Holy Sites

(7/2/22)

Today we time traveled from the center of Toltec culture (7th-12th century) to Catholic converts (16th century) in Mexico City.

Our first stop were the ruins of Tula, a Toltec dominion that reached it's peak between 900-1150 CE but then declined due to over population & drought (... sounds eerily familiar). Most impressive was the Temple of Quetzalcóatl with the remains of intricately carved roof supports depicting warriors that were once brightly colored. Around the base of the pyramid were carvings of the warrior tribes, depicting jaguars, snakes and eagles. Sadly, not much is known about Tula as the buildings and its writings were burned in the 12th century but it appears to at least have been a center for trade in Mesoamerica, as pottery has been found from numerous regions across Central America (including Costa Rica!).

Carvings @ the base of the pyramid

Temple of Quetzalcóatl

Carved roof supports

Burned courtyard/market out meeting place with only the floor & columns remaining

Nick playing in the ancient ball court

We then made it thru the insanity that is Mexico City driving (though the stress of it may have given Nick a few more white hairs 😳) to get to la Basilica de Guadalupe, the holiest site in all of Mexico. In 1531, as the story goes, a Christian convert claimed to see several different apparitions of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill. A cult developed on the site as a result. The final apparition was an image of the Virgin on the convert’s cloak, which supposedly convinced a local bishop to believe in the miracle/apparitions and build a shrine to the Virgin at Tepeyac. The name ‘Guadalupe’ was used in ‘New Spain’ (a.k.a. Mexico) to link the miracle apparition to a similar sighting of the Virgin Mary in Guadalupe, Spain (where she also has a shrine). Over time, numerous miracles were attributed to the Virgin of Guadalupe, helping to convert indigenous Mexicans to Catholicism. She became the patron saint of Mexico in 1737 and, over the centuries, has had 3 different shrines built on the site in her honor to accommodate all of her visitors – the most recent (1970s) basilica holds 40,000!

Left to right: Basilica de Guadalupe, Expiatory Temple to Christ The King & Parroquia de Santa Maria de Guadalupe Nasturtiums

We witnessed a wedding @ the Basilica

La Virgen de Guadalupe 

Plaza Mariana

In honor of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, we got a pressed coin souvenir with her likeness on it to keep in the car in hopes that she’ll look over us and help us/our car survive the next 4 weeks of driving in Mexico 😉