Construction Photos

Bones. It all began at this very site. Little did Lou think of building a 5-star hotel at this very spot. The grave marked by a cross was where a vagabundo (vagrant fisherman) died - that's how it was done in those days. Lou is pretty sure that has not changed. There was no name on the grave. Lou's brother, Harry, took this photo in 1962. Lou took many friends to this spot to collect sea shells. They swam to get to shore except when they used small craft.

The construction was entirely by sea. There were no roads until we brought in a dozer and backhoe on a barge that we towed in from Santa Rosalía, and then, from the Isle San Marcos, we brought in a Kaiser gypsum mine. As you can see in the photos, the gypsum dust soon covered all the vehicles. There were many hazardous trips. All it would take is a slight wind and we'd stand the chance of losing everything. That is why it was a night-to-dawn operation.

LCVP (landing craft vehicle, personnel) were used to tow all the rock in the hotel, a twenty-mile route by sea and another twenty miles by truck to get the rock to the loading dock from the back hills of Mulegé. Note the handmade roof tiles in the photo with Ricardo and the furniture coming in via the two barges. Also note the LCVP towing the huge barge in the center of the arch.

Bear in mind that this was before the peninsula highway. Today there are over 100 beautiful homes, all powered by individual generators or solar power. It is, however, still cell phones only and still a dirt road to connect to the peninsula highway.