First Impression Of Santa Rosalia

It feels as if the town itself was once a mineshaft. In the last century that shaft widened, grew thick with wood slat houses, sheltered a succession of dusty characters, and opened itself to the moonlit sky. The great layers of rock around the town are pincushioned with useless tunnels, yet it feels as if the town itself is a gun barrel-shaped tunnel pointing from the gulf into the heart of the peninsula. The people here are rougher than elsewhere, more demonstrative. In the street you hear catcalls from cars with loud music, but above the slumping hills are quiet.