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I've always been intrigued about the old cemetery which can been seen from the last hairpin turn on the highway just before entering El Triunfo.....but there are no signs pointing out the way to the cemetery....or I should say cemeteries, for El Triunfo boasts at least 4! The ancient Chino (Chinese) cemetary, an old - present day cemetary, an English cemetery with just 13 graves & (according to GoogleEarth) a French cemetery! While my sister-in-law was here, I finally made El Triunfo a destination rather than just a pass-through point for somewhere else!! I'd been told by Mexican friends that the cemetery boast the oldest formal graves in Baja.

I blindly ventured off the highway in the direction of the cemetery, down a cobblestone street which soon turned to dirt; much to the shock of my friends (who instantly bestowed the dubious nickname of "the 4-WD, non-4-WD" VW on my car!) & my sis-in-law.....and to the dismay of my car which has about 6" ground clearance! I just kept going until the road turned into a rutted, sandy, cattle trail/arroyo which eventually came to the most ancient of the cemeteries.....the Chino Panteon!

There's a white painted rock-edged pathway leading up the hill to the separately walled off Chino section of the widely meandering cemetery. Unfortunately there are no markings on the majority of these ancient graves. Many have fallen into complete disrepair, marked only by piles of ruble, some neatly re-stacked with the original bricks, many simply modest piles of stones.

I only saw two markers with any personal information.....the two large monuments with Chinese script had the same markings on each of them so presumable it equates to some traditional sentiment.

Oddly enough....or maybe not.....the two markers with any personal information on them in the Chino section were both for Mexican names, rather than Chinese, so obviously there were some cross-cultural marriages over the years & possibly the occupants felt the strongest ties to their Chinese heritage, despite the Espanol names!

Despite the lack of markings, one of the apparently oldest & most humble of the stone piled markers had the remains of a more recent tribute in a glass vase.

I irreverently decided that the last picture here must have held the remains of the "Guido/Yee Brothers".....whose claim to fame must have been that they established the first double-decker pizza ovens in Baja!



Leaving the Chino cemetery, we moved onto a mixed older - more current section of the cemetery........

Most of the graves in this section were marked with personal information & most were people whose lives spanned the 1900's.

A real mixed bag of styles.....from the ultra modern (complete with sliding glass door & windows), to the older more traditional, many with a distinct Spanish flavor.

My irreverent nature stuck again & I decided the couple in the 3rd pic must have slept in twin beds in life & it was their final wish to continue sleeping in twin beds for all eternity!

Many older; or possibly simply poorer folks; rest under unmarked stone cairns.....& more than one under simple cement slurry.

The oldest section meandering way off in the distance toward the highway, had a huge building that looked like an ancient wood structure from a distance. But my friend ventured over through the unkempt wilds & reported back that it is indeed a cement monument which contains seating & a large photograph of the person on the wall. I hope to go check it out myself one day.....earlier in the morning before the sun is frying my brain & with more sturdy footwear than thongs. He said it was so overgrown in that area that he was spooked & constantly on the lookout for snakes. There was an area over there that intrigued him greatly....but it was simply too wild & overgrown for him to be willing to venture into the area!!!

After we took a break to cool off & eat.....of course, we found the road which went right to the main entrance of the cemetery! Not nearly as interesting nor exciting as the route I'd first taken!

Need sustenance! I'll be back after I eat to post more pics of the rest of El Triunfo.....consider yourselves warned!

An interesting look back in time; thanks for that LLILP!

Wonderful pictures! I love the chaos and color of Mexican cemeteries. I ate lunch in one near Tijuana a few times, in days long gone by. Your pics brought back nice memories.

Thank you for preserving history with your great photographs.

El Triunfo is definitely an old town, there is not much construction that appears to be under a century old!! The first pic is the only place I recall seeing which appears to be newer construction, or a drastic remodel. The style & materials appear to be similar to a remodel of a large place on the other side of the highway, said to soon be a B&B.

Much of the oldest construction is in dire state of repair & common design style.....very wide, but very shallow from front to back.

Then we came across a property owned by an individual who is clearly environmentally aware! They built their perimeter wall around an old meandering mesquite tree whose root system is not even on their property.....it starts out in the sidewalk! Pretty cool, huh?

While it's not MY favorite type of music.....we also toured the music museum which turned out to be more interesting than I'd expected it to be! The place is loaded with old pianos.....the full gambit from grand pianos to pianofortes galore! How they transported these high quality musical instruments here 150-200 years ago & ended up with still-functioning pieces is beyond my grasp! There are all kinds of old instruments.....drums & a variety of stringed * "rattle-type" instruments from Africa & other parts of the world. The hot humid environment was definitely hard on the survivors which have been donated to the museum!!

The manufacture's names.....such as Baldwin, Chickering, Steinway & Sons.....on these instruments clearly confirms the apparent wealth what was in El Trifuno.....back in it's hayday!

The gentleman who purportedly used to wear tails in the museum died sometime during the past year (hmmmmmmm.....wonder if I came across him in one of the cemeteries!) but the new guy was personable, knowledgeable & interesting.

He even played for us!

I didn't realize until we were on out way out that the roof in the museum is actually clay bricks laid over rafters!!

And last, but not least.....the stacks, ruins & remains which brought the former glory & wealth to El Triunfo!

Thanks for sharing great pics and narative.

Wow; look at that thing!

Can you imagine the industry and toil it took back in those days to accomplish that?

Must've been some very noxious stuff coming out of it for them to put that kind of effort into getting it up high.

We were told that arsenic was used in the smelting process & there are still high levels of arsenic in the soil & leeching into the local water supply.....which might have some bearing on why the town's present day population is so small; vastly exceeded by the cemetery population!

Gustave Eiffel, designed the round tower.....the one in which you can see a highly visible long vertical crack wending it's way to the top of the tower in my pic.

http://www.escapesmagazine.com.mx/el...us-quiet-town/

How Cool Legs.... Nice Photos.

My Wife says the Chinese inscription on the grave says "Male Chinese"...She is Vietnamese so she reads a little Chinese. but not her first language

WOW!! Thanks Mrs. Churro!! In a way it's kinda depressing that it's such an impersonal grave marker, but I guess since there were only 2 name-identified grave markers in the entire Chino section, possibly language prevented meaningful names.....or maybe the Chinese were bottom rung workers & nobody cared who they were as individuals. I suppose once you're dead, you're beyond caring, but spending eternity in a foreign land in an unmarked grave sounds pretty sucky to me!!

El Triunfo in the 1860's, from J. Ross Browne:

Wow, what an amazing photo essay here! Thanks for sharing all of your beautiful photos!!

Gracias Bob H.....glad you enjoyed my pics!

Originally Posted by David K

El Triunfo in the 1860's, from J. Ross Browne:

David, I love this old photo... it puts everything in it's place when looking at the modern day photos... Wow