Earth Ancients

It was then that John and I were slapped awake by the brilliant color and majestic presence of our hosts. The walls and ceilings that gave us shelter by night had, in the morning’s light, come alive with the vivid forms of men, deer, mountain lion, bighorn sheep, birds and rabbits, all superimposed within a great mural.The Indigenous peoples of Baja California have long survived the unforgiving conditions of the desert by adapting to nature. But everything changes when the Spanish conquistadors start arriving and the missionaries are deployed. With no written language, the Indigenous shamans paint their people’s history into murals on the walls of mountain caves. As suggested by one such mural, Califa, a clever Cochimi healer, and her shaman husband, temporarily trick the Spanish invaders into retreat. But nothing can keep the massive galleons away forever, and over the next centuries, the Native peoples either acquiesce to the missionaries out of hunger or die from illnesses introduced by the Europeans.Nearl