Trigger warning: arachnid photo at the very bottom. Large arachnid. Very large.

Leaving Bahia Madgalena was not easy. I was feeling totally in the groove there and there was so much more to explore, but leave we did a few days after discovering Galapagos Man. 

I am in love with this sign pointing the way to an absolutely lovely trail across to the ocean.

Here’s the quick and dirty summary of the days since then:

We had a romping sail down to the Cabo area, got through Cabo San Lucas as quickly as possible (that place is God’s idea of hell for introverts), anchored for a night at a non-anchorage in front of expensive condos, and finally landed in the anchorage at San Jose del Cabo. In San Jose del Cabo we paid 100$ for a mediocre lunch at the hotel in the marina and were then allowed the use of their dinghy dock so we could go get provisions in town. There was a fire in the estuary, closing down the bridge between the marina and the town where all the shops are. Our walk into town was cut short by this news, but we were picked up by some kindly Canadians on their way into town on the old road; a dirt road of questionable safety and high traffic since everyone was passing through that way. Shopped for fresh supplies at Walmart and Ubered back to the dinghy, getting aboard Galapagos before the sun went down.

Back aboard we discovered that there had been some rough conditions while we were gone and something had slid against our faucet lever, turning on our water in the kitchen sink. We had maybe 20 gallons left. Dodged a bullet on that since sometimes I leave the sink stopper in the drain. This time, I didn’t. The following morning we filled up with fuel, dropped off garbage, back to the anchorage to wait out the day’s winds, and then did a late evening motor boat ride to the Los Frailes anchorage where we now sit hoping to be able to snorkel but realizing there are more high winds forecast. I have poked around in the beach rocks and discovered some lovely volcanic breccia. Whew. I need a break after all that.

Here’s that trail the sign points to.

But I promised an update to the discovery of “Galapagos Man“.

At the end of our story, we had reported our discovery to the Navy and had felt little satisfaction from it, even though it was the right thing to do. It wasn’t that I absolutely didn’t trust the Navy to take the appropriate steps, it’s just that I wasn’t sure I did trust them to do so. Basically, if you find something that feels this unusual, something that includes human remains, it’s kind of nice to know what it is you’ve found, even if it’s not technically your business. It’s also kind of nice to feel like the trouble you went to in order to report to the authorities was in some small way appreciated.  I had emailed the commander asking to be informed of any updates, but he never emailed me back and this doesn’t surprise me in the least. It seemed like they couldn’t get rid of us fast enough. And so, as usual, we prepared to take things into our own hands.

The internet is a treasure trove of information, including the names of archaeologists who study that area of Mexico. I located one such person and Michael, through his own brand of research magic, found an email address for her. I emailed her a couple of photos and told her the story, hitting send and crossing my fingers. The next morning I had a reply from her saying she had forwarded my email to two of her colleagues who were assigned to the Mag Bay area. Woooot!!

That being accomplished, I still was not ready to leave. There was a feeling of something being unfinished, like the task had not been completed. Fortunately, the next day was very calm. We would be motoring in sloppy seas and the last time we made that choice we determined that it was not a good one. We were not in a hurry, after all. And I wanted to go back and see the skeleton once more and see whether the Navy personnel had marked it in any way. (They had not. It was undisturbed, which was good. I assume they found it. But we’ll never know. )  So we motored back to the area and anchored close by, immediately dropping our dinghy and getting to shore to have a look.

I had a strong feeling that what we had found was not a recent grave due to the location and the condition of the remains. If there was one burial, there may be more that we had not noticed. We took the good camera this time.

Once back at the location, we began looking along the edges of the bluffs for signs of another burial. Very soon, Michael called me over to see what he was seeing. And there it was: a second burial. This time the remains were encased in the soft sandstone and you could see the outline of an elongated skull, with the lower jaw and teeth intact. You could also see rib bones and some other bone fragments. Our skeleton was definitely not alone out there.

Exploring further, I located an area where the sand was sliding over the edge of the bluff and located bone fragments that may or may not be human. There was also a location on top of the bluff where bones fragments could be seen in a contained area on the ground. I left those alone. I don’t know if these were human or not. But it’s entirely possible they are.

We both took many photos of everything, including close ups of teeth and specific bones, as well as broader view photos to help the researchers determine if this was something worth investigating. Michael created a Google drive for the photos and I sent the file, along with some notes, to the two researchers assigned to this part of the peninsula.

The following day I received an email back thanking us for the photos. Because they were able to see many details, including teeth, it was easily determined that these graves were pre-hispanic and that the area was a very old shell midden. So in this case, it is likely that the graves are from the Guaycura people who lived in this area before the Spanish came and, in a nutshell, killed them off. These remains are anywhere from several hundred to several thousand years old.

The obligatory photo of the stunning boulders on the trail. I have many more photos. Many.

There is no way to know at this point whether the government will take additional steps to save these remains and study the area. I imagine this kind of thing moves along at a snail’s pace and who knows how long it would be before any archeologists would have the resources and man power to make their way to that location. But we have done all we can do on this and at least we feel good knowing that someone who actually may be interested knows about the location and what may be there. I figure I will give it about 3-4 months, and then I’ll follow up with the guy I heard back from and ask if there are any updates. If I get any, I’ll post them here.

Also I realize it’s disappointing to some people to not have photos of what we found posted here on the blog. I was pretty excited when I wrote the last post, and after I’d had time to think about it, I decided it might not be a good idea to post photos of this discovery. It seemed disrespectful, in hindsight.  I do not want random people on the internet trying to find these remains or figure out the location.  Furthermore, in conversation with an American archeologist, I was informed about laws regarding the transmission of photos of indigenous artifacts and burials. I have no idea if Mexico has such laws. But what I do know is that a lot of indigenous people are truly offended by such practices and it would never be our intention to offend people in that way or make it seem like we do not understand that these burials are sacred. It just seemed prudent to take the photos down.

That’s the news from here. We are not sure how long we’ll be in Los Frailes. We think our next stop will be Isla Isabel, a favorite place. There’s some rather sporty weather coming on Monday. If that holds, we may ride that out here, safely tucked behind the big granite hill.

S/V Galapagos, standing by on Channel 16/22

Arachnophobes look away right now.

I’ve put this fascinating guy at the very end of the post so that certain readers who do not appreciate these kinds of photos can read the rest of the post without fear. He was walking along minding his own business on the trail and was unembarrassed when i asked to take his photo.