Today we started out by heading south-west of Tucson to see San Xavier del Bac Mission, the oldest (built in 1700) and best-preserved mission church in the Southwest. Sadly it's so well preserved they were in the middle of preserving one of the towers while we were there, which kinda ruined my photos!

Inside the mission was beautiful, all carved wood and very old paints and varnishes. The carved wooden angels flying above us were all dressed kinda like saloon girls from the Wild West which was funny.

There was also a courtyard area inside the church which was really beautiful, and a small museum that had lots of interesting exhibits. One was a collection of old silver charms that people would give to the priests, the charms were shaped into the part of the body that they were having problems with (say eyes or hands, etc) and by donating silver to the priests, they would ask for God to cure them. Another exhibit was a gigantic old Bible that was painted by hand, with beautifully illustrated pictures of angels, and gold leaf on the first letter of every paragraph.