Loreto and the Road to Cuidad Constitucion

Late Sunday morning we reluctantly left our little slice of heaven at El Requeson beach, and headed south along the Sea of Cortez to our last stop in this area, Loreto.  A very historic town, Loreto was the first Spanish settlement on the Baja California Peninsula.

Loreto has a population of over 14,000, and it's commerce comes from tourism.  Again we saw many US tourists enjoying this town, which had a clean beautiful town square and very nice restaurants and hotels situated in historic buildings.  As we move further south, we are also seeing more and more shops selling both Mexican crafts and fine art.  I liked the loom for weaving that I noticed in one of the shops,

and this metal sculpture of an accordion player.

We took a walk down the main street and visited the beach, which had a beautiful rocky coastline, offering sport fishing and a nature preserve. 

Loreto also has a lovely historic church, and although I'm not Catholic, I love visiting their gorgeous churches.  I am always fascinated with the religious statues, and I found the statues in Baja much more relaxed than the ones in mainland Mexico, which depict a lot of suffering.  Here's an example of a statue in Loreto.  I'll write more about this when I get to mainland Mexico.

We bid farewell to Loreto in late afternoon, calculating that we had enough time to once again traverse the peninsula, this time from east to west, with a landing spot for the night of Cuidad Constitucion, about 2-1/2 hours away.  This turned out to be the most nerve wracking drive we took in Baja, because the road cut through a mountain range with many winding turns and steep drops, and since we were driving west, we had the late afternoon sun to contend with.

I would have taken more pictures in this area, but I was too busy biting my nails.  By the way, I want to say a big THANK YOU to Eduardo for doing all the driving on this trip, and doing such a great job.  We breathed a big sign of relief and gave thanks when we made it through the mountains and the road leveled out.  I love this shot I got of a "cowboy" driving in front of us, as the sun finally started getting low in the sky.

My final reward before we reached Cuidad Constitucion, a thriving agricultural town,  was yet another amazing sunset, which I was able to capture from the car.

We found a hotel in town to spend Sunday night, and planned our departure for the next morning for the final leg of our trip to Baja before we cross to the mainland.  Next stops La Paz, Todos Santos, and Cabo San Lucas.  Stay tuned!

Buenas noches,
Linda