Today we want to start early enough so we have time to see some of the missions. There are six missions on El Camino Real: three on the US side and three on the Mexico side. The mission were established in Texas and across the Rio Grande were built as a result of the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. The three missions have functioned as the religious and social centers of their communities virtually uninterrupted since their founding in the 17th and 18th centuries. 

Driving toward the first mission, Ysleta, we saw Trump border wall made out of steel and barbed wire at the top. We’re sure that people who want to come across the border will go somewhere else around the Rio Grande – and, of course, there are these tunnels we hear about.

The Ysleta mission is only a few miles from our hotel (you can see on the map that the mission is very close to the border) and we’re just about the first tourists to visit the mission. The Ysleta Mission is recognized as the oldest continuously operated parish in the State of Texas. Over the next two centuries the mission was relocated several times due to flooding of the Rio Grande.

The architecture of the Ysleta mission is quite interesting due to its partial facade and its silver bell dome. Of the three missions we saw, it is the one that is the best maintained.