March 11, 2016 - Santa Rosalia

Santa Rosalia is one of the nicest towns we have visited in Mexico  Once again, the Mexican's are extremely friendly, as they have been just about everywhere we have been during the past year.  One afternoon a man stopped to talk to us and mentioned that he had worked up in OR and WA in apple orchards.  That was it, he just wanted to chat and was not soliciting anything.  As he walked away he said "don't worry, be happy!".  This town has a very friendly and authentic feel.  There is a long history with mining in Santa Rosalia.  Copper was discovered here in the 1860's and two french men formed a company to start mining the copper.  The town is nice and clean and they have preserved and displayed a lot of the old mining equipment on many of the streets throughout the town. The mine has closed and opened several times and is currently in operation so the town is thriving.  It is not a tourist town at all, so we do have many people stare at us as we walk or bike by.  In the early days of mining the copper was loaded into ships and sent to far off lands.  After the copper was unloaded they returned loaded with wood so many of the buildings here are wood, unlike most of Mexico.  The houses and buildings are painted bright colors and most are well maintained.

The one dock marina in Santa Rosalia

We ended up on the dock with 4 other American boats.  Everyone came in to get away from the wind storm.  Next to us was the trawler that we met just a day ago while in Caleta Mujueres.  We had drinks with Brian and Lynn from Montana two nights onboard their beautiful Selene 52'.  Steve hitched a ride to the fuel dock with Brian on their dinghy one afternoon so we could get more dinghy gas.  The Mexican Navy keeps two boats here on the dock, and Marine Rescue has two nice SafeBOATS, and two more search and rescue boats here as well.  The Navy guys are very friendly and always seem to be on the boats keeping them ship shape.

Nice Marine Rescue boats.  It's reassuring to see that there is help out there
if it's ever needed.

Steve and Brian going over to the Pemex fuel dock

Zappa and Cindy

We had a full glass of chocolate milk spill into one of our settee cushions last week.
We tried once to get it all out but it started to smell so the kids worked on the dock soaking
 it again with the dock water.  It will take many days to dry out.  It better not smell...

Iglesia Santa Barbara.  This steel church was designed by Gustave Eiffel.  It was disassembled
 and moved from Brussels and reassembled here in 1897 (the french mining company purchased it).

The kids in front of one of the mining cars

One of the old mining structures, down on the waterfront

m/v Adagio in the small marina.  Brian and Lynn's Selene is on the end-tie.
The two sailboats near shore are American boats.  One is from Seattle.

The kids riding along the breakwater

more old mining cars

part of the old smelter.  Beautiful area and well kept

Kevin and Kathy at the old smelter.  Returning from the grocery store with
full backpacks.

at the old smelter

Cindy and Zappa

On a bike ride.  It was hot today and we rode up some hills.  It was nice to turn
around and head downhill just to feel the breeze!

Part of the old mine.  It appears to be some kind of covered river and it
goes all the way to the top of that hill.  Most of it has collapsed and is filling
in now with dirt and debris.  

We did a lot of bike riding in Santa Rosalia.  

Cindy and Kevin shopping in the "Super Ley" grocery store.  It was very nice
and we went there almost every day to get more backpacks full of supplies.

Riding down the sidewalk of this colorful town.

Cruising through the town on our bikes.

Although this stop was intended primarily to re-provision, it served several other purposes.  It had us safely tied to a dock during a wind storm that came south from California.  It allowed Cindy to finish her Marine Science course (a high school online course) with 96% (an A) and then to start another online course.  Kids in WA need to pass a WA state history course and she did not get that course in La Conner as they taught it in 7th grade and we were here in Mexico.  So she is starting that course and has until June to complete.  She has downloaded her next lessons so she can work some while we are out of internet access.  This marina is cheap, only about $220 pesos or $13 dollars a night which includes power and water - what a deal compared to San Carlos at about $45 dollars per night.  Prices here in town for produce and groceries have been REALLY good.  Most items seem cheap!

This extra time at the dock also allowed Steve to do quite a few boat maintenance projects.  He changed the oil and filters in both engines and one generator.  He replaced a faulty windlass foot switch.  He also replaced the fuel injectors on the port engine, and then did a valve adjustment, and adjusted the fuel rack on the port engine.  The boat should be ready to go now for the long haul back up the coast to WA state later this year.  Steve even replaced a tire and tube on his bike after getting another flat.

We don't expect we will have internet access for a few weeks now.  You can follow us on our Spot link (at the top of the page).  More to come when we reconnect with the digital age again....