Friday Salsa Night and Saturday for Group 2

Friday night was salsa night. Rich was working after dinner with Fidelina and her eMac. But everything was dropped when our instructor came fashionably late. A bit of Meringe to start, and then the peligrosa Salsa. Many of us became a tangle of twisted feet and hands trying the beginner steps that our instructor taught us. We all bought T-shirts that said we survived Salsa dancing! Much fun was had. The teacher then danced a finale with Moriah. Cest manifique -- oops, I mean Fue fantastico! Una maravilla. Photos to follow....

On Friday, Rich decided to make a pilgrimage to Tepeyac. On Saturday he left the rest of the group. The group went to Xochicalco. Photos of Xochicalco to follow as well.

On the pilgrimage, Rich arranged a night at La Casa de Los Amigos. Took the 9am Morelo Ejecetivo to Taxquena and a taxi to La Casa. It was quite a tour of Mexico City as the driver had no clue where the street was that La Casa is on, nor did I. After a few tips from other taxi drivers, I arrived. Checked in and then I took the Metro to La Villa Guadalupe and found without much trouble Tepeyac. There are flowers and bird songs as the story promises... though a fair number of car horns, church organs and other noises. This is the start of the staircase...


The chapel has been updated, so little of the early church remains, this facade was done in 1953 or so.


The inside has been redone a few times as well, though it retains much of its original design. It is a small chapel, would seat 100 at most. Much of the chapel is altar and dias. Most pilgrims take their picture next to an early depiction of the third appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego. The appearance that provided the mantel...


The mantel of Juan Diego with the miraculous depiction of Our Lady is in a huge cathedral that could serve 10,000 with the plaza in front of the building. Below is as sharp a picture as I could get standing on a moving sidewalk in the semi-dark while a church service was in progress. The mantel is on the back wall of the cathedral behind the altar and the sightseerers are below the altar and out of sight and out of ear shot for the most part.

Here is my blurry picture of the mantel...



I thought about the money-changers at the temple as the entire hill and plaza had vendors all over. I did have a tasty sandwich and drink for a modest price however. I did not buy any memorias. It is also good to know that you can rent the entire cathedral with the mantel for a reasonable 50,000 pesos for a one hour service with four canters and ushers for up to 500 people.

This is a picture of some of the vendor wares just outside the plaza. Note that Frieda Kahlo gets equal billing with the Virgin of Guadalupe!


Thanks to Paul for making my pilgrimage possible. It was well worth it to me to make the trip. I got to re-live the story, see what has become of the legend over time and to be reminded of the hope and joy that exists here amid the brokeness!

Tomorrow at 6am, I will get up, take a taxi to the airport and meet Lenor and Moriah for our flight home.

Hasta luego to Mexico, to Service Learning Trip 2010 and to two great teams! And, of course, more pictures with captions will be posted later!