SANTA ROSALIA, MX

Santa Rosalia was a place in Baja that really surprised me. When I rolled into the town which sits about 200kms or so south of Guererro Negro, and thus the northern border of Baja Sur, I had never heard anything about Santa Rosalia. I knew where it was, because it was a place we had to pass through, but that was it.  ​ I was really pleasantly surprised with the place when we drove around however. It's a very quaint, and historic feeling old French colonial town on the sea of Cortez. As a result, there are no waves or anything over here, but the town is large and filled with colorful buildings that look almost nothing like what you would expect Mexico to look like.  ​ This is all a result of it being colonized by the French back in the day, and the town was primarily a mining town. You can see the remnants of the mining industry as you drive through town and see the old defunct mining buildings throughout the streets of town. There seem to still be mining operations going on in the outskirts of town, but its certainly not anything like it used to be.  ​ Santa Rosalia was a great place to stop though. Walk around, stop into some shops. Eat some food, have some traditional Mexican bread at a famous 100-year-old bakery, and feel a sense of civilization again for the first time in a while. It was a really nice little pitstop for the day. It felt nice to be a tourist in a town again after such a long time out in rural Baja. If you are going this way and passing through Santa Rosalia, it is worth a stop. I have a few restaurant recommendations that I went to below, as well as some mining-related sightseeing if you are interested.