Corky1
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Question about "John M" trip report
John,
In part 3 of your trip report you included the below information.
Could you or someone else jump in and tell the story of the Virgin Shrine??
Did you go to the old Shrine or the new Shrine.
Attached picture of old Shrine.
"We headed back north so we could show our new companions the Virgin shrine just a little north and east of Catavina."
"We found the turn off to the east and cruised easily the two miles or so to the historic shrine. After taking in this wonderful place, telling the
story about what had happened here, we were getting ready to leave."
Thanks, Corky
 
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Corky1
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Another picture
\"Keep The Rubberside Down\"
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John M
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Corky - a relply soon
Corky, I'll get to it this evening. But the short answer is that the picture you posted is the place I was speaking about.
I cannot say for certain as to its rightful place in the area history.
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John M
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Here it is, I couldn't wait until tonite to read it again!
Corky, and others, here is the story version that I have read. It comes from the book Hardly Any Fences by John Hilton, pages 79-81. The book is
number 38 of the Baja California Travel Series by Dawson?s Books in Los Angeles. Hiltons?s personal experiences at the ?shrine? continue in his
narrative for another page or so but I hadn?t the time to copy those at this time. There may be other versions around but I do like this one, and who
knows for certain?
The Virgin of the Rock
?Between Aqua Dulce and Catavina is a stretch of high desert averaging fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred feet. It as a wonderland of
wind-sculptured granite bouleers and weird cacti, elephant trees, cerios, and agaves. At about the middle of this streth is a rock on the west side of
the road which has been made into a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron saint of all Mexico. [of course Hilton was writing of ?the old road.?]
?I have always loved the story of how the Virgin gave roses to the poor peon so that he could prove his story to the Bishop, roses from that thorny
hill and in the wrong time of the year! I have also always treasured the story of this shrine as told to me by Senora Espinoza in her 'house by the
side of the road' in El Rosario.
?She told me that the Camino Real, or King?s Highway of the earliest explorers, had gone by this rock with its small cave even in the early days when
it was only a horse and foot trail. Here the great missionary explorers doubtless stopped in the welcome shade. Here the sainted Father Junipero Serra
could very well have stopped to rest his weary legs and pick thorns from those tired feet. If there had been no other reason than these, the rock and
its little cave might well have become a holy place to later travelers.
?The real story, however, took place many years ago when the Murillo family, which had been living at Mission San Borja, decided to move to El
Rosario. It was in the heat of mid-summer. They were traveling as everyone did, on horseback, up the old Camino Real. Shortly after passing the Arroyo
of Catavina, their little daughter, Diega, became violently ill and started to run a very high temperature. The family was at a loss what to do. Help
of any sort was many weary miles away.
?When they came to the little cave in the rock they decided to make camp and put little Diega in the cave where she would be cooler. Then they
resorted to the one thing left people in situations like they. They prayed. They prayed to the Virgin of Guadalupe that their daughter might be
healed. They prayed for three days and nights while their water supply ran low and the temperature of the desert rose. Then the miracle occurred. A
great rain came out of the south with a roar of wind and lightning. When it had passed, water stood in pools all over the desert. The stock had plenty
to drink and the family found enough caught in basins of the rocks to fill their water bags of skin. When they looked at Diega after the storm, they
found her smiling and well. During her prayers, Diega?s mother had made a promise to the Virgin that if the child was spared, she would erect a shrine
here in Diega?s cave.
?So it was that a year later on the anniversary of the event that the Murillo family made a pilgrimage back to the ?Cueva de Deiga,? as they had come
to call it, and placed a paper replica of the Virgin of Guadalupe and some other small items that made it a shrine. From that grew the resting place
along the road known the length of the peninsula as the Cave of Diega or the Virgencita de la Piedra, the Little Virgin of the rock.?
[Edited on 5-24-2005 by John M]
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Corky1
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John,
Thank you very much for the reply and the excellent story.
Now I can impart a bit more knowledge to the next bunch of nubie motorcycle riders that I pass thru there with.
Corky 
\"Keep The Rubberside Down\"
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David K
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That is a colorful story...
The truth is more likely that Serra and others on the 'pre-automobile' main highway (called EL CAMINO REAL) were about 5 miles to the east, along the
base of the hills where water was more common.
The closest named point on El Camino Real to La Virgen (on the old dirt main auto. road) is the oasis called 'Agua Escondida' up Arroyo Aguaje
Guillermo... which crosses the old auto. road just north of La Virgen.
Neal and Marian Johns have been there! Their photos and GPS data are at http://vivabaja.com/neal2
The details of the El Camino Real and map showing its location compared to La Virgen are on my web site... here's the direct link: http://vivabaja.com/ECR
[Edited on 5-25-2005 by David K]
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bajalera
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Thanks for that great story, John--I always wondered who was responsible for that shrine. When we drove to La Paz in 1963 a little old man was living
across the old carretera from the shrine, in the shade of a big rock. What really surprised me about this area of big granite boulers was that some of
them were painted with signs advertising a circus--can't remember the name for sure, but it might have been Vasquez--which people in San Ignacio later
told us had performed there. [It never occurred to me that a circus would tackle that old road.]
The old man was still there in 1968 when my kids and I went north, and in '72, when we drove south in the last days of old the road. He wasn't around
on later trips, and someone told us he had died in a fire.
Although Gerhard & Gulick describes the guy as a resident who sold coffee, sodas, and sometimes gasoline, to us he always seemed more like a
hermit. In his time the little shrine just had a small statue standing in a rock shelter--plus a lot of glasses containing burned-out candles, of
course, but no little building--and I don't recall any pilas like those there now.
Lera
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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David K
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Photo by Marian Johns of Palms that are likely 'Agua Escondida' on the Camino Real, inland from La Virgen in Arroyo Aguaje Guillermo (see Neal on the
right edge?)
Below photo is a map I sketched that shows the new and old roads around La Virgen and the approx. location of the Camino Real...
[Edited on 5-25-2005 by David K]
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John M
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Not on Camino Real
Hi David. Yes, I was going to mention that when I copied Hilton's work but thought I'd let it stand on its own. I agree though with your mention that
Serra et al didn't detour that far west, as Agua Dulce was one of their stops and it kept them more to the east. John M.
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David K
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It is a good story and must have some basis in truth... The El Camino Real route was abandoned in areas where an automobile road could not be built
(in the 1940's +)... El Rosario to Mision San Fernando and Agua Dulce to Calamajue (and on to San Borja) are a couple sections where the auto route
was different.
Thanks for your contribution John!
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