The Sea of Cortez

After we left San Juanico we stopped in at Las Barrancas for some shrimp from a local fisherman then continued south on MX53 to a dirt road that would take us to San Javier, this dirt road was 85kms/50 miles to San Javier and involved several river crossings, luckily for us the rivers were at their low points in the season, even so it still took us around 3.5hours to drive this road.

We arrived in San Javier about 4:30pm, just in time to see the Mission before closing at 5pm.
We also strolled around the grounds where we found out the missionaries-built aqueducts and water storage and irrigation systems for fruits, olives and grapes to make wine.

There was a huge tree that was planted around the time the missionaries arrived in the area and was over 300years old.

After our self tour we went to a local restaurant for dinner and have some local food.

Once the Mission had closed and all visitors left we set up camp near the mission for two nights.

Lupita made fish and seafood soup on the second night, and it was delicious. In the morning Lupita made us chilquelies, they were so good. We prepared all our meals in the parking lot at the mission. Other families came along had meals, and one elderly couple pitched their tent and stayed the night.

Juan Carlos waiting for fish & Seafood Soup.We rode our bikes and went to a local home of a man and wife team who made jam from grapefruits and figs, so delicious. Of course we all had to buy some.

The Mission was also illuminated at night.
While talking to one of the Mission caretakers Juan Carlos was shown a book which had a copy of a map that indicated that the Spanish once thought that Baja California was a large island.

From here we drove over the mountains to Loreto for one night to fill up with water, restock and do some business via the internet.

From here we headed up to the bottom of Bahia Concepcion to wild camp at a beach for a few days.

We parked in the shade of a large tree to give us some protection from the sun and set up hammocks.

Later in the next day the wind picked so we decided not to go kayaking but did see some whales beaching out in the Sea of Cortez.

 

 

While in Santa Rosalia we strolled around the town and found a church made of steel, it was designed and manufactured by Gustav Eiffel, the very same gentlemen who built the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Next: Bahia De Los Angeles