Murali Narayanan Photography

Introduction

This final part covers our visit to the amazing oasis town of San Ignacio, situated about 100 miles southeast of Guererro Negro and our return to San Diego with one night stop back at Cataviña. The two major attraction that attracted us to this small but beautiful town were the church, Misión San Ignacio Kadakaamán and the super friendly town people. After spending two nights, we made the long 12-hour drive back to San Diego.

Mar 1 (Day 6)

Jim had planned the trip in such a way that we would be at San Ignacio on Sunday when most of the folks of the town were expected to be at the church. We left the hotel and reached the square next to the church. There was hardly anyone either in the church or around the square and we took our time walking around the town to capture some images. There were a couple of restaurants and a telephone office along with some smaller stores that sell groceries and supplies, but all were closed.

By around 1000, people started arriving at the church. Jim had brought pictures of people he had taken during his previous visit and handed them over to the appropriate folks. He does this every year, and they were eagerly waiting for their pictures. He seemed to know pretty much everyone in the town. All of us attended the service. After the service, we photographed the people at the church and at the square.

I walked around our hotel, The Desert Inn after lunch and captured a few images.

In the afternoon we visited the nearby river where a few men were fishing. There were date palms on either side of the river, planted by the Jesuits in the 18th century. Below are two images of the fishermen that I captured.

Mar 2 (Day 7)

It was time to get back to San Diego, about 12 hours north. After breakfast, we drove to Cataviña where we stayed for the night at the same hotel, Hotel Mision Catavina. In the afternoon, we drove a bit north to the Boulderfield for a sunset shoot.

Mar 3 (Day 8)

Some of us got up early to shoot sunrise images in the back of the hotel. There were numerous types of cacti. Here a few images from the shoot.

After breakfast we started our 300-mile drive back to San Diego. On the way, we stopped to see cave paintings. I didn’t shoot any images of the paintings, but I did shoot an interesting looking cardon cactus that I called Touchdown Cardon.

We stopped for lunch at San Quintin, small town about 120 miles north of Cataviña. A few miles south of the US-Mexico border we encountered a drizzle with a double rainbow. Jim stopped the van, and all got a few shots of the beautiful phenomenon.

We reached the border at around 1730. We dropped off the van, cleared US customs and immigration, reloaded our luggage into another van and returned to San Diego.

Overall, it was a terrific trip superbly organized and executed by Jim. Spending close to 9 hours with the gray whales is something that I’ll never forget. I highly recommend Jim’s tour to Baja for a fantastic, hassle-free experience.