Headed for the Coast!

Our morning leaving Querobabi heads us in the direction of the Gulf of California coast and the resort city of Guaymas. It is about time that we get out of the desert for a while and enjoy the COAST. Here's where we're headed:

Guaymas, Mexico

Guaymas "is a city located in Guaymas Municipality in the southwest part of the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico. The city is located 72miles south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and 242 miles from the U.S. border, and is the principal port for the state. The municipality is located in the Sonora Desert and has a hot, dry climate and 72 miles of beaches."
Sounds great to me! The US has a little history nearby, too. "The Guaymas-Empalme station for space observations is about six miles east of Empalme, Sonora, adjacent to Mexican Federal Highway No. 15. It is operated by the Mexican Space Agency. As a major link in the NASA Manned Space Flight Network, the Guaymas Tracking Station, built in 1961, played a key role in tracking American manned space flights in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs through Apollo 13. The U.S. discontinued its use on November 30, 1970 due to changes in the Apollo mission profile which no longer required the Guaymas station. Equipment designed especially for support of the Apollo program was removed, but other equipment was left for support of Mexican space activities and future programs of mutual interest to Mexican scientists and NASA." (source).

The next town of note that we come to is Navojoa. The only information that I could find on this town referred to it as "liquor country." So there's that...

Our originally planned destination city for this leg, Navolato, Sinaloa, Mexico, leaves me pushing us to go farther and not actually stop in Navolato. I won't go into the reasons here, but feel free to seek it out on google images...









Let's stay in Mazatlan, shall we? Si, we shall. Although the first Europeans to take up residence were Spanish, they didn't have the most influence on the city's history. "Mazatlán is Nahuatl word meaning "place of deer". The city was founded in 1531 by an army of Spaniards and indigenous settlers. By the mid-19th century a large group of immigrants had arrived from Germany. These new citizens developed Mazatlán into a thriving commercial seaport, importing equipment for the nearby gold and silver mines."
Let us bask in the glow of these wonderful pictures as we enjoy some great food and rest.

Get some sleep...