The weather wasn’t fantastic at Bahia de Los Angeles so we only stayed there one night. On our way south I wanted to take a dirt road that would take us past the San Borja mission. According to my Baja Missions book there are 27 missions here with this one being the 7th or 8th. Why they decided they had to settle this area is beyond me. While there were indigenous populations to convert, the peninsula wasn’t that populated and the living was rough. But, the history of the missions is super interesting. The Jesuits started things off in the 1700’s and then the Franciscans took over the system with the Dominicans taking over after them. By the mid 1800’s thing fell apart as thousands of the native people died from diseases and world politics were not favoring the work.
The coolest part about visiting the mission was meeting the guy who caretakes it, Pablo. He was born there in the mission and had all his kids there too, all 11 of them! They have all moved on so not sure who will take over after him. He told us he is not Catholic anymore because he realized how they treated the natives when they used their labor to build the missions.
We got into San Ignacio late, breaking our rule not to drive after dark. We found a spot to camp at the Petate campground right on the river and then went into town to grab dinner. We all agreed we really like the town and were happy to be back. Dinner was great and the mission is decorated for Christmas.
