Three vaqueros of different backgrounds—Indigenous, Black, and mulatto—ride side by side across open country at golden hour, their faces in shadow but their hats, reatas, and saddles sharply lit, a reminder of the countless “invisible cowboys” who built the cattle trails and ranches of the West.

Sunlight washes over the old stone mission, its weathered walls and bell tower standing guard over the courtyard like a quiet witness to the birth of ranching in the borderlands.