Something is missing in San Javier, the tiny mission town in the mountains outside Loreto.
The old mission church (above), built by Jesuits in the mid 18th century, looks like it always has. A priest comes once a week from Loreto to say Mass. And tourists arrive regularly over a winding road through the mountains.
What they don't find is stalls selling T-shirts, embroidered blouses, hats, magnets, pottery ashtrays, paintings, snacks and the like, not even one selling religious medals and rosaries outside the church.
On the Day of the Dead, Nov. 2, the old church cemetery (above) was empty. There were no flower garlands, candles, portraits of the deceased, food, drink, sugar skulls or any other trappings of the holiday.
San Javier is unspoiled because the inhabitants feel that using the church to make money would be disrespectful.
The church is only one of San Javier's attractions. Another is a 300-year-old olive tree (above), said to be the oldest in Baja California and still bearing fruit. Although the area abounds in olive trees, you can't buy olive oil in San Javier. The inhabitants produce it only for themselves.
But you can buy some things. The sign above shows a place that sells homemade fruit pastes in flavors that include fig, guava, papaya and mango, all made from fruit grown on the ranches around San Javier. You can get a bracing bowl of menudo there too. And if you're dusty from travel, you can rent a bathroom with hot water.
A short distance from the church is the Palapa San Javier, where Señora Alicia does the cooking.
Here are her tacos of beef machaca, rolled in flour tortillas.
And locally made queso fresco--fresh cheese.
And quesadillas made with more local cheese.
Don't leave without buying Señora Alicia's fruit pastes, which are soft, sticky mixtures unlike the blocks of commercial paste that you see in markets. The two flavors on hand when I was there were guava and mango.
You can drive to San Javier, if you don't mind narrow roads washed out in places by seasonal storms. Or leave the driving to Wild Loreto, which offers tours twice a week. Then you'll see much more, like cave paintings dim with age (above) that you'll reach by walking through a stream.
Rather than paying attention to the road, you can marvel at the grandeur of the Sierra de la Giganta (above), golden in the late afternoon sun as the tour ends.
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