On our way home from San Jose over the weekend we pulled off the Transpeninsular highway in a small town we've always wanted to spend an afternoon exploring. El Triunfo is in Central Baja Sur about halfway between La Paz and Los Barriles. It only has about a dozen buildings and 325 (ish) people now, but in its heyday it was an important mining center of Baja Sur. Wikipedia says that at one time it was the biggest city in Baja with 10,000 miners when gold and silver were discovered in the hills and mountains surrounding it. That was in the 1860's. Gustav Eiffel even designed the two big smokestacks that now sit idle and falling apart. By the 1910's most of the population had moved out to either La Paz or the Cabos.
We started our afternoon with a absolutely delicious meal at a roadside stand. I had 2 beef tamales with fresh white cheese and refried beans. E had a beef burrito and quesadilla that also did not disappoint. We then crossed the street (the only street) to the smokestacks and the shells of the old brick buildings to explore. When we got too hot and dry to keep hiking (day time temps = 95*F) we got back in the car and drove a little ways to the town's cemetary. Hiking along the graves again we saw many that were from around the 1920-1940's but some more recent ones from 2004. Most seemed really old with just a pile of rocks, no markers or crosses. Seems they have been forgotten. Our footprints were the only ones in the sand on the path leading up to the cemetary, so I'm guessing not too many people make the drive out to visit their loved ones. I would love to go back there during Dia de los Muertos and see if the activity picks up then! All in all, a great, though hothothot afternoon!
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| Goofing around with the old smokestack |
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| view from the very much-welcomed shade! |
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| Graves on the hillside |
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