Hearing of deer, goat cheese, fresh water shrimp and lobster . . . I accompanied Raymundo Vargas and family to an ejido meeting in the village
Raymundo was born. Born, incidentally under a tree.
Near exit to the East toward San Nicolas, we turned West toward San Isidro seen in the distance. The Comandus are the road to the left, La Purisima
ahead and Paso Honda to the right.
Four Generations of friends.
Born on the Camino Real, Paso Hondo is a diminishing village. The youngest resident is 19 years old. The town school closed 14 years ago. The youth
have moved on to other parts of Mexico or America to find work and easier lives. Goat cheese is the primary product produced in the village.
Dependant on rain, milk flows with rain and good pasturage and dries up as the ground without it.
After watching Saturday night boxing, switching between two channels to catch all on a television powered by solar panels . . . with Hawaiian slings,
machetes and wading shoes . . . we went fishing deep into the night for fresh water lobster and shrimp. Did OK.
Returning the following morning, we did much better.
Shari and Juan know this guy. Family returning to visit his parents.
More goats than people, we passed these folks on return to the car.David K - 7-25-2011 at 07:48 PM
Marvelous!! All the villages and ranchos on the Camino Real have roots that date back to the Spanish mission period (1697-1849*)
*While Mexico did win its war of independence in 1821, the few remaining missions were allowed to continue operating in Baja until its last priest
died or abandoned the site. This was due to its remoteness, as the new Mexican Empire (and later republic) could not provide much to distant
California.
[Edited on 7-26-2011 by David K]
Paso Hondo on ECR map
David K - 7-25-2011 at 07:51 PM
mcfez - 7-25-2011 at 08:49 PM
Gods...that a great looking valley. Txs for the sharingshari - 7-26-2011 at 11:33 AM
love the photo of the valley and the "LOOK" of the kid on the far left in the family foto...classic!!! Paso Hondo is lovely...hmm...I"m likin the
looks of San Jose de los Arces on the map too...is it still there?David K - 7-26-2011 at 04:50 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by shari
love the photo of the valley and the "LOOK" of the kid on the far left in the family foto...classic!!! Paso Hondo is lovely...hmm...I"m likin the
looks of San Jose de los Arces on the map too...is it still there?
On the Auto Club map, the road ends just past Paso Hondo:
On the 2003 Almanac, the road does continue a bit, and San Jose de los Arces is called San Jose de Guajademi (#15)... The routes of the Camino Real
are highlighted (the numbers refer to satellite images saved on Nomad (links in my Baja missions web site) where the old mission road via Mulege is
seen):
