A Taste of Cruising Mexico

Our stay in Santa Rosalia has given us opportunities for both work and play. After resting up from our crossing, we took time to rediscover the flavor of this little Mexican town. The first day we hiked high above the city. Cave openings and tunnels in these hills are riddled with old abandoned mine shafts. We've been told that preparations are also being made to begin mining copper in this area again and during our stay we saw evidence that men and machinery were being put in place for that purpose.

Other interesting sights included the Museo Historico Minero de Santa Rosalia, a museum housed in the old mine administration office and the Iglesia Santa Barbara, a steel church designed and built in Paris by Gustave Eiffel who created the Eiffel Tower. The French mining company had the church shipped here in 1897.

Dias de los Muertos, the Mexican holiday which follows our Halloween, had just passed, and that meant it was a great time to explore the local cemetery. Everywhere we looked, graves were decorated with extravagant displays of flowers, personal effects and religious symbols.

One disappointment was that we didn't manage to sample the wares at Chuyitas Hot Dogs. This stand is famous for its grilled hot dogs with all the works, but each time we went looking, it wasn't set up for business. We did have a great meal at Restaurant Terco's Pollito where they serve delicious rotisserie chicken...and ice cream for dessert, of course.

Since the weather gurus predicted strong northerly blows for a few days, we tucked into Santa Rosalia Marina and used the time to get some boat chores done. Now the hull has been cleaned and waxed, the stainless polished and Jeff has installed a new wash-down pump.

Once the weather moderates, we plan to head south again, making our first stop in Punta Chivato to go beachcombing on the well-known shell beach. Our next entry will probably be from that location.

Dori