San Ignacio – Mulege
Driving Baja California – Part Five
Updated July 2022
This is part five of the “Driving the Baja Peninsula” series. Click the Travel menu at the top for the other parts.
San Ignacio
It is an uneventful drive from Gerrero Negro to San Ignacio. However, uneventful does not mean boring. Driving on the narrow Baja California highway is never dull.
The weather along the coast is great in January. It is in the mid-twenties every day (Celsius).
We drove inland to San Ignacio in the centre of the peninsula. San Ignacio is in the desert, and the temperature was 29 degrees C. It is hotter inland. It does rain at times, but most days are sunny and warm.
San Ignacio has a Spanish Mission that was completed in 1786. It is in surprisingly good condition for its age. A Mission is a type of church whose purpose was to convert the natives to Christianity.
San Ignacio is located in an oasis. There is a small lagoon here and thousands of palm trees. It is quite pretty. There are both native palm trees and African date palms. The missionaries planted them in the 1700s. Today there is a palm forest around the town and the lagoon. They thrive because of the abundance of water here. (Click photos to enlarge).
Mulege
Next, we drove from San Ignacio in the centre of the peninsula to Mulege on the coast of the Gulf of California.
There is a campground with internet, albeit slow. Most campgrounds in Mexico do not have wifi, but many have internet in the hotel bar. I am sure that wifi will become more common in the future. In Mexico, many hotels and campgrounds are combined into one business. Most of the campgrounds we stayed at are like that.
We spent a day touring the town of Mulege, which also has a mission. The Mission is made of stone and is quite austere compared to the one in San Ignacio. The belfry is above the annexe instead of the chapel, which is quite unusual. The building was completed in 1766.
Like San Ignacio, the missionaries planted palm trees around the village; today, there is a beautiful palm forest here. It is not an oasis like San Ignacio, but plenty of water from the Mulege River runs by the edge of town.
The town itself is charming. The small streets are full of quaint little shops for tourists and locals. It is worthwhile to spend a day exploring Mulege. We went to a tortilleria, a bakery that makes tortillas. We watched as they were being made and sold by weight.
A Walk on the Coast
Later, we walked to the coast, about one kilometre away. Hundreds of birds, including gulls, pelicans and Turkey Vultures mingled. The beach is muddy and not sandy. You will see fishers, sea shells, tiny crabs, and other interesting sights.
I got my first sighting of mangrove trees. The mangrove grows only along the edge of salt water. When the tide is out, the roots are exposed and look like a bush on stilts. When the tide comes in, the roots are underwater.
Xanthus’s Hummingbird
While exploring the mangrove trees along the coast, you might see a Xanthus’s hummingbird if you are lucky. This rare bird can be found only in southern Baja California and no place else in the world.
Birds for Sale
We saw a man walking around the streets of Mulege with a bunch of cages on his back. He was selling birds. The blue, white, and black bird he was carrying was a Black-throated Magpie Jay from the other side of the Gulf of California. Obviously, it’s wings were clipped as it was unable to fly. Selling these birds is illegal, but he walked openly around the streets and allowed me to photograph him.
Shrimp and Restaurants
We bought some fresh shrimp from a fisherman for supper, which we cooked with rice and vegetables. After boiling the shrimp and rice, we fried them with garlic.
The best restaurant in Mulege is called the Icky Palace. Not a great name, but it is a good restaurant. A bit challenging to find, but if you want to dine out in Mulege, I recommend this place.
Take a day out from driving and enjoy this quaint Mexican town.
Mulege Birds
Click here for Driving Baja California part six
If you are not interested in birds, click here for part seven