Catavina Feb 27

 

Some pictures of the scenery as we drove through the desert

Out campsite for the night.

It was actually a working ranch with room for about 40 campers.   

There were at least 3 generations of family living here. The building in the back and on the right were living quarters and the building on the left was a restaurant

cow hides hanging out to dry

We hiked out into the desert for a few kilometers down this path

This is very early in the blooming season, but it is starting.
 A couple more weeks and it will be more colorful 

The blossom from the plant above

the blossom from the cactus above

on the way back we came a cross this memorial

A burial plot for a little boy born 2017 and died 2020
Just to the side of the grave was a chair where you could go and sit

A man born 1958 and died 2018

Guerro Negro Feb 26

We needed to empty our tanks and fill with water so we booked a campsite
 behind a restaurant down town. It wasn't fancy but it was handy to go for a
walk and  visit the town. We paid 300 pesos ($18.00 can) .
This was the first time we had full hook ups since we left home,
so we enjoyed nice long showers instead of the usual quick ones to conserve water.

Now that is a camper

Even in Mexico they have Chinese restaurants,
although I think this is the first one we have seen

And a Pizza joint

There are SIX stores every where, even the smallest communities have them.
 They are corner stores , some times only 3 or 4 blocks apart. 

This a great grocery store. They have them in all of the bigger towns
As good as  Loblaws

Coppel is a privately owned retail in Mexico. They operate many different set ups ,
 with just about every thing except I have not seen food in any. Coppel Canada
is a division that sells footwear and electronics. Kind of a weird combination

A nice ladies store

A high end lawyer ( Just kidding). There was an actual padlock on the door.
The expensive lawyer was just across the street in a very nice building.

 

Ojo de Liebre Lagoon Feb 24-25

 Ojo de Liebre Lagoon 

Wild life, whales and camping area, and salt lagoons. Sounded like the perfect place to visit

This is the description of the area from Wikipedia

The lagoon is within the Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is a Ramsar wetlands site. It also is the site of the biggest commercial saltworks plant in the world. It is an important habitat for the reproduction and wintering of the gray whale and harbor seal, as well as other marine mammals including the California sea lion, northern elephant seal and blue whale. Four species of endangered marine turtles reproduce there. It is an important refuge for waterfowl in the winter.

Encompassing both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major salt plant, Laguna Ojo de Liebre embodies the diverse worlds of natural habitat and industrialization.

The Ojo de Liebre lagoon has the biggest saltworks plant in the world – Exportada de Sal S.A. (ESSA). The company makes salt from seawater which is pumped into concentration ponds measuring 33,000 hectares. 

The salt lagoons were interesting but we were not able to capture the story properly with pictures

They pump the ocean water into the  lagoons, the salt is separated from the water, the  water is drained off and the salt mined.   Over simplified description

There were two of these fellows hanging around. When we went for a walk
they followed us about a couple of  hundred feet behind us.

They rented the campsite with these palapas for 200 pesos, $12.50 Canadian
 or100 pesos (6.25 Canadian)with out. They are a grea t idea , many people
 put their tents inside out of the wind or if you were in a small camper
 you could sit or eat in them out of the wind. It is always windy here.

At the end of the beach you could rent these . Pretty cool design

8 feet wide and 16 feet long

They have built 100's of nesting spots for the osprey 

Laguna San Ignacio Feb 22 -23

There is a laguna off the Pacific Ocean about a 2 hours  drive from San Ignacio where we were told that we could watch the whales from the beach. The plan was to drive down hang out for the day , stay over night and come back the next day. It took us a bit longer because the last 10 kilometers were very rough gravel.

This is a salt flat formed over hundreds or thousands of years when the ocean covered this area. Eventually the area became a lake, as the water was not able to run back into the ocean. As the water evaporated the salt was left behind. To day salt is surface mined in this area. This area is probably four or five kilometers from front to back in the picture

this is a closer up of some ponds close to the road

 

a close up of one pond completely covered with salt

Before we arrives at the tour area, the last few kilometers had what looked like truck loads of shells
dumped on the beach.

We forgot to get the story on them , and I couldn't find any thing on the internet. There would have been hundreds of truck loads

Entrance to the tour camp.  

People book a tour that includes an overnight stay in one of these cabins. Twin beds and a sink. Out door toilets and solar showers. Warm showers at night and cold in the  morning as the temperature all through this area drops to ten to twelve degrees every night

They put 10 to 12 people in each of these whale watching boats

View from our campsite

Watching for whales, no luck but still a nice two day trip 

The restaurant serves a catch of the day every night for $12.00.   The night we were there they served an assortment of freshly caught clams with rice and vegetables.

Sun rise the next morning

We spotted these cows on the way back, I have no idea how they stay alive most of the year
 as this is just scrub brush

Where ever you travel in this area they have built nesting areas for the Osprey

the spring here just is starting to arrive, this is the first week we have started to see desert flowers, and the cacti are starting to bloom as well

These flowers bloom on purple , yellow and white