Today’s 110 mile drive took us back through Santa Rosalia. This was where we drove in heavy rain and through deep washes across the highway on our way south. Mr. Eiffel, of Paris’ Eiffel Tower fame, built an iron church in this small community, complete with small stained glass windows and arched and vaulted ceilings. We were not able to go inside as a church service was in progress. As we walked around the town we found the French/Mexican bakery and then were entertained by a small parade of men dressed in animal costumes and beating out a cadence with wooden swords accompanied by bells on their belts and boots. We never did figure out why. A steam engine on display was used by the copper mining company in the early 1900’s.
Don’t know why there is a statue with a broom, but John thought it was a sign from heaven.
We arrived in San Ignacio early enough for us to drive into town. This community was built by the Jesuit priests and the Dominicans in the 1700. The mission church is the centerpiece of the square which is tree covered and cool. This mission became the largest and most successful mission in Baja. It is built along a fresh water river and small lake where date palms and other palm trees have been planted making it look like a desert oasis. Numerous orange groves and other flowering bushes and trees where everywhere making the air smell so sweet and inviting. If we had wanted to drive 44 miles on a gravel road, we could have seen whales in the San Ignacio lagoon on the Pacific side of the peninsula.
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