El Triunfo: 3 Museums in a Former Mining Town

.

Home to only a few hundred residents, El Triunfo, or “The Triumph,” was once a thriving gold and silver mining town in Baja California Sur.  Today, visitors explore a relic of the well-kept local history.  

I personally like this small, charming town due to its beautiful flowers and palms, the lush vegetation on the surrounding hills, and its cobblestone roads.  It is a town where I don’t have to wear my cowboy boots like in other sandy places in this mostly desert area.

Now about 350 people live in El Triunfo, but it once boasted a population of over 10.000 inhabitants.  Mining began in the late 1700s and the mines and town shut down in 1926.  Without jobs, the people quickly moved away and El Triunfo became a ghost town.  The forced migration was hard on the people left behind but helped preserve the rich history of the area. The mineral-rich Baja peninsula still holds valuable resources and there is international pressure to resume mining. 

The future is looking good for El Triunfo though, as the Mexican government is keen on boosting ecological and cultural tourism in favor of natural resource developments. The town is now registered as a "Pueblo Historico".

.

.

El Triunfo's Museos: 

Museo Ruta De Plata 

Also called the Silver Route Museum opened in 2017 and has become a focal point for visitors who want to learn more about El Triunfo, its mining history, and the mining history of Baja California Sur as a whole.  It preserves and shows the mining history of the El Triunfo area. It is an interactive, bilingual, and bicultural museum.  El Triunfo was once a flourishing gold and silver mining town. A small path leads up to the historic smoke chimneys and smelting ruins that still tower over El Triunfo.  

The museum includes a video introduction, exhibits about the significant locations along BCS’ “Ruta de Plata” (including El Triunfo), shares oral history videos of residents who remember mining operations in the region and has a simulated mine entrance where you can get a sense of what the work of mining was actually like.

Besides the museum's historic main building is a pavilion filled with beautiful samples of precious stones from the El Triunfo mountains that were found by the miners. 

.

.

.

Admission to the museum is 100 pesos (about US$5) per person and it’s open daily except Tuesdays.

.

Museo Del Vaquero De Las Californias

Also known as MUVACA, presents more than 300 years of history of the origins of the vaquero and ranchero culture in the Californias.  This bilingual, bicultural, and multimedia museum is located in the historic town of El Triunfo, Baja California Sur.

Natives, miners, and missionaries weren’t the only ones in El Triunfo throughout time: like any good Wild Western destination, there were cowboys too. Ranching work dates back some 300 years in Baja California - long before the now Western US was settled - and adopted the Mexican way of ranching traditions.

Learn about cowboy traditions that are kept alive today by ranchero families living in the rugged mountains of Baja California Sur, Mexico.  From Baja California Sur, vaquero families migrated north into what was known as Alta California, developing both the cities of San Francisco and Monterey. MUVACA brings this history to life as you explore the values, lifestyle, and identity of these people and their culture that still exists today.  

ALTA CALIFORNIA was the name given in 1824 to a vast territory that belonged to Mexico and that included present-day California, Nevada, and Utah as well as parts of Arizona, Wyoming, and Colorado. The first map above shows the United States of America and Mexico as they are today, including the area that was previously known as Alta California. The second map, from 1823, directly above, displays a close-up of both Alta and Baja California, as well as the state of Sonora.  

A VAQUERO is a skilled livestock herder of a culture that evolved in Mexico from a methodology brought from Iberia. The vaquero is the foundation for what is known as a cowboy. A vaquero may sometimes be referred to as a RANCHERO, or a person working on a ranch in Latin America.

The Cowboy Museum of the Californias celebrates this in Baja California Sur.  The museum is bilingual and has multimedia exhibits that introduce you to the founding vaquero families of the region, and how their traditions have been shaped by – and shaped in return – life in Baja California Sur.

Admission is 100 pesos (US$5) with a discount for locals (75 pesos) as well as seniors and students (60 pesos).

.

Museo De La Musica

This specialty museum caters to antique music instrument lovers.  El Triunfo’s boom period brought a lot of culture to the area, including many musical instruments – some of which are preserved at the Museo De La Musica.  It displays not only music instruments but also sheet music and stories about the people who owned and practiced on them. 

The museum is open Wednesday through Saturday.  Free admission. 

.

Dining & Drinking in El Triunfo:

Caffe El Triunfo 

This multi-level cafe and restaurant is in a lovingly restored building with courtyards, where pizza, bread, and pastries come fresh from the wood-fired brick oven. They also offer their delicious European-style breads, and sweet bakery items or coffee-to-go on an (always busy) counter, right when you enter the building.

.

.

.

.

Margery’s Tea Room 

This place captures another slice of culture and brings it into the present – in this case, one you can live in. They don’t offer tea seatings daily (usually just on weekends and some special occasions).  Keep an eye on their Facebook page to see if it overlaps with your trip – then don one of the hats they provide, sip with your pinky up, and imagine a time 100+ years ago when miner’s wives met in these rooms and drank tea from this china while enjoying the high life in El Triunfo.

Their FB site https://www.facebook.com/MargerysTeaRoom/ is in Spanish only, but with the help of a translation app you will find the information and latest news about events. 

.

.

El Minero Restaurant & Wine Bar

Their menu features signature items such as fresh regional seafood, handmade sausages, artisanal cheeses, and their traditional paella, awarded in 2015 by the National Chamber of Restaurants and Spiced Food Industry.  Enjoy lunch of dinner at a relaxing patio with a perfect view of a 19th-century long-standing chimney that takes you back to the golden age of El Triunfo.  In El Minero's tiny cellar enjoy national and international wines and cocktails.

.

.

When you drive through the town during pitaya season, there are men standing on every corner with buckets of pitayas for sale.  All you have to do is roll down your window, and you can buy a fresh bundle of white and red pitayas and even mangos.

Don’t miss a visit to the huge cathedral.  The Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church is located in El Triunfo, Baja California Sur, Mexico. It's a historic landmark and the first non-missionary church in the Baja.

.

.

Even though this is such a tiny town there is so much to see and do. 

Although no hotels exist today, El Triunfo is having quite a renaissance. 

Enjoy your trip to El Triunfo!

.

<><><><><>

.

 

Whales, Whale-Watching, and the Whale Museum

Ever since I saw my first whales during an evening walk along the Saint Lawrence stream near Tadoussac, Quebec, whales fascinated me. I had driven friends from Europe to this small, but important town for whale watchers. 

Hours before we had booked a tour for the next morning. But I wouldn’t participate in the boat ride out of fear of getting seasick in a small vessel. 

However, I could enjoy the whales jumping in the river’s water in the evening silence - without entering a noisy and rocking boat. A local person told me the next day that this spectacle could be seen every night during morning dawn and evening dusk. 

.

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur

Twenty years later, on a sailboat during a sunset cruise around the impressive rocks of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, we were surrounded by eleven! Humpback Whales. They jumped, almost dolphin-like around the boat. The skipper was as surprised as we were. He mentioned the whale season is almost over in March.  

.

Taking photos of these animals proved to be extremely difficult from the boat due to the waves and the movement of the whales. It seems to me they had fun jumping from one side of the boat to the other one.  

.

The skipper stopped the boat to give us more time to watch the Humpback Whales. It seemed he enjoyed the spectacle as much as we did. It was already pitch-dark when we finally arrived at the Cabo harbor. 

La Ventana

Spending time a couple of weeks every winter in La Ventana, Baja California Sur, between Cabo and La Paz, I can see whales at sunrise from my balcony with a binocular.  La Ventana is a former fishing town on the Sea of Cortez, which is home to many types of whales, including blue whales, gray whales, whale sharks, and orcas. 

.

Jacques Cousteau referred to the Sea of Cortez, separating Baja from the mainland, as “the world’s aquarium.” Containing almost 3,000 marine species, including 900 fish and a third of the world’s marine mammal species.

Types of Whales

Humpback Whales: They are migratory and visit the waters of Baja each winter and spring. Known to be very active and spry, they often delight with their acrobatic shows and lyrical songs. However, only males sing. They all sing the same song wherever they are in the world and the song gradually evolves and changes. Humpbacks are also known for being particularly acrobatic, leaping out of the water and slapping their huge fins and flukes. 

Blue Whales: The upwelling currents around the islands, especially Cerralvo Island, in the Sea of Cortez provide nutrients for krill, which is blue whales' favorite food.  It is the world's largest animal, reaching nearly 100 ft long and weighing 190 tons.

Gray whales: They are the most common whale in the Sea of Cortez, especially in the winter and spring and can grow to be 50 ft long and weigh 40 tons.  Gray Whales are the only species that can easily enter shallow water.

Orcas: Also known as killer whales, these apex predators (top-level predators in a food chain that is not preyed upon by other predators) are black and white in color.  You can see orcas in the Sea of Cortez, especially when there are mobulas (devil rays) around.

Fin Whales: They are the speediest whales in the world, swimming up to 25 miles per hour. in the Sea of Cortez you can witness a resident population of fin whales, thought to be a genetically isolated group.

Sperm Whales: The largest toothed whale, sperm whales dive to extraordinary depths and are known for fierce struggles with Architutheous, the giant squid. They hunt in the dark depths of the sea using echolocation, and following a deep dive, need to rest on the surface to re-oxygenate their blood. These whales are very distinctive on the surface with their “double blow”.

Minke Whales: At only about 25 feet long, minke whales are the smallest and one of the most abundant whale species worldwide. Seasonal visitors to the Sea of Cortez, they travel here to breed and birth from December through to April.

.

Whale Watching from La Paz, Baja California Sur

Whale watching regularly tops the bucket list for travelers. In La Paz, several whale-watching tours offer close encounters with the gentle sea giants, often combined with snorkeling and swimming, plus a lunch. It’s the lagoons on the Pacific coast that provide the most spectacular draw, as they fill up with thousands of grey whales each year – a species so friendly they regularly approach boats and introduce their enormous babies to the wide-eyed onlookers onboard.

Virtually every grey whale on Earth swims here to mate and give birth between February and March, clustering in sheltered lagoons. But this is no ordinary whale watching experience; the greys are known as “the friendly whale” and appear to see out boats to play with, meaning this is one of the most up close and personal whale encounters in the world.

.

Dozens of islands and islets lie scattered between La Paz and Loreto in the tranquil Sea of Cortez, and one of the best ways to explore them is in a kayak. Multi-day kayaking trips take you from island to rocky island, with the opportunity to stretch your legs by trekking across the dunes or cool off with a snorkel. Sea lions and pelicans frolic on the islands, while dolphins leap offshore. 

Museo de la Ballena in La Paz

I finally made it this winter to the Whale Museum. Instead of waiting for a “Collectivo”, I walked the 8 blocks from the Malecon, but it also would have cost me only 80 cents, or 3 dollars with a taxi. 

The friendly staff gave me a quick introduction in English about the artifacts, the whale skeletons, and the historical evolution of the whale species. Usually, there are Spanish tours, and English only at certain times and days. However, all the guides I met and asked questions spoke decent English. 

The entire museum __ which can be fully explored within an hour or two __ includes five exhibition spaces with life-size models and skeletons of marine animals, educational videos and audio soundtracks, and information about marine life conservation. Some exhibits also show how dangerous sea mammals and turtles are living and how fishing nets and plastic debris endanger their lives. 

A tourist favorite, the Whale Museum is busiest during the whale watching season, which runs typically from January to March. From Tuesday to Friday, especially in the mornings, it is quiet there, and you can ask the knowledgeable guides, mostly young marine biology students all your questions. 

On this Expedia website are some spectacular and professional photos of the museum’s exhibits (way better than my own : )

https://www.expedia.com/Whale-Museum-La-Paz.d6269586.Vacation-Attraction?gallery-dialog=gallery-open

.

.

The partially open-air Museum’s hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Address:  Antonio Navarro 855, Zona Central
entre Altamirano y Gómez

Be aware there are still articles on Google that show the former museum exhibition place on the Malecon!  They moved a couple of years ago to Zone Central.

Website in Spanish: https://www.museodelaballena.org/

https://www.instagram.com/museodelaballena/

.

<><><><><>

.