About an hour west of Loreto by car is the St Javier Mission. 
It was founded by the Jesuits of the Roman Catholic church in 1699.
The missionary's objective was to convert the local Cochimi to Christianity.
The Jesuits had originally started with the mission in Loreto, but, because of a lack of water to sustain agriculture and a mission, they knew they needed to look elsewhere.
The native Cochimi's suggested the possibility of suitable agricultural land across the Sierra de la Giganta mountains, about 20 KM (12 miles) inland from the Gulf of California.
In October of 1699 construction started in the canyons and in December it was dedicated.
It became the second most enduring mission in Baja California, despite being abandoned from 1701 to 1702 due to a threatened Native revolt.
The Jesuits struggled with growing crops due to a lack of water for irrigation.
So in 1710 the mission moved to its present location, a couple of kilometres south of the original location.
The new location had a spring for a dependable source of water. They then enhanced their natural resource with dams and aqueducts.
By 1817 the mission was deserted.
The church has been restored and is now maintained by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.
There was a local in the church that told me with great pride, in broken English, about the baroque elements of the church.
Apparently it was the first time baroque decorations had been made in Mexico.
He also tried to tell me who all the Saints were, but, unfortunately for him, it somehow got lost in the translation for me.
Then I found this sign. English works much better for me.
Several of the introduced plant species are still grown at the mission, such as date palms, grapes, citrus and, ancient olive trees.
This is the oldest olive tree at 300 years old.
And another sign with explanations for we Linguistically Challenged people.
I saw these guys planting something by hand. It looked like it was a slow and back breaking job.
The town is very small with maybe a couple hundred inhabitants.
There are a number of restaurants and shops for the tourists that make the trek inland.
We saw several vans bringing groups in.
To get to the mission it is a pretty drive about an hour west of Loreto through canyons and mountains.
We also saw some motorcycle groups, that I am sure loved the drive up to the mission.
It is desert so there isn't a lot of water.
Hence the reason for choosing this area, with water, for the mission.
Surprisingly, we found this river (stream?) meandering beside the highway.
At times it even crossed the highway.
If I haven't written this already, which I know I have said a thousand times to my long suffering husband, I think the area is stunningly beautiful.
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