A priest, his burro, gorgeous cacti, and a dusty dirt trail, we felt like we were following along on his journey to the Mission de San Francisco de Borja. Was he excited? Scared? Hopeful? We crested the brow of the last hill and there was the mission. What was he thinking as he approached the mission? Did the Indigenous population welcome him? What was his stay like? Did he do good or harm?
Julio met us at the gate. Three generations of his family have been slowly restoring the mission for decades. In broken Spanish and English he gave us a tour of his life’s work. It was worth the 25 mile drive over bumps, ruts and water holes.
Our first glimpse.The remains of the original mission now covered by the Mexican government for protection.The front of the “new” mission.Painstakingly being restored by hand.An amazing structure looking forward…and backwards.Three generations of Julio’s family have been baptized here.Several hundred years of burials, priests and indigenous peoples.
So, Darrin and I have a conversation that goes something like this:
D: “I think we should stay off the 4 wheel drive roads until we get our Baja feet underneath us.” M: “Okay, sounds smart.” D: “Lets go down the paved Mex 12 to Bahia de los Angeles. It is supposed to be beautiful and there looks to be a good spot to camp on the beach south of town.” M: “Okay, sounds like a nice spot. The tour book says it is one of the most beautiful bays in Baja.”
So, we drive out of Camp Gorn, down Mex 5 to Mex 1 to Mex 12 and out to Bahia de los Angeles. The town is a bit closed up since it is still off season and they are still recovering from a hurricane, but the bay is beautiful. We find the camp spot and there are 2 couples from Quebec there. We chat for a few minutes in broken French and English, walk around, take a few pictures and decide we don’t want to stay, but on the way in we saw a sign pointing up into the mountains to Mission Borja. We check the guide book and it is a 2 to 3 hour drive up in depending how bony the dirt road happens to be.
D: “Let’s go? It’ll be fun.” M: “Okay, but you said no 4 wheel drive roads for a while.” D: “That was just to put out the idea that we should drive 4 wheel drive roads…reverse psychology and all that.” M: “Wait, I’m the one with the Psych degree…Okay, Let’s go. It looks like a grand adventure.” D: “I knew you wanted to go as soon as we passed the sign, so this is really your idea.” M: “Uhmmmmm….”
So, we travel in and in, and bounce and bounce, and up and up, and ruts and ruts, and we find an amazing camping spot amongst the cacti that looks straight out of Dr. Seus’ imagination. We are a few miles from the mission, which we’ll tour tomorrow.
I’m glad this good idea was mine😊.
The road signs can sometimes be hard to find…Up we go!Our Dr. Seus camping spot.Tom came by right after we set-up. He is currently biking the Baja Divide. He had started the summer in Tuk and was heading for Argentina. He was only the second person we saw all day.This horse and 3 cows were our overnight company amongst the cacti.Los Cirio are carrot looking cacti that are only found in Baja. The start straight and fat, get talk and lean, and then bend over and replant themselves. All three stages are in this picture. They really did look like carrots, or perhaps parsnips.This couple from New Zealand biked by while we were eating breakfast. We didn’t see any other vehicles until we reached pavement again.
