Mulege
Approaching Mulege, we pull into the Hotel Serenidad to show Luis the airstrip his family has flown in to, and watch as he smiles with his new-found knowledge. When we get out of the car to stretch our legs, I tell the family about the dog with no owner that was hit in the face by a spinning propeller last year, and how our dentist friend, John Grubbe, found him near death and flew him back to Santa Barbara for an operation and a new life with the Grubbe family. Marisol jabs very quickly and hard at the sky with her index finger, folds her arms and harumphs us. Since she cannot understand our story, she is telling us not to talk. Everyone must be quiet. We have learned by now that if we don't, she will give us all a dose of temper tantrum. Kirk and I comment how her frustration level is very high and increasing. In town we stop at the Rotary International's medical clinic to deliver used eye glasses given to us by an American friend in Loreto, Joan Kosinski. They will be checked to determine the prescription strength and given to those who can use them.

SANTA ROSALÍA
Santa Rosalía is just a short drive up the road and all eyes are on the Sea of Cortéz. Marisol demands to know what each new road sign means, curves ahead, no passing, stop. As we pass the ferry terminal and pull into the Pemex for gas, Luis wants to know where one can go on the ferry. Kirk tells him, "To Guaymas on the other side," and we can see Luis thinking about the concept. The line for gas is short, so we leave and loop the town before heading north to San Ignacio. We point out the church made of 2000 pieces of metal shipped from Paris a century ago and designed by a man named Eifel. Delia speaks out for the first time, very softly. "Look, she says. The houses are built of wood. All of them. And some have two floors." We pass the French-bread bakery established in 1901, but can't stop because the entire block is reserved for taxis only now, and there isn't any parking.

At the bottom of the loop through town a train engine is on display, a remnant of El Boleo, the mining company which founded Santa Rosalía. We pass the ruins of enormous abandoned mining buildings, twisted beams of steel and wood and broken glass. The road continues north along the shore for a few more miles before it elbows left and climbs through heavily disturbed mountains. Mine shafts and talus slopes surround the road as it switch-backs upward. We are lucky today we haven't gotten behind a truck carrying a heavy load. Kirk explains tunnels and mining. Around us there are two hundred miles of tunnels underground, and Nabor and Luis struggle to comprehend the magnitude of it. Fishing they understand.

The car falls quiet again for more than an hour until we approach the next military checkpoint outside San Ignacio, our lunch stop. Once again Dewey performs with full bravado, and once again we are waived through, much to the Higueras delight. Nabor asks about the lagoon as we enter San Ignacio and I explain the concept of an oasis. Educated Luis replies, it is called an ojo de agua or eye of water in Baja. Makes sense. At the plaza in front of San Ignacio mission we eat dried fruit, more peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, queso cotija and drink lemonade for lunch. Marisol takes Loreto on a walk on his leash and I follow with Dewey. We pack up, pile in again and continue north and west, crossing high-desert country to the Pacific.

Guerrero Negro, the first town we come to on the Pacific, is most unattractive. Since there is a new Pemex gas station on the highway, we can avoid going into town. We fill the tank and comment on the mini-mart at this new and clean facility. The old Pemex stands abandoned on the other side of the highway. Gased-up, we can now make it to El Rosario tomorrow. Another military check-point and agricultural stop as we cross the border between Baja California Sur and Baja California where an enormous Mexican flag hangs near the metal-art statue of an eagle which separates the two states. From sea-level we again climb into the high desert where now the landscape is noticeably changing. Lava flows and large boulders replace the scantily-vegetated high desert further south.
Next Chapter: Catavina