The Road to Baja Page 11

We crossed the width of Baja yet again.  This time we didn't do it off road like yesterday's adventure.  We took a more sane approach and followed the paved path locally known as Careterra #1 (Highway 1).  We went from Guerrero Negro on the Pacific to Santa Rosalia on the Mar de Cortez. 

We made a couple of stops on our way. The first was the whale viewing area, El Vizciano.  

That is a 20-30 minute drive off of the main road back down to the bay South of Guerrero Negro.  There are some facilities there that offer boat tours, a restaurant that wasn't opened and a souvenir shop that probably never closes.  

We opted, instead to just take a walk out to the end of the pier and look for the Gray Whales from there.  The behemoth's were plentiful.  We had no problem spotting them breaching and spouting all around the bay.  Admittedly they were a fair distance off shore but is was still interesting to watch. 

We performed our "civic duty" during our return to the highway.  Janet spotted a horse off to the side of the road.  I noticed it was wearing a saddle and it soon began bucking trying to get rid of the annoyance on its back.  Thinking that it may have thrown its rider who might be lying hurt somewhere, we headed back to a guard station at the entrance to the whale perseveration area to let the guard know of our find.  As we were explaining the situation to the guard, a truck pulled up with two cowboys who had been looking for that horse. 

We showed them the horse and they proceeded to give chase to an animal who wasn't yet ready to head back to the barn. 

Our next stop was in San Ignacio where we grabbed a taco for lunch.  This is a pretty little oasis a short distance off of the highway.  There you will find forests of date palms around a fresh water lagoon and a pretty town complete with a tree lined square and a mission built around 1701.  

Back to the highway a short while later, it was only an hour or so to Santa Rosalia. 

Room booked, we went back to town and explored both by driving and walking. 

Church built by Eiffel brought here by the French mining company. 

This is a mining town with the Boleo Mining Co. re establishing the operation originally started by the French in 1884, closing in 1954.  Many of the French buildings remain and are still in use. 

We have decided to continue our travels tomorrow and head to Loreto, a short 120 miles further south.