Las Pastores de Belen

A little over a year ago, early in December of 2014, I read on a website that Mission Espiritu Santo in Goliad was hosting a Pastorela, a Shepherds’ Play, for Christmas, and knew that was my next trip. I’d learned about Pastorelas some time in the Long Ago, but never actually had the chance to SEE one, so of course I fired up Andromeda the WanderWagon and headed west.

Had I not been QUITE so gung-ho, I might have taken five minutes to check social media on M-morning, and I’d have seen all the updates posted all to heck and gone – “We’re sorry, but our performers are sick, so the play’s not happening.”

Of course, being more enthusiastic than bright, yours truly missed the memo. So, when I got to Goliad… oops. No Pastorela today. I wound up roaming the grounds of Mission Espiritu Santo and the Presidio de la Bahia.

This was far from a total loss. I learned things, found a new favorite state park, and got some nice shots of the mission all dressed up for Christmas,

and some of the Loreto chapel at the Presidio, complete with Christmas Trees.

What I didn’t get was a Pastorela. Dammit.

(continued)

Jan 30 update: Most of the posts in this blog have multiple screens. I have readers still using dialup. If I make them wait for the whole thing to load before they start looking, they’ll be stuck here for weeks. I break posts into shorter pages to be nice to them. (You’re welcome, Mom!) For those of you who didn’t realize it, this line below is a navigation link. Click the next number and it’ll take you to the next page. It’s worth the trouble.