Road Trip with Jaye and Irwin of s/v WINSOME - El Triunfo, Mexico
We met Jaye and Irwin in Mazatlan. We were dock neighbors and instantly bonded. They are a fun and colorful couple... friends for a lifetyme. June 26 marked Irwin’s 70th birthday and we were invited to go along with them and their friend Steve off s/v ‘Veraizon’ to El Triunfo, Mexico... an hour outside La Paz. The kids and I had just returned from our 28 hour long bus ride the evening prior from the states, but an opportunity to explore Mexico with fun people is just too good to pass up! So, the seven of us loaded up in Jaye and Irwin’s Vanagan bus with its brand new Volvo engine and buzzed south at impressive speed!
In its day, El Triunfo was the most important city in the state of Baja California Sur and the first in the region to have electricity and telephone service. Gold and silver was found in nearby mountains in the late 1800's (Progresso Mining Company) enticing a rush of immigrants from all over Europe and Asia to try the Lotto of the 1800's.
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Now, it is a sleepy little artisan town... home to the Museo de la Musica (Music Museum), an old building that once served as a tools workshop for the mine and now houses Mexico’s largest collection of 87 antique pianos and other musical instruments. It is rumored that one piano, the Monarch built in 1880, was buried in the ground for five years to keep it from falling into the hands of insurgents during the Mexican Revolution.
The museum is located near a century-old silver smelting smokestack designed by Gustave Eiffel, the famed 19th-century engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the armature for the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor... and the steel church in Santa Rosalia, Mexico.
El Triunfo is said by many to be the next Todos Santos... a quaint artisan town with inflated tourist prices near San Jose del Cabo. It is definitely picturesque with its cobblestone streets and stone abodes. It is very tranquil and the architecture around town is reminiscent of old Spanish with new paint. Someone or somebody's have definitely put some money into this little town to restore and retain the character of a late 19th century silver town.
We broke off from the historical traveling and stopped for pizza and beer at Cafe El Triunfo... Delicioso! We devoured three pies between the 7 of us. Had the beer not cost 35 pesos each we probably would have downed more than one... it was a scorching, hot day! Because of the heat, in fact, we were unable to visit the nearby Cactus Sanctuary. Oh well, an activity for another, cooler day!
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