Guerrero Negro Hotels
Happywayfarer's travel blogs:
|
|
  | |  |
Day One Seventy-Five
Entry 76 of 119 | show all | print this entry |
I saw one of the strangest natural sights I've ever witnessed this morning. As I was walking Zoobley just after sunrise, I noticed that despite a lull in the winds, the water surface close to shore was undulating as if it were in a blender. Getting closer to the surface, I noticed there were hundreds of dinner plate sized sting rays in a thrashing frenzy within a few feet of the beach. When sting rays mate, it's a regular aquatic orgy.
On our way south from Bahia de Los Angeles, we made a side trip on another dusty road to the eighteenth century mission settlement of Mision San Franciso Borja de Adac or simply San Borja. The Mision was founded by Jesuits in 1759, taken over by Franciscans in 1767, and finally became a Dominican outpost in 1773. The changes apparently followed the whim of the Spanish crown. Today, much of the Dominican Mission has been preserved and the earlier adobe ruins are being protected. An Indian family, descendants of the original Amerindians converted by the padres, still lives nearby and gives tours of the area. They also offer palapas for a few pesos and fresh water. Unfortunately the padre in charge of the Mision was gone for a few days so we were not able to tour the inside of the Mission which is supposed to be quiet impressive.
We crossed the 28th Parallel today putting us in the state of Baja California Sur (BCS). The military checkpoint was closed but we did have to go through an agricultural inspection station. I'm not sure if this was a legitimate effort to protect agricultural crops in BCS or just a scam to get twenty pesos. The inspector took our pesos and another man wearing one of those cheap white face masks like they sell at Home Depot and a backpack sprayer sprayed some odorless, colorless liquid, most likely water, under our truck.
Guerrero Negro, about five kilometers south of the 28th Parallel on the Bahia de Sebastian Vizcaino, has to be the sister city to Pahrump, Nevada. This is a truly ugly and depressing town that gets its name from the Black Warrior, a Hawaiian whaling ship that sank in the nearby Laguna Ojo de Liebre in 1858. Ironically, the ship sank because it was overloaded with the oil from whales which were later slaughtered almost to the point of extinction. Today, whale watching (the whales made a comeback) in Laguna Ojo de Liebre is one of the town's main sources of income along with massive sea-salt extraction business Exportadors Sal, S.A. or ESSA.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it was incredibly windy in Guerrero Negro so while the crazy Swede and his German girlfriend boon docked on an abandoned wharf, Zoobley and I checked in to the Motel Las Ballenas (whale motel) on an unpaved back street for N$210.00 (about $19.00 US). The room was spartan but clean and the TV got a few English language shows. Apparently there is a new Pope. I'm looking forward to moving on in the morning. Unless you are coming January through March for one of the whale watching tours, I wouldn't suggest Guerrero Negro as a vacation spot.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by happywayfarer, from Mexico or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
8 votes 
