Desert Speaks

Pilgrimage To A Party

Many Mexicans consider San Francisco a "true" saint - one who delivers the "miracles" and "promises" that thousands of faithful make with him every year. But he demands that they live up to their end of the vow, which for most involves a pilgrimage. The Desert Speaks follows the faithful as they travel by foot and on horseback (some more than fifty miles) to the church in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora to pay homage to San Francisco in the hope that he may transform their lives. The Fiesta de San Francisco also transforms this sleepy town as tens of thousands of the faithful, semi-faithful and out-and-out revelers descend on it for the biggest party in Northwest Mexico.