About Mulegé
This community has experienced important changes in the last years, especially since the Transpeninsular highway was completed.It is located in a green oasis watered by the Santa Rosalía (or Mulegé) River, 4 km from the coast of Mar de Cortes, although the hamlet spreads actually up to it’s beaches. Unusual for the tropical climate that contrasts with the dryness of the desert, Mulegé produces in it’s surroundings large crops of corn, figs, oranges, bananas, but especially dates, his principal economic production in addition to tourism.
Mulegé derives from the voices cochimíes "caamancagaleja" (big hill of the white mouth), or perhaps of "caamiancagaleja" (River between two rocks). For Juan de Ugarte, the Honduran Jesuit who founded it in 1705, it was less complicated on having called Mulegé.
The place has history: ancient as the walls of the Santa Rosalia de Mulege Mission, in a hill of the south riverside of the creek; of this century, as the Sanginés University or Cananea, name that the people gave to the jail without iron bars the only one in the country that provided such liberalities. Another notable and curious fact: in the year 1857 Mulegé took as a host to a famous intellectual, Don Ignacio Ramírez, - the Necromancer-, who worked as they say, in one of the gardens as scarecrow.
Guarded by the beautiful Bahía Concepción, it was discovered in the year 1702 by Father Juan María Salvatierra, its considered an oasis, with two hills on either side and a river that runs through the town and ends in the sea; in the middle of the XIX century it resurges as the main city in the municipality and at the same time the main port in the region.
Tourism is the main economic activity, visitors come to see: the old buildings, articles left by the first inhabitants, beaches and sports fishing (jurel, dorado). Pargo, pez sierra and calamari are fished commercially and distributed all around the country.
Agriculture is limited to mainly organic grown tomatoes and peas that are all sent to the US.
Cows and goats for commercial consumption are the kind of herds that are in the area.
Places to Visit
Santa Rosalía de Mulegé Mission
Founded in 1702 by Father Jesús Escalante and finished in 1766 it was the third one finished in Baja California Sur. Made of stone in an L form that gives it its uniqueness. Due to the lack of population in the area, it was abandoned in 1828, it has been restored many times but never altered, until today it still has, without having suffered any damage, the image of Santa Rosalía and the bell both from the XVIII century. In the back part there is a small hill which serves as a place to see an excellent panoramic view of the town.
Museo Comunitario Mulegé (Mulegé Community Museum)
Built in 1910 and has only had minor restorations, it has on display inside archeological pieces, fossils, instruments and testimonies from the past from the first inhabitants of the region.
At the beginning of the XX century this museum was a jail, receiving dangerous inmates from the south. Due to its isolation the jail didn’t have any bars or locks and the inmates where allowed to go out in the mornings and work coming back in the afternoons. The building was abandoned and in 1993 it reopens as a museum.
Dunas El Gatillo (El Gatillo Dunes)
Tons of soft sand located near the bay and only 3 kilometers south of Mulegé, there you can enjoy great moments on sand vehicles, boards o simply walking.
Cueva San Borjita (San Borjita Cave)
Located in the Sierra de Guadalupe in the ranch of the same name, to get there you need to go 20 kilometers north of Mulegé on the main road and another 20 kilometers on the dirt road. Its 4 meters high and 30 meters wide preserving 7500 year old cave paintings, you can observe human figures in a black and earth brown color, some with arrows through them and square heads, it also shows animal figures like deer, coyotes, whales and fish.
In the future there is a project to open new cave painting sites, the local San Borjita ranchers would be trained to be the tour guides.
If you wish to visit, you must contact the INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) who provides the guide service.
- INAH in Mulegé - (615) 153 0665
- INAH in San Ignacio - (615) 154 0222
La Trinidad
Located 27 kilometers west of Mulegé on a dirt road, where you will also find cave paintings dating back and estimated 5 000 years.
Bahía Concepción
Bahía Concepción is located between Loreto and Mulegé;it is whitout question the most beautiful in the peninsula . The highway on the foot of the Sierra borders on the brief coves of the bay for space of 30 kilometers in succession of astonishment before the gamma of colors and before the rough contrasts of the sierra and the transparence greenblue of the waters in rest.
Santispac is one of it’s beaches flanked by the mangrove and the sierra, which keeps in the tordillo, three kilometers away, rock paintings that depict men, deer and fish.
This description of the beauty of so singular place is something that the Secretary of Tourism of Mexico and in particular the Tourism Government Direction of the State, have captured in the publication in the guide " Baja California Sur ", a real encyclopedia of the marvels that can be found here and that now across a national and international promotional campaign promotion are being taken to increase the stream of tourism towards these land.
But let's continue with the story and tales that transports us to the paradisiac beaches and places of the zone of Bay Concepcion:
La Playa del Coyote to 27 kilometers to the south of Mulegé. It owes his name to the petroglif that is found in this precinct and represents a waylay coyote.
As famous as the beaches earlier mentioned:
El Requesón exhibits the whiteness of the dune that joins to the rocky foreground that, with the high tide, turns into island. Foreign tourists and locals get to enjoy this beach most of the year this secluded and paradize since the regional sudcalifornianos visit them perhaps, once a year during Easter vacation Break.
Only a few kilometers south of Mulegé, this bay offers one of the most spectacular vistas in the peninsula, with several white sandy beaches and its coves protected by enormous steep rocks and majestic cactus of the desert.
In its tranquil waters snorkel and diving is practiced, also kayaking, hobby cat and sailing which can also be enjoyed at Punta Prieta, Punta Arena, Santispac, Eco-Mundo, La Escondida, El Burro, Requesón and Coyote.
And for the visitors who want to be in contact with nature, they will find trailer parks with ecotourism camps, restaurants and specialized equipment rental, so that they can rest and enjoy their stay.
