The Eiffel Church

Today we rode one long, straight, boring road.  Well, it was mostly straight.  We did ride up/down Cuesta del Infierno I and II (Hell’s Slope) which were fairly steep but otherwise nothing special.

We stopped in San Ignacio for a short break and to visit the Mission.  This little town seemed incongruous with the surrounding area, with an open source of water and a small forest of lush palm trees – quite the change from the arid, cactus spotted landscape we’ve been surrounded by for days. We were surprised by how many non-Mexicans there were in this town.  We even saw a few overlanders, including one ginormous machine!

We did meet another adventure rider, a woman who goes by the name Banana who invited us to stay with her and some friends, but they were a little farther down the road than we ended up today.

We stepped into the Misión San Ignacio Kadakaamán, in operation since its founding in 1728.  Doubtless we will see a thousand different churches on our journey, but each one has its own history.  In this area, epidemics reduced the indigenous Cochimí population from about 5000 to only 120 by the late 18th century, though I’m not sure what role the mission played in this.

We carried on to Santa Rosalía and found a hotel with hot water, A/C, wifi and secure parking for the bikes.  The nearby Pizza Planet fed us supper and positioned us nicely to pop over to the Iglesia Santa Bárbara, reported to have been designed by Gustaf Eiffel and displayed at the World’s Fair in Paris before being shipped to this town in Mexico.

I have to laugh – we make lofty plans to be productive in the evenings, but often end up flaked out on the bed beat from a day of riding.  We may decide to stay here another day just to get caught up on a few things.  We’ll see…

(Photos on Facebook and Instagram)