotel, they wouldn’t be wasting food from having an extensive menu.  I like to take pictures of my meals out, and I did it at this hotel too, but I won’t bore you with them.  The one I would like you to see was dessert.  It was served in an ice bowl that was decorated with bougainvillea flowers.  The strawberry ice cream somehow tasted much better in this beautiful bowl.   

The next day we pulled into Santa Rosalia and went to the Singlar marina.  We had been told that they were making special deals to attract customers to their facility.  The facility is always the same in all the Singlar marinas but at this one the local management has gone out of their way to make everything perfect.  The pool is delightful, the washing machines and dryers were free, and the internet signal is strong.  A real plus is that you are right in the middle of town so that no buses are needed to get there.  The first night we were in Santa Rosalia we went to a restaurant called El Muelle.  We had a nice dinner and it was fun to be in a town that was so alive in the evening.  There were 13 boats in the marina when we arrived; with Sea Esta and Equinox taking the last two spots.  Sea Esta invited all the dock to come to their boat the next day for a cocktail party. 

 That Friday was also a holiday for Mexico that celebrates all the Navy sailors and remembers all the fishermen who may have been lost at sea.  The Navy band was present along with dignitaries, local beauty queens, and those who laid a wreath on the local monument.  

 The Sierra de Guadalupe, west of Mulege contains the largest number of known prehistoric mural sites in Baja California.  That is what we learned when we talked to Sam on Catch the Wind.  He and his wife Susie had contacted Salvador who was an official guide.  They would be making the trip with him to see the cave paintings.  After we did a little more research, we decided to join the group. 

 Salvador picked us up on Saturday, June 2, 2007, in front of the old marina at Santa Rosalia. We were joining a group of 6 others and heading back to Mulege.  You must check in with the INAD office there before you are allowed to travel to the site, you must also have a guide.  In the guidebook it mentioned having water, wearing submersible shoes and that you must be able to swim 300 meters.  Later we will find that was all incorrect except for the required guide and check in.

 Also another couple joined us before we headed out for the Rancho La Trinidad.  The drive was a washboard road with many spots that really would shake your fillings.  We made several stops along the way.  The first was not far out of Mulege where most of the fruits and vegetables for the town are grown.  It was a fruit ranch where we tasted oranges, grapefruits and sweet lemons. Salvador bought a bag of oranges that he said would be taken on the hike.  Next we stopped in a dry riverbed to learn a lot about the vegetation that grew there and how the native people had used it.  This was very interesting and we were amazed to realize how adept the natives were in curing their ailments.

 Finally we arrived at the Rancho La Trinidad which is a working cattle ranch of 700,000 hectors.  After looking around the ranch working couples’ home and outdoor kitchen, we started our hike.  The first stop was a short ways from the ranch house to a petroglyph.  This is a representation of a deer and a baby deer.  The carving was so far away from roads that we knew it was not a recently scratched addition like we had seen in El Burro Cove.  Next, Salvador said that it would be about a 20 minute hike up to the cave paintings, I showed the guide book picture to him of people swimming in the canyon.  He explained that that was about 10 years ago before the two dams had been destroyed by a flood.  We would be walking with no swimming or submersible footwear needed. 

 In the canyon we made a river crossing via several rocks and then reached the first and largest group of murals. Among the many red and black animal representation of the canyon walls is a large ocher deer silhouette, considered one of the best prehistoric deer painting in Baja.  Also there was a humanoid representation of a shamanistic figure sometimes referred to as a cardon man after the cardon cactus. This was a fun adventure that brought us to a closer look at the countryside and not just the coastal towns.  We had a ranch type lunch after the hike which consisted of warm flour tortillas, refried beans, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, fresh cheese, and peppers. This had been prepared by the ranch manager’s wife in their out door kitchen.  There was a choice of beverages but many picked cerveza. 

Our drive back to Santa Rosalia was quiet with many passengers taking small cat naps.  We got back to the Singlar dock just as they were having the guest barbeque.  I was stuffed from lunch so I decided to skip the food and go into the pool to cool off.  It was a wonderful feeling to just lower oneself into the water and relax. 

Santa Rosalia is an old copper mining town.  The French managed the extraction of the ore in a company called El Boleo from 1885 until 1954.  All the old buildings, mine tailings, and equipment are still at the site or in the mining museum. The copper was taken to Tacoma, Washington for refining and instead of having ships return empty they carried lumber back to the town.  The French filled the arroyo and mesas either side with wooden buildings to house workers, company officials, and Mexican soldiers.  These wooden houses are unique in a country that usually builds concrete or brick buildings. 

The Hotel Frances was like stepping back in history.  We didn’t get to see the rooms but the main rooms were delightful, silk wallpaper, dark wood floors and an unbelievable wooden ceiling.  We had breakfast there and were interested to see that this restaurant is also a meeting place for many local professions as there were about ten men meeting there for a breakfast meeting.  

The Iglesia Santa Barbara is a prefabricated, iron-walled church that was designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel in 1884.  The church was exhibited in Paris along with the Eiffel tower at the 1889 Paris World Exposition.  It was purchased by the El Boleo Company and shipped in sections to Santa Rosalia, where it was reassembled in 1897.  It is a very active church with weddings and Sunday services.  The inside has been modified to allow more church members but the stain glass windows and steel structure are awesome.  

 All guide books talked about the French bakery called El Boleo; they state that baguettes and carrot muffins are available early in the morning.  We didn’t find any of this but we found a panaderia that made mouth watering wheat bread and pan dolces.  The ovens remind you of a pizza shop as they use wooden slats to remove the bake goods from the oven.  I have to really work at my self control every time that I was in town for the aroma was so good that I found myself many times standing in line to place my order. 

 The town contains many beautiful trees providing shade and color. 

Since this town has many houses on the steep hills there are flights of stairs all over the place.  There are two flights from the church up to the mesa where the mining museum and the hospital are located.  There are also stairs that go from the malacon up to the streets above the coastline.  When we looked over the arroyos we spotted another set of stairs and knew that we wanted to walk them the next morning just to see where they went.

 Anyone who has been to Santa Rosalia will tell you not to miss the hot dog man.  The hot dog man is a stand located right next to the church every evening.  The hot dogs are wrapped in bacon and then deep fried.  Next they are placed in a bun that tastes better than any bun I ever had in the US.  Finally if you say “todo”, he adds mustard, catsup, sour cream, salsa, and sauerkraut.  You can easily eat two with out batting an eye!  

Several days we walked in the early morning with Janet from S/V Tupo.  Eric, her husband, had taken the bus back to San Diego to get the transmission fixed so we tried to entertain Janet while he was gone.  Luckily for us Eric was also able to get a part for our barbeque that we had lost at sea.  Without the part we were not going to be grilling anything until we returned in October.  Back to walking, Janet, Hank and I decided we were going to hike up to the very top of the mountains to explore the cemetery that we could see spread out on so many of the hills.  We started out with water, backpacks, and at a cool hour of 8 AM.  I was not an easy trek but finally we did get to the top and saw very large area that appeared to have been in use since the late 1800s.  Some of the headstones were simple wooden crosses, ornate wrought iron, or elaborate statues and small mausoleums that all face the south.  While we were up there, two different work parties were working on small plot walls.  As we started to take the dirt road back to the center of town we spied a burro tied to one of the headstones.  We were not sure what the significance of the burro was but it made a great picture.  Walking down seems so much easier than going up and we had some great views.  Janet even took a picture of Hank and me as we went toward the (bakery) oops I mean town, for I was talked out of the bakery since we had worked off so many calories it seemed a shame to put them back on. 

 Santa Rosalia is a town that really survives by fishing.  Every night starting about 4 to 7 the pangas head out beyond the break water.  They are fishing now for squid that are frozen and sent to Korea. The marina is a little rolly as they go out but it is very short lived.  I don’t know how it is when they return for I am usually asleep. 

This is a sing that is just at the edge of town and it really is true for us.  For Feliz Viaje means happy traveling and we are happily traveling up the Sea of Cortez