Next we headed to San Evaristo, another acutely small but scenic fishing town with mostly shacks and a restaurant that only opens every other day, but not today because today isn’t every other day. (Kudos to those people who recognized this and love logical fallacies!) We spent only a night there and then started off to Agua Verde, a sublime anchorage with lots of snorkeling and flying manta rays. Yes I said flying. The rays launch themselves out of the water and try to stay airborne, only to catapult back down into the water. We later learned that the females did this in order to losen their reproductive eggs, which leave their body when they impact into the water.

Loreto

We arrived in the “coldest” part of Mexico on the 22 of December, only two days from Christmas Eve. Loreto was absolutely, cataclysmically gorgeous. But yes! It was chilly, and most days I was wearing jeans and sweatshirts. Looking off the stern of Aggie, we saw resplendent mountains and looking to the bow, we saw radiant desert islands amidst navy blue waters. It was breathtaking.

While we were in Loreto, we became good friends with a lovely couple on board their now-sold catamaran Taj. Their names are Peter and Janet, and we enjoyed many wonderful times together. On Christmas Eve, we caught up with our old buddies Bill and Julianne for a lovely dinner in which we shared gifts and chatted about our travels so far. The next night, we had a Christmas Dinner with Peter and Janet and it was grand, with delicious, authentic Mexican food.

The next day we went with Peter and Janet to San Javier, a two hour drive up unto those towering mountains we’d been admiring. San Javier is home to an ancient and absolutely marvelous old Spanish mission, which is called a very long name – Misión San Francisco de Viggé-Biaundó and try saying that three times in a row – but it’s usually referred to as San Javier Mission. It’s settled in a valley, with a freshwater river running through the very small town.

The mission is three stories tall, because there’s undoubtedly a basement or mission chambers beneath the surface, which is creepy but also cool in a weird kind of way. The other incredible part was the historical olive tree, which was extremely old and spectacularly spindly. I took many photos near it, because A) eventually I’ll get around to drawing it and B) it’s a very aesthetic tree.