Marty Magic Travel Blog: Baja Road Trip - San Ignacio to San Francisco de Sierra and onto Mulege

Tuesday, January 5th, San Ignacio to Mulege

The breakfast at Ignacio Spring’s B & B is exceptional. Art and I walk to the family style dining room at 7:30 A.M. and drink coffee and check our e-mail for an hour before waking the boys. The country style bread is home baked, the jam home made and the sausage ground and smoked by the owner. For those who wish there are thick slices of ham and bacon. I take a sample bite of the sausage and it is delicious but I stop with just a bite since I am trying not to eat meat except for chicken and fish.

The four of us discuss our plans for the day. The boys do not want to spend a second night here but we can leave our luggage in the office and pick it up when we return from visiting the cave paintings. We are cautioned that the roads may be very bad due to the rain but we retrace our route an hour north on the highway to the turn off to San Francisco de Sierra. We find the turn off easily and follow the well paved road 25 Kilometers up into the mountains.

Steer Skull

Marty, Steer Skull

The canyon vistas are breathtaking and the expansive desert plains below and beyond look like a museum diorama. We stop several times to inhale the views, take photos and examine the plant life. Will is once again down on his hands and knees examining flowers and seeds with his field lens. A steer skull and carcass, the flesh not completely picked clean, lie in the dirt. Our second stop is at the edge of a steep canyon and John and Will scramble up a rock pinnacle above the canyon. I shout at them, begging them not to risk the climb but my warnings go unheeded and I am relieved when everyone is safely back in the car.

Panoramic Vista - San Francisco de Sierra

John on the Pinnacle

John Climbing the Pinnacle

Will on the Pinnacle

Solidarity

After about 25 kilometers, the paved road turns to dirt and mud. Our vehicle slithers through a few slippery places but makes traction and Art maneuvers the questionable road for another 6 or 7 kilometers. There is a narrow stretch where the edge of the road drops steeply away into the canyon but we are crawling along and I am not too worried.

The Pavement Turns to a Dirt Road

Goats in the Road

We pass the gated and locked entrance to the cave on the right and continue several more kilometers to the ranch where we have been instructed to register and where we will hire a guide. A man in his 70’s is walking through the compound and he escorts us through the primitive ranch to the “office.” An old man and woman sit idly in the sun while a younger man attempts to start a fire, dogs roam and children gawk. Art is handed a clipboard and dutifully fills out our names and ages and pays the 100 peso guide fee plus a 45 peso camera use fee. It turns out that our guide is to be the man who escorted us here and he leads us back to our car. I ask for a toilet and he points me to a latrine out behind an abandoned building where a wooden plank with a hole suffices for the toilet seat.

Art Registers to Visit the Cave Paintings at the Rancho

San Francisco de Sierra Rancho

Goat Enclosure

Latrine

Toilet Seat

We drive with our guide several miles back to the cave entrance, protected by a high chain link fence and topped by wicked curls of barbed wire. This is just one of many petroglyph sites in the region and is a Unesco World Heritage site. Our guide unlocks the gate and we climb the rock stairway up to the cave. Faint images of deer and human figures in ochre, red, black and white decorate the overhanging roof of this remote cave. We linger 20 minutes examining the paintings. I do not realize that Art has already paid the guide fee and pass Art him 100 pesos to pay our guide. The man is immensely pleased with the tip and he volunteers to walk the 2 or 3 kilometers back to the rancho, saving us 30 minutes of driving.

Gated Entrance to the Cave Site

Our Guide Unlocks the Gate

Cave Painting - San Francisco de Sierra

Cueva del Raton

Detail of Painting

Art, Marty, John and Will, San Francisco de Sierra Mural Site

San Francisco de Sierra Cave Mural

Art drives the treacherous section of road back but turns the driving over to John when past the section of road dropping into the canyon below. An hour later we are back in San Ignacio and have a simple lunch at Victors restaurant, off of the Zocalo.

Lunch at Victor's in the San Ignacio Zocolo

Mission San Ignacio

Detail of Mission Door

Dave Z has told us about a warm spring just a quarter of a mile east of San Ignacio and we find the hand painted sign propped off to the right hand side of the road. It reads: Los Alamos - 400 Meters. We make the turn and drive a dirt road past several houses until we come to the Lost Alamos “ Park.” The park is overgrown and strewn with trash but ahead is a oasis of palm trees with pools of crystal clear water fed by the spring. These clear pools feed into the murky lake further down and we spend a pleasant 30 minutes exploring the oasis. I walk the low wall of the cracked aqueduct taking photos while John, Will and Art soak in one of the warm pools, the bottom sparking jeweled colored pebbles. John puts on his snorkel and explores the shallow waters of the spring, seeing schools of tiny fish that nibble and bite at everyones skin as they soak.

Lake San Ignacio

Aqueduct

San Ignacio Warm Springs

Snorkeling and Swimming with Fish

When we leave the springs, we return to our B & B and quickly load up our luggage and begin our late afternoon drive to Mulege. The road winds through the mountains, popping out at Santa Rosalia, an industrial town on the Sea of Cortez. It is dusk when we arrive in Mulege, check the guidebook for suggested accommodations and check into the Hacienda Hotel. The hotel is extremely basic and we get two rooms, unload and walk into town to find dinner. The Hacienda is in the center of town and we find dinner around the corner at the El Candil where we enjoy a round of margarita’s, fresh fish and beer and wine at the bar. After dinner we stroll the small town and Art and I head back to the hotel and the boys return to the restaurant and play a game of pool.