Santa Rosalía (Dec 24, 2018 - Jan 4, 2019)

Arriving at the first town you've seen in almost a month means catching up on things. On the communication front, there's emailing, phoning, banking, web searches, blogging, and, if you are a masochist, checking world news. Truthfully, we tend to take only a cursory look at the latter. There's also food, water and diesel to top up (which includes figuring out where to do this) and, generally, a pile of not-so-fresh clothing to deal with. As we converted Hoku Pa'a into the "good ship laundry boat" the wind kicked in, keeping us hopping to ensure items were still attached to our temporary clotheslines. One bedsheet that breezed away into the sea was quickly retrieved but, alas, no longer fresh and half-dry. In between these sorts of tasks, we enjoyed several exploratory walks around Santa Rosalía.

Lovely mural along a Santa Rosalía street

Museum, reflecting style of many local buildings

Santa Rosalía's history over the last century is closely tied to mining. Around the time that whaling was declining (fewer whales, plus the replacement of whale oil by petroleum), copper ore was discovered permeating the surrounding hills. A french company purchased the claim in 1885 and worked out a sweet deal with the Mexican government, "...enabling the company to be exempt from customs duties and import and export tariffs on fuel until the year 1942, exempt all their employees from military and or civil service duty, and to acquire an additional claim of land that eventually totaled 2,317 square miles" (from Sea of Cortez, a Cruisers Guidebook, 2nd Ed by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer).

French Compagnie Boleo Locomotive

Steam Donkey

Mining activities nourished a boom that saw vast quantities of Pacific Northwest lumber imported to construct buildings and shore up shafts dug to extract the ore. Walking around the old areas of town, one sees similar-looking wood-framed houses with wrap-around verandas. But, not only lumber was imported - an entire church, designed by Gustave Eiffel (the Tower guy) was constructed in Paris, spent a few years in Brussels, and then was dismantled and shipped to Santa Rosalía for reassembly in 1895-1897. Its metal panels and roof have held up well, and the church is still in use today.

Melting pot

Sta Barbara Church by Gustave Eiffel, built in France in 1887

Inside church, showing metal panel construction

The copper operation encompassed not just mining the ore, but also refining and smelting it. Several piles of depleted ore and ash are scattered around town, making artificial hills devoid of plants. Old bits of equipment can be found throughout providing decorative links to the past. An immensely long covered railway runs from the waterfront refinery up to a hilltop crowned with a tall brick smokestack. We hiked through ascending levels of town and found a sidestreet that allowed us to clamber on top of the tunnel, scrambling up the last 200 metres to reach the chimney. Some sections were rather steep with little in the way of handholds on that windy day so we opted for a different route down. We never did make it to the town's museum, so can't say why the railway was needed and why the smokestack was placed where it was, but perhaps on our next visit...

The cement-covered rail tracks we followed up to the smokestack on the hill

Same smokestack as in the photo on the left.

Several mines dot this cliffside

This tunnel had about 1.5 m clearance, and we followed it in for 50 or so metres.

Seeing the mine shafts up close was easier than in more safety-conscious countries, merely involving a hike into the hills past unfenced yards with barky (but fortunately not bitey) dogs. We picked several of the half dozen or so portals to the past we came across for a closer look. Wandering inside, they varied from cavernous to claustrophobic - probably depending on the size of the ore vein they followed. Several had branch tunnels meandering off into cool darkness, and moving in deeper, the grafitti and trash diminished until one could (almost) imagine being the only person to visit for quite a long while. A dry climate had generally preserved the shafts, though we did see entrance caverns where a deluge had caved in sections of roof and created pretty mud mosaics.

Barb exploring the foyer of large mine tunnel

Which way is the exit?

Bundling Exploring together with Food always seems efficient and enjoyable. Bjarne was jonesing for a burger following a month of low-meat meals and after walking through a couple of public squares we found a small 6-table place that seemed popular with the locals, doing a brisk take-out business. Our friendly young server was attentive, and the chefs working backstage must have been inspired, because the burger (decorated with avocado, pineapple, bacon, tomato, and a few jalapeno slices) was excellent. Barb had a Papa Pizza, which was a baked spud (papa is potato in Spanish) with pizza-type toppings. Piling all kinds of things onto potatoes is just one of the great culinary practices we've seen in Mexico! So, there was cheese, chorizo, pineapple and one surprise. When Barb had asked the waiter what salchicha meant she heard salsa which was confusing but she thought, OK, salsa's good. Turns out he said sausage, also good, but apparently in this case meant weiners (not really interchangeable to Barb's way of thinking).

We had read good things about the bakery that had been around since the days when the French were running the mines, and their sign modestly proclaims that they are "World Famous". We tried a fried flat pastry drizzled with syrup or coated with sugar (similar to beaver-tails at fairs, though more flaky), and a Mexican baguette, which was sweeter and more dense than its french cousin. The latter was tasty enough but we are perhaps hard to impress since we have an excellent bread chef on board. However, to make a really fair assessement we should have sampled more items.

Should we worry about this brand of rice?

Food is a focus for other cruisers too, and so the occupants of four boats at the dock collectively decided to dine out on New Year's Eve. We weren't sure how many venues would be open, but someone more familiar with the town made reservations at a place they knew. During our 15 minute walk through town to the restaurant we admired various Christmas-themed decorations in, on, and beside the houses. Some were just as over-the-top as in Canada: motorized reindeer, Santas with audio tracks, and inflatable Snowbodies. We didn't spot any real snowbodies. The restaurant of choice seemed more to cater to gringos with gringo wallets, but the food was tasty enough and the walls were decorated with old photos depicting earlier life in the town.

This is where 2018 is buried :-) Interesting to note that graves range from rock mounds to ornate monuments

The harbour was a haven for plenty of birds, and our 11-day stay provided us with some great viewings. Perched atop a 10 metre metal scaffold was an osprey nest that we were told had been inhabited for many seasons, and its size reflected that. This prime location overlooked the harbour, and a good fishing ground. One morning on our way to the (hot running water!) showers, one of the osprey pair had snagged a decent trevally or jack and was ripping into its breakfast while its mate called out occasionally, possibly demanding breakfast-in-bed delivery.

The pelicans were very active, creating loud splashes that were sometimes startlingly close to the boat; imagine the sound of a large Christmas turkey being dropped into the water from 30 feet. Herons and egrets also stalked and strutted the docks. We were especially impressed at the tightrope skills shown by balancing on a swaying dockline while eyeing the water for movement, and then quickly darting the beak in to catch a fish, all the time hanging on despite boats surging in the strong wind.

I'm the best fisher, ever!

Closeup of the osprey's claws. yikes...

One...

Two...

Treat!

Looking along the run-down malecon, which workers were fixing up

Closeup of the timber structure from an earlier era

With waves like this it's not hard to see why we stayed in port as long as we did!