Three fin whales surfaced as we sailed towards the town of Santa Rosalia. Tall blows hung in the still air like smoke from a campfire, sometimes back-lit by the brilliant morning sunlight.
Santa Rosalia has been a copper mining town. In 1885 a French mining company called El Boleo acquired mineral rights for 99 years. It built the town, 375 miles of tunnels, a large copper smelting foundry, 18 miles of railway, and a pier. The equipment was shipped from Europe. During the building of the town, a French official of the mining company heard that a unique church had been warehoused in Brussels. It is the building in this photograph. The church was prefabricated, with walls made of galvanized iron. The famous French architect, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, designed the structure in 1884 as a prototype for missionary churches in France's equatorial colonies. It was shipped to Santa Rosalia and reassembled in 1897.
An orchid tree is in full bloom in the foreground of the photograph. A Costa's hummingbird sipped nectar from the flowers as we looked at this austere yet fascinating church.
