After our arid trek across El Vizcaino we hunkered down at Hotel Jardines Baja near San Quintin for the night. First green space after many miles of desert. Orange Orchards actually - Front Desk said to help ourselves - so we did! Filled our pockets!!
In the 1880s, a British land company with plans for a wheat empire purchased much of the San Quintín area from the US–based International Land Company. In response to promises of agricultural wealth, around a hundred English colonists purchased subdivided land tracts from the parent company, planted wheat, and constructed a gristmill. For flour transportation, the English built a pier on inner Bahiá San Quintín and began constructing a railway to link up with the Southern Pacific tracks to the north in California. Thirty kilometers of track were laid, including a rail causeway from the west bank of inner Bahiá San Quintín, before the colony failed. A 17-ton, six-wheeled locomotive still lies underwater at the mouth of the bay, the remains of a loading accident for the aborted railway.
A drought devastated one of the first wheat harvests, and by 1900 all the colonists abandoned San Quintín. Remnants of the gristmill, the railroad causeway, the pier, and an English cemetery still stand along the perimeter of the bay. The English names on the cemetery's heavily weathered wooden crosses have faded from sight, and more recent Mexican graves are beginning to crowd out their neglected English counterparts.
The Old Mill is now El Molino Viejo Restaurante where we dined and drank that night - inside the 1880s Gristmill building! Historic - and only 34 years less old than our home in South London!!
Molino Viejo doesn't open until 12 on a Tuesday so we Desayuno'd next morning at 'Taqueria La Mision' on San Quintin's main drag. Not sure any Gringo ever set foot in the place as we were greeted with jaw drop stares all round. La Mision was packed and we ordered whatever the locals were eating. Huevos a la Mexicana as it turned out. Tasty! And at just 20 Pesos a breakfast bargain!!
