I visit La Mision de Nuestra Senora de Loreto all the time and have plenty of photographs of her from various angles. But my trip last June, on my final day in Loreto before returning to the US, was different-it was my first (and likely only) trip UP INTO the belltower.

While the Mission is no skyscraper, it dwarfs mostly single-story Loreto, and I had long fantasized about the views it must provide. After many visits to the Mission and discussions with the padres, I thought I was invited up into the belltower. Actually I figured my own enthusiasm had colored my understanding of the invitation (which was, of course, in Spanish)...but I showed up hopefully with my camera one early evening last June.

As one of the padres motioned me to follow him, I looked around with disbelief. He was walking towards one of the large wooden doors in the Loreto Mission (an interesting design choice given the complete lack of wood in Baja) and pulling out a key! The wooden door is huge, full of knots and gaps, and its hinges creaked mysteriously as they strained under the weight of the opening door. We went up the dark but cool stone-lined stairs to the choirs' perch with a wonderful view down into the Mission. Up more stairs, around more bends, through another door, climbing up rungs inside the belltower until suddenly we were there...right among the bells.

My amazement at actually being there was quickly upstaged by the loudest sound I've ever heard. Each of the bells has a rope leading into the center of the belltower, all of the ropes are tied to a master rope which hangs down the outside to the ground...and clearly the woman who was ringing the bells had no idea we were in there. I'm not quite sure what I yelled when the bells started ringing, but I'm glad they were loud because I don't think it was "G" rated!