San Javier & Loreto
After a restful night in the immediate proximity of Puerto Escondido, behind the lovely island of Danzante, we started the engines and approached the dock at this small marina. Here we docked all day, while we did very interesting things: a van trip up into the mountains west of the small city of Loreto. The ride follows a small river in a ravine, most of the way paved, but with many landslides and parts of the highway washed out. Few places still offer us adventures like here in Baja California. Eventually we arrived at the location where the Jesuits founded the first chapel on the peninsula. As they were building it, they received orders to stop the construction of the church, and to go back down to the coast and build the church there first. This one was finished in 1702, and then they returned to the mountains and built the church there, which we see today, in a perfect state of conservation. We walked to the back of the church, where water gurgles constantly, and saw the place where the priests planted some food crops, as well as an enormous number of olive trees. Here we saw today the OLD ONE, with a trunk all gnarled by time, but still producing a good amount of olives. Among these olive trees are a big number of orange trees, as well as guava trees. Water runs everywhere! The reason for the church to have been built way up in the mountains was that this place was where the Guaycura natives were, because of all year water.
Around midday we were en route down the mountains, and arrived a while later in the small city of Loreto. We stopped at the mission of our Lady of Loreto, where we visited the old building, which is in perfect repair. We then walked to the hotel Mission, where we had a good lunch. The wind had begun blowing from the north, making the afternoon somewhat chilly. But we had a good time to visit the town and the handicraft shops. After this sojourn in Loreto, we were taken back to Puerto Escondido, where we boarded our ship and prepared for the Recap of today.
