An old copper mining town, Santa Rosalia has the feel of a hardscrabble industrial town not meant for the prying eyes of tourists. The narrow roads, minimal parking and lack of campgrounds keeps tourists in RVs or even large vans away, but not the Wee Rover. The small town reminded us of many we have passed through on this adventure, just everyday people living their lives, raising families, going to work and buying bags or boxes of tomatoes.
Two stops drew us to Santa Rosalia. The first was a prefabricated church designed by A.G. Eiffel (the same guy who built that big tower in Paris) made entirely of stamped metal squares painted white. It was constructed at Paris’ 1889 World’s Fair, after which it was taken apart and put on a ship for Africa. Instead, it found its way around Cape Horn and to the east side of Baja and Santa Rosalia where it is still in use today. The second stop was a French style bakery with homemade bread, cookies and donuts. How could we pass that up?
