There were low-lying clouds hanging over the canyon area we hiked yesterday with the water pools. We actually drove up the road a little way because there is a water tap where we were able to fill the RV with well water. All of the water trucks that sell water come there to fill their tanks so it must be good!
Near the Loreto airport, we turned off the highway and drove 36 kilometers to the San Javier Mission. The road started off fine, even though it was fairly narrow. Pretty soon, the straight section disappeared and we entered the winding mountain track.
We encountered lots of road damage from rock slides and washouts.
There is one section of the road that was washed out and replaced with a single lane dirt/rock road. Fortunately, the dirt section was less than 1/2 mile long!
There are several “vados” which are low areas where the river crosses the road. We approached these with extra care, not knowing for sure what the condition of the road surface below the water was like.
This crossing was fairly rough, and if you look at the picture below, you will see the section of concrete that SHOULD HAVE BEEN the road was washed into the river! We don’t know if this road damage is from the hurricane, but there were several areas where water moved lots of the road into new places!
We finally arrived at the small village where the mission is located.
This mission was founded by Father Francisco Maria Piccolo on May 11, 1699. When it was founded, it was known as “Vigge Biaundo” which translates as “high lands in the heights of the ravine.” Construction of the church took place from 1744 to 1758.
It is still one of the main sanctuaries of the Baja peninsula and thousands of pilgrims visit on December 2, when they celebrate “Javier Days.The art and beautiful altar pieces, as well as the wood and stone sculptures, make it one of the most beautiful temples in Baja. The interior floor plan is shaped as a Latin cross and it was the first to have glass windows in California.
The gilded altar pieces were made in Mexico and brought by ship and mules from Tepozotlan 250 years ago. Outside we got a side view of the building – it was huge!
We had lunch at the restaurant next to the Mission. I had the flautas and Tobey had the burritos. They were both tasty and we were well-fortified for the downhill trek.
Once we were back on the highway, it was just a short drive into Loreto and out to our camping area for tonight. We are boondocking just south of town in an area that was a planned area by FORNATUR (Mexico’s tourism department).
The government put in concrete curbs and divided roadways, but it isn’t paved. They were hoping to develop this area with hotels and shops, but it hasn’t happened yet. It is just east of the Loreto airport. A few miles south of here is the Nopolo area, which is also a FORNATUR development which has a couple hotels, golf and tennis courts, restaurants, and lots of condominium type properties. It looks like they were hoping to connect Loreto and Nopolo via this malecon. We asked the guard if we could camp here overnight and he said it was no problem.
Tobey and I walked the beach this afternoon and found the palapa – the only structure along the beach! It is about a mile south of where we ended up and not a big enough attraction for us to move.We planned to eat dinner in town tonight, but the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed on Mondays! Oh, well, we can try at lunch tomorrow.
We decided to come back to our quiet beach spot and had dinner here. We are looking forward to a quiet night, listening to the waves crashing on the shore and not the roosters and dogs we heard in town!
GPS: 25.99310N, 111.33838W
RV CAMPING – BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR
2 comments:
We really loved Loreto and stayed there twice; on the way down and back. We stayed here: 26.013634,-111.339794
Loreto really is beautiful. We enjoyed it also. Talk to you soon.
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