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Mission San francisco Javier
We finally decide to buy a mexican sim card ( thanks to Thierry and Corinne) as our mobile phones remain mute.
La Sierra de la Giganta houses, 35 km out of Loreto, one of the most beautiful jesuit mission in Baja California.
The road to get there snakes through cactus trees and goes along a little stream fringed by palm trees.
2nd mission founded in 1699, it's very well kept and set in a very nice surrounding.
We spend the evening with Corinne and Thierry enjoying a Margarita prepared by Christophe...
Loreto
Also named " la Madre de las Californias", this village is the oldest in Baja California.
On 25th october 1697, the first big jesuit Mission is founded in New Spain and is the starting point of the north Pacific evangelization.
First the jesuits, then the franciscans and finally the dominicans built their missions direction north up to the actual San Francisco; the last mission founded in 1823.
The landscape is beautiful : the "Sierra Giganta" planted with cactus trees face a blue ocean and its islands.
We visit the mission and its museum telling us about the conquest of this region.
We enjoy this colourful little town.
Walking on the paseo maritimo, we meet Corinne and Thierry, friends of Yumie and François. It's a small world !
Santa Rosalia / Molegé
We first go to San Ignacio town center (20 houses) to visit "the Mission of san Ignacio de Kadakaaman".
Founded in 1728 by the jesuits and finished in 1786 by the dominicans, it has been financed by the Queen of Spain.
It's sunday morning and the church fills up. On the square, vendors take place, waiting for the end of the office.
We spend some time in the church listening to the choir and to a good guitarist.
"Santa Rosalia" is a fishing harbour, extended in 1887 to exploit a copper mine.
Most of the houses and buildings still have a " french touch".
The church "Santa barbara" has been designed by Gustave Eiffel and built in steel plates imported from France.
It was first built for the 1889 universal exposition in Paris. It has been taken to pieces, stored in Brussels and then bought by the french director of the copper mine.
We had planned to join our friends Yumie and François on a specific beach but due to the roadwork and a huge coq fight, attracting the whole population, it's impossible to cross the village and reach our bivouac.
We will meet another time.
San Ignacio
It's very cloudy this morning.
Christophe is lucky enough to see a whale's head getting very high out of the water before splashing and diving back into the depth of the ocean. Superb!
On our way out of the laguna, three coyotes whish us a good journey.
Our next destination is the "Sierra of San Francisco" and its rock paintings... that we will never see...
After 30 km of paved road, we suddendly find ourselves on a very narrow lane, with stones, pot holes and huge ruts.
It takes us 45 minutes to do our half turn, cm by cm, moving stones, placing others under the wheels and tying branches of a tree with ropes.
Christophe is behind the steering wheel, Jean Pierre giving instructions.
We're disappointed not to see the rock paintings but it's not worth taking the risk.
San Ignacio is located in the middle of an oasis with palm, orange and fig trees.
Laguna Ojo de Liebre
It's our turn to go whale watching...
During the winter period, thousands of whales do more than 10 000 km from the Strait of Behring to Baja California.
Some of them come here to breed, others to give birth after a thirteen months gestation..
We settle down on the beach and spend the whole afternoon looking at the ocean.
With our binoculars, we see a whale blowing, its back, and its tail...
There should be hundreds of them at this time of the year. But this year, they're late ! Local say it's because of the global warming.
The best time, anyway, is march when they've got their babies.
We however can observe 20 to 30 whales .
Masses of birds are also to be watched : pelicans, herons, balbuzards, eagles and a few other that we don't know.
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Guerro Negro
Back to the west coast of Baja California.
It's a boring road in a very bad condition.
Guerrero Negro isn't worth visiting. It's known for its salt marshes, the largest one in the world, with a production of more than twenty five million tons a year.
But it's also a tourist attarction for whale watching, starting at the end of december till mid april.
For us today, it's shopping, internet and laundry.
Since we crossed the border, we have no connection with our mobile phones. Hope it changes quickly.
ROAD BOOK 036
MAVROS ODYSSEE
