Catavina is located 76 miles south of El Rosario. There is not much there as far as entertainment. There is a beautiful hotel called Mision Santa Maria Hotel and a couple of simple restaurants. There is no cell or internet service here. The Pemex gas station has been closed for years. You will find residents selling gas out of barrels and bottles for a huge profit. The closest gas station is in El Rosario to the north. To the south, the next gas station is in Villa Jesus Maria about 120 miles. It’s best to fill up when you find a gas station in Baja. Some of these small towns can run out of gas or diesel or not have gas stations at all.
It’s the location and the landscape that makes Catavina a very special place. There are thousands of magnificent building size boulders and gigantic rocks. This area is known as Baja’s rock garden.
These pictures are taken from inside our RV, sorry about the dirty windshield, it just doesn’t do it justice. It’s amazing to see in person.
The Mision Santa Maria is a beautiful hotel, restaurant and bar. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon just in time to watch the Seahawk and Green Pay Packer game. I bet you know who won this game!
We parked our RV and Jeep in the back parking lot and rented a room for a night.
During our stay there were drivers from the Baja 1000 out mapping the trails for this part of the race. They use GPS to mark the trails, roads and boulders and other obstacles. The vehicles that they drove looked just like the race vehicles.
Time to hit the road, next stop Bahia de Los Angeles