San Javier and Loreto Missions
The Sierra de la Giganta rose boldly above us forming a majestic background while we docked at the small bay of Puerto Escondido. It had been a long night for some as we moved into northern swells. Soon we would be boarding vans for an enjoyable drive along a narrow canyon road that winds upward for 2100 feet. In October Hurricane Paul hit San Carlos on the Pacific side of the peninsula and dumped enormous amounts of rain. Torrents of muddy water full of rolling boulders, concrete, and asphalt sections of road washed down the canyon. The people of San Javier were stuck without a road until the middle of December. We drove through hairpin turns where asphalt topped sheer drop offs. Fortunately, road work had been underway since the damage, and we passed through safely.
The town of San Javier is a verdant gem set in reddish andesite. The mission is a boldly built structure with a façade of exquisitely laid stone and a roof topped by a white dome. Its size, dwarfing all the buildings in the town, and the straight stone road that points directly to it proclaims its importance and has for over 255 years since Padre Miguel del Barco completed its construction.
We had a chance to stretch our legs on a short walk in the agricultural area behind the mission. Small tilled plots lay in wait for the onion crop that is important here. We passed a twisted olive tree that is hundreds of years old. A broken branch must have been part of the haphazard pruning by every close hurricane that bears its fury here. This gnarled trunk was living history. We walked along a path and watched a phainopepla, gila woodpecker, and a common ground dove. Queen butterflies seemed everywhere sipping nectar. A female Costa’s hummingbird flew endlessly in the high dome of the church, hopefully there by choice.
Later we had a satisfying lunch on the waterfront of Loreto, and then set out to explore the small boat harbor and town. Loreto was once the capital of the entire peninsula until earthquakes and the disruption of an 1829 hurricane resulted in moving it to La Paz. It was easy to imagine this sleepy town with dirt streets that have long been replaced by asphalt and stone pavers. Trees over the road have been trimmed into archways that shade the foot traffic that passes beneath them. There is a clean and inviting ambiance in most of the city center that invites one to poke around in the numerous shops, ice cream parlors, and squares. The central mission is the “Mother of California Missions” and was founded in 1697. High up on the front of the structure is an alcove with the statue of the Nuestra Señora de Loreto with the baby Jesus lying on folds of her robe. She has no arms as she had given them to the fisherman to help them pull in their nets.
The views of the Sierra de la Giganta mountains on our van ride back to the ship were quite dramatic. The constant cool breeze from an El Norte was blowing in clouds that partially covered the setting sun, forming beams of light with the black mountains as a backdrop. After dinner our passage south was pushed by a following sea that gently rocked us all to sleep.
