29 Palms

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At Ensenada we have a think about our next destination. The LP has little (read no) information about places down the coast south of Ensenada until Guerrero Negro which is about 10 hours by bus. It seems to be mainly a destination for whale watching so St Ignacio a couple of hours further on seems like a better destination and there is an overnight ABC bus at 6pm which should give us a good arrival time.

St Ignacio is a small oasis town set close to some stunning country close to the Sierra de San Francisco. It doubles as a centre for whale watching and as a trailhead for trips to see the Baja cave painting and petroglyphs.

We get off the bus at 7am after a moderately comfortable ride, only to find the town itself is 3km away. There is little alternative but to walk into town but fortunately it’s not yet that hot. After a good breakfast in the plaza we look for places to stay and find that the 2 budget hotels are either full or closed so end up in the excellent but mid-price La Huerta. The tour operator in the village can do cave day tours but these are not cheap at 95usd pp.

Whilst we mull over our options we walk up onto the plateau above the town. The scenery here is classic Mexico with huge cacti and - to me at least - interesting volcanic rock scenery. The view over the town, the lagoon and palm plantatation is the sort of scenery we came for which raises our spirits. Back in town the Mission is charming, the plaza pretty and there is an excellent small museum.

After a bit of thought we decide that the cave paintings can wait so tomorrow we’ll head on to Mulege about 2 hours further south and on the Sea of Cortez.

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Photos

More than 29 Palms here!

St Ignacio Mission

Interior of the mission

J giving scale to a cactus

Panorama above St Ignatio

Desert scenery

Volcanic landscape