Easter in Santa Rosalia

Church designed by Gustav Eiffel (of the tower fame)

Santa Rosalia is an old mining town about midway up the east coast of the Baja peninsula. It is our last stop on the Baja side before we head over to Guaymus to haul the boat out for the summer. The copper mine here operated for about 150 years before shutting down in the mid 1980's. The mining history here is quite rich, as much of the infrastructure is still standing (and, it being Mexico) accessible.

Rock crusher in the processing plant

We toured the mining museum (which is still recovering from losing most of it's roof in Hurricane Odile in September), then walked through the ruins of the old smelting plant. Although definitely a walking safety hazard, you can still get up to the second floor and look around. The old furnaces still stand, as do some of the turbines etc. We had fun trying to figure out the processing process.



The town itself was apparently constructed from BC timber and much of it is still standing. It is certainly the only place we've seen in Mexico where the houses are made of wood. Interestingly, they've made most of the new stucco construction look like wood to match. So, kind of a neat town.

It is definitely NOT a tourist destination. The only gringos here are the Cruisers.

Jesus at the beginning of the procession

We'd been told by other Cruisers that the Easter celebrations on Good Friday were not to be missed. We understood that there would be a parade and that it was quite elaborate. This turned out to be an understatement. Ten Cruisers lined up with about 1000 locals to watch (and participate) in the proceedings.

The judgement of Jesus

Leading Jesus to his fate

Following the crowd 

It started off by Jesus and the three thieves being dragged into the square by several soldiers, while the 'townspeople' watched.

Jesus was then de-robed, whipped, re-robed and dragged down the street, followed by the crowd (us included). The procession proceeded through the town, stopping every couple of blocks so the next part of the story could be played out (all 12 stations). The crowd, full of families, babies, grandmothers, dogs, teenagers etc, all sang between the different acts of the re-enactment as they walked along. This went on for 2 hours while the thousand of us wound our way through town and up the hill to the big cross that overlooks the city. Then, yup, you guessed it, Jesus got nailed (well, tied) to the cross.

The final scene of the re-enactument

 I'm not sure we'd participate in something like this again, but we are certainly glad we did. I gather this is a pretty common Catholic tradition, but it was amazing to see the whole town participate. Quite an experience

Crews of Falcon VII, Avant, Kialoa and Sea Rover II (all BCA members)

The next few days were filled with boat projects, as it is time to start preparing the boat for it's 6 month 'vacation' on the hard in the blistering Mexican summer sunshine. We've been washing canvas, rinsing the boat, oiling all the woodwork, sorting through and cleaning all the cabinets and cupboards. Fun fun.

Mmmmmm, deep fried bacon-wrapped hotdog... 

In between all our boat chores, we did find time to eat some ice cream and try our first deep fried bacon-wrapped hot dog though...mmmmm. Definitely a treat not to be missed.


We'd like to wish everyone a Happy Easter. We will be celebrating with a potluck dinner with all the other Cruisers at the dock tonight, but we'll be thinking of you all.