Loreto, Mexico

I’ve always loved Mexico...perhaps because it was the first “foreign place” I ever visited as a kid to stay with my mother’s sister in Mexico city. I remember eating that shaved ice with flavoring on it from a street vendor.
So... a most lovely day today. slow. Our Inn is small with a great garden...and a Kitchen for all to use ( but I can’t imagine cooking!) we went for fine breakfast and cafe con leche at Pan y Pan where this little daughter of the owner(? )was eating too... then to the mission church and museo... those Jesuits were instructed by the newSpain in California in the 1600s to go to Baja and convert the natives who were still, after many centuries , hunters and gatherers in this inhospitable desert land. Loreto was the second stop and the first mission established in1697, after our lady of Loreto de concha ( spring.. water source) In order to do this they had to learn to survive and there are many maps and descriptions of the flora and fauna attributed to them... and they figured out how to farm and ranch, but they got greedy and wanted to do commerce, ( including pearl diving) so that was not acceptable , the next group was the Franciscans and then the Dominicans which altogether have a route(which they had to map out) of many missions from the tip of Baja to San Francisco. Of course those native people disappeared. and the missions became tourist attractions sometime in the 1800s. ( that’s my short history... much interesting stuff here... and doesn’t it sound familiar.)
Loreto today Is a sleepy town... trying to be eco friendly and green and keep huge developments out. There’s lots of hiking and water activities and you can go out and see ancient cave paintings of the native people, lots of Americans ( and Canadians too) building houses here. It’s pretty inexpensive to live here. Seemed very empty to us.
We managed a wee siesta,and a walk by the water to the little harbor where we watched pelicans driving, and saw frigate birds and herons, stopped for a margarita (me) and a cervesa(h) and then dinner at a nearby (Italian!)place where we saw the town and lots of family groups pass by on the street and the mission church disappear in the sunset. A bit cloudy. Perfect temperature. Fun to use some of my poor Spanish. Rested now. Loved this leisurely day. Off on another adventure tomorrow.