Let us pray

December 12th marks the official beginning of the holiday season here in México.  Why the 12th?  Well, that's the feast day of La Virgen de Guadalupe, México's patron saint.  She is also referred to as La Morenita and has legions of followers in Latin America and beyond.  The story goes that she appeared to a lowly indigenous man, Juan Diego, during the time of the Spanish colonization, and asked him to let the clergy know that she wanted a church built in her name...Suffice it to say that she had to scare poor Juan Diego three times before she got her wish, and even then, he had to present proof to the bishop.  This evidence came in the shape of his poncho.  The Virgin's image was miraculously emblazoned on it and so, it hangs in the Basilica today, for all to stare at in wonder.  If you wanna know more, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

In any case, pilgrimages to the Basilica are no rare occurence, and now that December is near, large group pilgrimages are more commonly seen.  Yesterday, I participated in one of these and I have the blisters to prove it!!  It was a four hour, 15km trek, but all worth it to see La Virgencita  and to give many thanks.

Virgencita loses finesse...and yes, that's a donkey in the corner.

Hallelujah, we made it!! 
To the left you see the newer Basilica, where Guadalupe now resides.  To the right is the original Basilica, built in the 17th century, but it's SINKING, thus the need for a new temple.  This also explains its weird angle in the pic.


 

The best part of the walk was probably having this band there to wake us up and announce our arrival to the Basilica.



And here she is, our Virgen de Guadalupe.