El Camino Real Part 5

As I was finishing up my El Camino Real series, a TV news segment popped up. “One of the 450 hundred year old colonial missions surfaced from the Nezahualcoyotl Dam in the southernmost Mexican border town of Guatemala.” It’s all because of the summer drought of this year that caused a drop in water level, both in the dam and the River Grijalva, known as the Chiapas’ Grande River. I found another El Camino Real stretch, connecting the colonial cities of Chiapa de Corzo, Mexico with Antigua Guatemala.

The church was related to Dominican Friar Bartolome de Las Casas (1474-1566), whose name is seen in San Cristobal de Las Casas. Fr. Las Casas was named Bishop of Chiapas in Guatemala to enforce the “New Laws” of Emperor Charles V, which prohibited slavery and limited ownership of Indians to a single generation. The settlers objected to anything limited, and many clergy would not follow the new bishop’s lead. After the King rescinded the prohibition on inheritance, Fr. Las Casas resigned from his office in 1547 and returned to Spain.

I found the Las Casas name in many locations; Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Peru. While he was young, perhaps he followed his father and uncle who voyaged with Columbus representing Spain. Then he entered the priesthood and tried to advocate and correct misdeeds as Christians (Catholics).

I wrote to my San Diego friend Mary Lu Brandwein who was my Spanish teacher and lived in San Cristobal for a long time. She wrote back that I would have to cross the River Grijalva to get to the lush highlands because the dam is close to the Chiapas/Veracruz State border.

Per Mary Lu, the early Camino Real followed the ancient Mayan trade route south along the banks of the Grijalva River, through the Central Depression of Chiapas from Chiapa de Corzo to Guatemala. In later years, with the establishment of the Spanish colonial city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, a secondary road was added which follows the present route of the Pan American Highway through the highlands from San Cristobal south to Comitan, then heads back down into Tierra Caliente to join the original route.

Aside from the big city missions, numerous missions were founded by the Dominicans, including the one submerged in the dam at strategic points, but most of them were abandoned because of depopulation.

El Camino Real Part 4: Seven Missions on National Landmarks

"The missionaries had brought many new varieties of plants with them. Seeds of barley and oats began replacing native grasses that were being grazed by cattle and sheep. These hitch-hikers are responsible for our “golden California."
- from Cerritos Library Archives

Back in the 1960s, I had a business privilege to frequent southern California from New York, though on red-eye flights. San Juan Capistrano is just about midway between LAX and San Diego to stop for a coffee break. The Mission is right off the highway ramp. That was my first visit to a historical mission, nicknamed “mission of swallows”, and I was overwhelmed. It was the only remaining chapel Padre Serra held mass in, and there were some adobes surviving earthquake country. Then I moved with my family to San Diego and lived there for over 20 years after the mid 70s. I often brought visitors there from Japan when going to and from LAX.

There are no questions all 21 missions are on the list of California Historical Landmarks; Seven of the 21 are specifically on the list of National Landmarks. Let me introduce the seven missions, together with their respective nicknames.

1. San Diego, Mother of the Missions
The present church was constructed in early 1800 is the fourth one with renovations continuing thereafter. The site was chosen by Fr. Serra because of a reliable source of water, fertile land and its proximity to indigenous Kumeyaay Indians. Incredible was the uprising story of the Indians that brought loss of the original mission and Martyr Luis Jayme. The dazzlingly white wall shines with colorful bougainvillea like butterflies under a blue sky. It is always nice to return to the park with visitors.

2. San Luis Rey, King of the Missions
This is home to California’s first pepper tree and my most favorite mission as it is fairly close to San Diego where we lived. Named for Louis IX, crusading King of France, the cross-shaped mission is the most graceful one, built by architecturally oriented Fr. Fermin Lasuen. The grounds are huge and gorgeous and well kept, picture perfect everywhere you look. Time stands still for just a bit when you are here. No wonder it still belongs to the Franciscans.

3. Santa Barbara, Queen of the Missions
My wife and I became routine commuters to Santa Barbara when my daughter’s family had an apartment at the UC Santa Barbara graduates campus complex. The hospital where my granddaughter was born was close to the Mission. Eventually this granddaughter graduated from UCSB. We are unable to think of their family affairs without picturing the mission on the hill. We immediately visualize the Greco-Roman styled front, the unique two matching bell towers, the fountain and the lavadero. It was the most successful mission which had rapprochement (a place of harmonious meetings; detente) with the indigenous Chumash Indians.

4. Carmel, Father of the Missions
Basilica Carmel is literally the crown jewel of all California missions, the most beautiful and the most favorite of its founder Fr. Serra. Impressive and unique are the asymmetrical bell tower, star-shaped window, and Gothic arch ceiling. The recent $5.5 million restoration won the prestigious award endowed to religious/cultural endeavors. In his austere cell, Fr. Serra kept a modest desk and chair, and a pitiful wooden sheet bed.

5. Santa Ines, Mission of the Passes
This mission is smaller than the other missions and has bucolic scenes with the long stretch of hills in the background. The mission experienced hard times and overcame Indian rebellions and upheavals. The Danish town of Solvang was built up around the Santa Ines Mission in the early 1900s.

6. La Purisima (no nick name)
This is the biggest mission of all and is located about 2 miles northeast of Lompoc. La Purísima Mission State Historic Park is considered the most completely restored mission in California, with ten of the original buildings fully restored and furnished, including the church, shops, living quarters, and blacksmith shop. The mission gardens and livestock represent what would have been found at the mission during the 1820's. Special living history events are scheduled throughout the year.

7. San Juan Batista, Mission of the Music
This mission is closer to Hollister, California and adjacent to the San Andreas Fault. I haven’t visited this famous mission, where Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “Vertigo” was shot on location in 1958. It was built by Fr. Estevan Tapis, with a special talent for music, who taught singing to Indians. The Mission had been rescued by the Hearst Foundation.

El Camino Real Part 3

The historic Washington DC Holy Mass by Pope Francis canonized Friar Junipero Serra (1713-1784) 230 years after his death. Fr. Serra, the name dominated in California as the founder of 21 missions, especially the very first “Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala” and the inspiration for today’s MLB baseball team, “San Diego Padres” - the Swinging Friars.

What would my San Diego friend, late historian and newspaper writer Art Ribbel and his wife Virginia Ribbel say? Perhaps, “It’s been a long time coming.” He wrote, “The San Diego River is hard by El Camino Real, the Highway of the King, one of the oldest traveled roads in America”. Virginia Ribbel sent me a special collection of Art's San Diego Union articles and I found her sketch in it of Fr. Serra. At one time, we were both residents of Carlsbad.

I remember there were two stories, maybe called “Junipero miracles.” One was Fr. Serra’s 250 mile piety trek from Veracruz to Mexico City through mountain trails. That was one of his hardest trips, which not only injured his leg permanently, but his party lost their way and found themselves starving. They found a distant light to which they were drawn. The couple they met treated them to dinner and lodging. The following day they were told there were no such good Samaritans in the vicinity. The other story told of how Fr. Serra was originally going to San Antonio Mission before he elected to head for California. San Antonio was attacked by Apaches and he would have been there. These were his life saving miracles.

Having resided in California for more than 20 years and visited almost all the missions, it is quicker to name the missions not visited. They are Mission San Antonio Padua, and Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. I hope I can finally visit them on my next visit. I was lucky that my daughter’s family was in Santa Barbara. As I visited them, I was able to visit missions close by on the way.

Later they moved to Thousand Oaks and there we visited together and strolled the beautiful 4.5 acre Garden of the World across the Civic Arts Center. It has an Italian fountain, English Rose Garden, Japanese Koi pond, and what they call a California Mission Courtyard. You can go around the Courtyard to see the fabulous paintings of 21 California Missions on the walls.

Regarding the controversy of Fr. Serra, I wish to follow Pope Francis’ “rejoice” homily that Fr. Serra left his native land and its way of life. “He was excited about blazing trails, going forth to meet many people, learning and valuing their particular customs and ways of life.” Pope Francis continued “Junipero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it.” As the first Latino pope, the act of canonizing Fr. Serra is an international statement about Francis’ own identity and his role as a leader in the new world and for a new church.

El Camino Real Part 2

It was amazing that missionaries, perhaps two or three at first, followed the Spanish conquistadors, whether they were Jesuits or Franciscans, after the demise of the Aztec Empire in 1521. That number amassed to more than one thousand. The main path was the El Camino Real Corridor (1400km), from Mexico City up north to Santa Fe, via silver mines* such as Zacatecas, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, though tapering off north after El Paso. The El Camino Mesilla Corridor ran sideways from El Paso to Yuma, the El Camino Sonoran Corridor south down to Hermosillo. There is one more route – the El Camino de los Tejax, from San Antonio down south to Espada, Texas along the San Antonio River.

The name Father Eusebio Kino (1645-1711) rose as explorer/ geographer in El Camino Sonoran and Mesilla, along with Father Juan Maria Salvarierra. He proved that Baja California was not an island, by leading a land exposition. He introduced horses, cattle, and new crops such as wheat to the native Indians. He established 24 missions and vistas. The ruins of one of his missions was found close to Nogales, now known as the Tumacacori National Monument. I think I drove by the Monument when I visited Rancho Santa Cruz to say goodbye to my ex-boss who relocated there from San Diego after retirement. The city of San Antonio hosted the 2002 Toastmasters International Convention and I spent more than a week there, attending the Conference and traveling to five missions along the San Antonio River. In the 18th century, the Spanish Crown secured its northern frontier empire by creating 50 military presidios and self-sufficient mission communities in Texas.

Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo) was founded in 1718. By the 1730s there were several church-centered settlements along the San Antonio River. Settling into mission life, the simple hunter-gatherers of South Texas, called Coahuitecans, learned the Catholic faith from Franciscan monks and practiced agriculture.

Between 1731 and 1775, the missionaries and Indians built seven long canals, called acequias, five dams, and an aqueduct to irrigate 3,500 acres of land. By the 1770s, when the mission system began to decline, San Jose was a prosperous social and cultural center with 300 inhabitants who produced cattle and agricultural surplus. Mission Indians were the original Texas cowboys and they also defended their fortified settlements against marauding Apaches and Comanches. In 1824, the Texas missions were entirely secularized and the mission Indians, who continued to live and work in the villages along the San Antonio River, became the first Tejanos. The Alamo Mission was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for the Battle of the Alamo of 1836.

Notes:
For previous posts on trekking the Mexican Silver Route, please see:
* Trekking Mexico's Silver Route
* Mexico Memoirs
* Mexico Memoirs Part 2
* Dios da a Borda, Borda da a Dios