Michael

The Lost Cathedral of Satevo

It was early morning when we boarded our vehicles to make the 3.1 mile (5 km) bumpy roller coaster ride to The Lost Cathedral of Satevo. The cathedral is in the middle of nowhere. I don’t believe you can continue on the road with cars or trucks past this point.

It’s a large building considering that the congregation for the area was probably not very numerous when it was built. The mystery is who built it and when. Most theories have it built between the early 1600’s to mid 1700’s by either Jesuits or a mixture of Jesuits and then Franciscan monks who apparently drove the Jesuits out of the area. It has been in a continually state of reconstruction for some time.

Our guide said one story of why it was built was due to a Catholic requirement that to ordain priests one must have a cathedral where a bishop is based. Apparently once a cathedral was built then priests could be ordained whether the bishop was there or not. As the monks were spreading across Mexico and into what would become the southwest United States, priests were in need, so this cathedral became the base for the expansion.

It seemed logical to us, but no one really knows the real reason it was built or by who and when.

Waiting for the Road to be Built

After a late morning breakfast, we piled into our vans and began the long 83.9 miles (135 km), trek back to Creel. The canyons were lit beautifully by the sun this morning. We saw many rock faces in a different light; no pun intended. I still couldn’t get used to looking over the road and seeing the river several thousand feet down. It created a constant anxiety; at least for me.

Once we made it to the construction area on the dirt road, things got interesting. As we went around a left hand curve we had to quickly stop. The road was blocked by two huge earth moving vehicles plus the road was gone. So, we had to wait about 15 minutes while the giant caterpillar bulldozer recreated the road so that we could pass. Wow! I’m glad we weren’t traveling this at night.

The rest of the trip back was uneventful but the constant swaying around the curvy roads made us have to hold on to keep from bumping into the person next to us.

Overall it was an excellent adventure!

Tomorrow we head to Chihuahua but only stay a brief moment until we board a plane to Toluca.

View my photos for the day. (12 photos)

Have a great day!

Michael