We borrowed a car and drove to the San Javier mission just southwest of Loreto. Here is what Wikipedia says about the mission:

The Spanish mission of San Francisco Javier was initially founded by the Jesuit missionary Francisco María Piccolo in 1699 at a spring called Biaundó by the native Cochimí, about 8 kilometers north of the mission's subsequent location.

The site was abandoned in 1701 because of a threatened Indian revolt, but was reestablished by Juan de Ugarte in 1702. Several years later, it was moved to the better-watered present location of the community of San Javier, Baja California Sur, Mexico. The energetic Ugarte constructed dams, aqueducts, and stone buildings. Between 1744 and 1758, Miguel del Barco was responsible for building what has been called "the jewel of the Baja California mission churches" (Vernon 2002:26)

Primarily under the ravages of Old World diseases, the native population declined steadily through the Jesuit period (1699–1768) and then more steeply after the missionaries of that order were expelled from Baja California.

By 1817, the mission was deserted. The church has been restored and is now maintained by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.

A local woman took us behind the church to show us the aquaducts, fruit trees and springs.

The best part of the trip was the drive up and back. The rainy season washes the roads out each year. I talked with one local who said that the community around the mission can be cut off from Loreto for a month or more while the roads are being repaired.