Carol and I were lucky enough to spend a few days hiking and wandering around Saguaro National Park, a park bisected by Tucson. The weather was great, but it was later in the season, so most of the tourists and snowbirds had retreated. After exploring the park, we headed south and visited the Mission San Xavier del Bac, an old Spanish Catholic mission built in 1699.
Wikipedia: “Mission San Xavier del Bac is a historic Spanish Catholic mission located about 10 miles south of downtown Tucson, on the Tohono O’odham San Xavier Indian Reservation. Named in 1692 by Padre Eusebio Kino for a pioneering Christian missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order), the Mission is also known as the “place where the water appears,” as there were once natural springs in the area.”
Among the many legends surrounding the building is a popular myth suggesting that early taxation laws exempted buildings under construction, so the builders chose to leave one dome unfinished. Another legend is that the second tower is being left unfinished until the “Excellent Builder” will come to direct its completion.
