18. Beautiful Mud

 Mud Detail, San Xavier. (Tomasito photo)

We went to see the very famous Dove of the Desert, San Xavier del Bac Mission on the Papago Indian Reservation south of Tucson, Arizona.

This unusual and beautiful edifice was planned by the "Padre on Horseback", Jesuit Father Kino, and built in 1783.

We love to prowl around these old missions. We appreciate the struggle of these long-ago Catholic missionaries to "save the souls" (what ever that may mean) of the "heathen" (whatever that may mean) inhabitants of this remote desert and especially we appreciate the lasting but not quite permanent monuments to their faith symbolized by these mud marvels.


Looking at this dove you tend to forget that it--all of it--including the delicate swirls and ornaments--is made of mud painted white.


Adobe is mud--dried mud--and that's what these missions are made of.


Mud wants to return to it's natural state and place--flat--part of the earth, growing weeds and cactus out here on the desert--but keep a well-baked mud  roof (teclas or tiles) over your walls  and the mud will stand erect for a good long time--if not eternity.


So:  here's to Mud and Beauty!

San Xavier. (Tomasito photo)

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