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| Road to Volcan las Tres Virgenes |
Pulling out of San Ignacio on MEX1 heading east towards the Gulfo de California (Mar de Cortez) our caravan entertained an unscheduled side trip to Volcan Las Tres Virgenes and hot springs. The scenery was stunning as the road winds through old lava flows, Cacti forests and the first glimpse of the Mar de Cortez. We found the turn off and took the dirt road up to the Volcan Las Tres Virgenes entrance around 3klm later we were stopped by a locked gate.
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| Locked gate to Volcan Las Tres Virgenes |
What promised to be absolutely fantastic drive was no longer in reach, totally bummed. We had no other choice but to turn our caravan around and head for our planned route to Santa Rosalia a old mining town located on the Mar de Cortez just as you come down around the mountain pass on MEX 1.
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| Wreck on the pass |
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| Some did not make the turn! |
The pass was steep, narrow and winding and I'd say a bit dangerous as large trucks tried to make time traversing up and down the road way. Dangerous yes, my concern was valid as we took a hairpin turn only to be met by a group of heavy weight tow trucks winching out a couple semi truck trailers, deep in a ravine. What mess at the bottom of the turn. We just hoped no one was injured- hard to say. Also we did not know when the wreck happened but it seemed pretty recent.
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| Mountain pass road to Santa Rosalia and the Sea of Cortez |
Continuing on down the pass we pulled into the outskirts of this long ago booming mining town,
Santa Rosalia. Our hearts dropped as we gasped for air at what we saw- unbelievable. The wind was up and with it swirling hordes of plastic trash blowing from the land to the sea. Shocked, we slowed down to a crawl while we witnessed a on-going travesty of uncontrolled dumping.
Feeling stunned we moved on slowly towards the center of town past all the huge, old iron rusted relics and a massive foundry that justified the town of
Santa Rosalia est in late 1800's when copper was discovered. By 1884 the foundry was built and operated by the French till around 1954. Later it was sold to the Mexican government and eventually closed down in the 1980's.
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| Iglesia de Santa Barbra de Santa Rosalia designed 1884 by Alexandra-Gustave Eiffel |
The town boasts a church designed by Gustave Efffel,
Iglesia de Santa Barbra de Santa Rosalia. We stopped for a look around and ate lunch. Both did not disappoint -the town was truly a Mexican town with few tourists. There were shops of all kinds hardware, markets, dress shops and schools. And of course there were bakeries
Panaderia El Bolero a french influenced bakery with baguettes and hard rolls and you guessed it pastries, YUM!!
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| Tacos el Faro Verde |
Lunch was on our mind and fish tacos seemed just the flavor profile,
Tacos el Faro Verde taco cart specialized in scallop (
callo), (
camarones) shrimp, and (
pescado) fish. All tacos were equally as delicious and served with onion rings, Hell Yeah!! But before heading out we stopped in for some local ice cream plus filled our pantry with queso pastries. Nice!!
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| Entering Mulege along the river edge |
Further down
MEX 1 stood
Mulege about 63klm south along the coast, in a thicket of palm trees along the river. We arrived in caravan around 4-5pm looking for camping. With options kind of slim we chose a hotel in the center of town with hot showers and decent beds. It was a long days drive.
Hotel Hacienda Mulege was an old colonial style hotel with a blooming courtyard of the wildest color purple bougainvillea, just incredible. This was home for two nights while we explored the surrounding area on foot.
Mission Santa Rosalia de Mulege and
Museo Historica de Mulege were two of the highlights along with a little food cart in the town square called
Taquitos Mulege.
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| Mission built in 1766 |
The beautiful old Mission was closed but we got to explore the grounds and take photos. The Museo Historica located on the hillside overlooking the town was interesting indeed as previously it was a prison. Our guide painted a picture of life as a prisoner, as they were let out during the day to work at local farms, or do construction. Some even had skilled labored jobs but the prisoners had to return by 6pm when the sound of conch shell was blown.
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| Mision Santa Rosalia de Mulege courtyard |
Most prisoners had wives who lived in the same quarters cooking and cleaning while they worked in town for modest pay. They were forbidden to drink, dance or gamble, while the hard core offenders were never let out of their cells.
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| Mulege's infamous "Prison without doors" |
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| Prison gate to town below |
Each night we sat in the hotel's courtyard, tipped a few beers and sipped some Tequila hanging out with our new found traveling friends talking story and making plans on our next excursion. The topic the first night was the hotels shower OMGawd!!, what a shower! The water flowed endlessly with reckless abandon hot and sweet! I guess the river running through the town was the source, still the best shower to date, Epic!! I would murder for that shower today!!
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| Hotel courtyard, and Mr Chamaco, jefe de security |
After two nights and 4 showers later in Mulege, we pulled up stakes and headed for some coastal camping, Jerry and Linda decide to go on a
UNESCO Cave painting trip to
Sierra de San Francisco and meet up with us in a day or two.
The
WeOverlander Team headed over to
Bahia Coyote about 35klm south of
Mulege . There we found a spot called
Playa de Requeson a small peninsula located on high ground. We camped and watched the incoming tide. Our tracks were erased as the sea cut us off from the main body of land. We truly had our own island.
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| Camped on our own island high and dry |
We explored our rock by foot during the day. At night we were safe on high ground as the wind was blowing the incoming tide. The night stars were phenomenal. Using our
InReach device (SATCOM) did I mention, Linda and Jerry had one too!, Shazam!! With no cell coverage we were able to communicate our coordinates to rendezvous the next morning.
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| Tide up cut-off from land |
Light filled the sky as morning beckoned we made coffee sitting smug on our little island watching the tide slowly recede. By the time Jerry and Linda found us (without a problem I might add GPS coordinates) the tide was low enough for them to cross. We all decided the wind was too fierce and we should press on, breaking camp we headed back on
MEX 1 our sights were set on
Loretto!
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| Linda and Jerry crossing the sea at low tide |
As our caravan headed south to
Loretto located between the
Sea of Cortez and the peaks of
Sierra de la Gigants, we drove towards this quaint picturesque town.
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| Looking over Mulege towards the Sea of Cortez |
Hope to see you on the Trail!!
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| Bahia de Coyote |
🚙....🚙........
