Mile 3167 - Day 15

I At breakfast we inquired about the guide to take us to the cave paintings.  I was given the phone number of Salvador Castro, the local expert guide.  I called him on his cell phone only to find out he was already about 10 minutes out of town beginning a tour. It seems we missed the bus!  Oh well, perhaps mañana.  

With our schedule now free, we take a stroll to the Mulege Museo (museum). It is the old prison.  Happens to be quite an interesting place.  They kept men, women and locos there.  The women had a separate area of the prison where they stayed 3 to a room in very small cubicles.  The male prisoners were housed in a larger courtyard.  The center area was locked to keep the locos in. Outside of the center, the surrounding area housed the non-loco prisoners.  The normal male prisoners were let out to go to work everyday to provide for their families. They would remain out to have dinner with the families before a whistle was blown at the prison to signal time to return and spend the night.  Strange…

We left the museum and strolled down the road that parallels the river and followed to where it meets the sea.  A 2-1/2 mile stroll it turns out!

When the hurricane hit in 2014, it caused a huge flood. Apparently the river camp up 12 meters (40 feet) and washed out most of the low area.  Many of the houses along the way were severely flooded if not washed away. The road we were following was heavily damaged and debris was everywhere.  It's nice to see the area largely repaired.  New road, houses looking good; normal returns to this tranquil area. 

At the end of the road is a perfect little restaurant and bar, La Patron.  Sitting mere feet from the waters edge in the most peaceful and relaxed setting imaginable.  How could we not stop in for a little refreshment and relaxation? We sat for quite a little while sipping a drink or two and sharing a huge seafood cocktail.  

We found ourselves on the verge of a siesta after sitting and watching the small waves lap the shore and the birds catching a snack of the fish swimming too close. 

A lazy afternoon found it's way into a calm evening.  Prior to dining we made way to a local bar and chatted with several of the local personalities.  Easy to get to know some people down here and always entertaining and educational. 

Janet had taken a stroll during the afternoon and consulted all of the online authorities to find a marvelous restaurant for the evenings meal.  Los Equipales rated highly on the websites for good reason.  Excellent food and atmosphere.  

The seafood combination with Yellow Fin, scallops, shrimp and lobster. 

Ribs

We have decided to press on tomorrow and not spend the day in the mountains.  We have seen enough artifacts and pictures to satisfy our curiosity enough, plus we will be traveling through some of the most beautiful cactus forests imaginable on our way to San Felipe. 

We stopped in to El Candil again, our local bar here, for a nightcap. Darned if we didn't run into Steve (we met yesterday) who has been in the area for a while, looking for the perfect piece of property to purchase. We chatted.  He left and we were just about to leave when Eddy and Kerri, who we also met yesterday) stopped by. We ended up talking to them for quite a little while before we actually did call it a night. 

Just outside our room at the hotel is the most fragrant grapefruit tree, that has some of the biggest fruit we have ever seen.  We went to a local Panadería (bakery) today and bought some pastries to go with one of these gigantic grapefruit for breakfast.  Looking forward to it.