(I of course talked to them before taking these pictures.)
This has been going on ever since we hit the road back on November 29. The pilgrims need to be at one of the churches dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe by December 12, the most important pilgrimage date in Mexico. The National Catholic Register reported that 12.5 million arrived in Mexico City last year. I didn’t see numbers on the other churches. It can be a days or weeks long journey. Pilgrims are traveling by foot often with support vehicles creeping along behind, on bicycles carrying huge statues on their backs, in trucks, and in cars.
It seems that how you go and what you wear is regional. It’s quite amazing to find these lines of walkers and bike riders sharing the highway with huge barreling trucks and speeding cars trying to pass the trucks, or the other way, trucks trying to pass the cars.
Notice the guy with the torch. People traveling in these trucks would, from time to time, dispatch a barefoot runner with a torch. Here’s a small story about the Torch Runners.
Here are some internet examples of pilgrims traveling to their destinations. We saw all this but I didn’t get a decent shot off.
We were stopped at a gas station/OXXO and the parking lot was full of these kids milling around. I called out “anyone want to be in a picture?” and this is what happened.
On the road again…
Earlier in the day we were hungry and Cynthia caught sight of a restaurant sign, so we turned around and came upon this place that was wonderful.
