Having left for this trip on New Year’s Day and being on a ship for several days, we were surprised by the creche in the mission church in Loreto and the green Christmas cone in the square. Arriving mid morning and leaving about an hour later, Loreto was a small, sleepy town with more Sea Birders that local people. I asked a fellow passenger who lives here part of the year if this was atypical of the town. He replied that it was same throughout the year.

From 1697 and for more than a century Loreto was an important place. As the first of the chain of missions established by the Jesuits, it was the center of religion and government  for the coast of the California. The major building is the mission church