November 5, 2018 - We need maps of Mulege

Sometimes, things translate in interesting ways.

Today, we drove up the highway from Loreto and got lost a few times. First, trying to find Playa Escondido (Hidden Beach), we couldn't find it based no remembered directions from online, and finally found it thanks to directions from a lady from Bend, Oregon, who has a place at the next beach North. When we finally found the beach, we saw a stingray while snorkeling - another Baja first.

The shrine above Playa Escondido - these are everywhere in Mexico.

 This worked out alright, but the getting lost in Mulege might not have. We had no printed or other maps, relying only on Google Maps on my phone. This helped us to find a few places we needed in town, but sometimes by the skin of our teeth. As we were in offline mode, it wouldn't give use walking directions, only directions by car. Despite this, it sent us walking the wrong way down one way streets to find a bank. No big deal, except for when we tried to drive to get gas, and it turned us down two to three one-way streeets, the wrong way each time! But, we survived, learned, and have a full tank of gas once more.

Wandering around town without a map, we found ourselves at the graveyard. It was more of a mausoleum, with grave houses built, and likely people sealing in concrete tombs. Some of these, for infants, were quite small, while others were huge. Some had been built of brincks and mortar, while others were only piles of rocks. Of the former, one had the foot crumble, and bones were visible through this gap; a sobering reminder of what is inside all of these enclosures.

The cemetary gate.

The front of an iron cross.

The back of the iron cross. It appears that further information about the person and their family was imprinted on the back.

Door of a grave house.

An iron cross.

Walking around the graveyard.

A development down the river from where we were staying on the South bank of the River Mulege.

Mulege at sunset, looking North across the river.

Tomorrow, we have another glimpse into the past - a guided tour of the cave paintings made by the Indigenous people of the area many thousands of years ago.