Santa Gertrudis

Heading south towards Santa Gertudis, I stopped to admire this large cardon, which is probably several hundred years old.

Santa Gertrudis Cave Paintings

The main cave has an impressive mural painted in red and black. I spotted some human figures and animals, but much of the painting is too faded or jumbled for me to make out. Some adjacent smaller caves are also painted.

Mission Santa Gertrudis

It would have been interesting to go inside and see the artifacts and restoration history, but no one was around to let me in.     28.0509, -113.0851 

La Casona at Prosperidad

Heading south again, I took a detour to see the ruins of a fancy old house at Prosperidad, east of Ejido Guillermo Prieto. It was interesting to see the contrast of the large modern irrigated farming operation at Ejido Guillermo Prieto versus the ranch at Prosperidad where they were still pulling water out of a well using horse-drawn buckets.

Here is La Casona. A plaque above the door indicates a date of "1916". The mismatched faux stone veneer and uncovered red brick makes me think that the house was never completed.     27.8219, -113.2350 

This old structure seems to be currently used by the Prosperidad ranch as an occasional sleeping quarters (note the bed) and slaughterhouse (note the walls splattered with something red).