For our last full day in Mexico City, we had a very special stop to make – the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Virgin Mary, and this church in particular, have been an incredibly important part of Tony’s life. And it all stems from his mother.
Losing her last year was the hardest thing we’ve experienced. As Tony’s mother is from Mexico, he had always wanted to come here with her. He had been waiting to come until he could do so with his mother. He is devastated he missed his chance, but coming to this place was the ultimate way for him to honor her.
We had our same awesome tour guide from Xochimilco to accompany us on the journey. As we approached, he mentioned how lucky we were that we were visiting on a day when there were no pilgrimages. “We otherwise could be waiting for more than two hours just to drive to the parking garage!” he said.
The parking garage, as well as all souvenir shops, were located underneath the church. Tony and I both really appreciated this. We wanted to buy items to commemorate this visit, but buying items while inside a church feels awkward and seedy.
Tony grew up listening to the story of Juan Diego and the Virgin Mary. During our many frequent visits to Paris, he would specifically seek out the Lady of Guadalupe statue in Notre Dame to pray to.
So what is the story? Juan Diego was a peasant who lived during the early 1500s outside of what is now Mexico City. He was visited by the Virgin Mary on 4 separate occasions. She asked to have a church built in her honor. When relaying her requests to the Archbishop, he was dismissed, as the Archbishop did not believe Juan Diego. He told Juan Diego to ask for proof.
Per Wikipedia, in relaying this back to the Virigin Mary, “she told him to gather flowers from the summit of Tepeyac Hill, which was normally barren, especially in the cold of December. Juan Diego obeyed her instruction and he found Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, blooming there. The Virgin arranged the flowers in Juan Diego’s tilmàtli or cloak, and when Juan Diego opened his cloak later that day before Archbishop Zumárraga, the flowers fell to the floor, revealing on the fabric the image of the Virgin.”
The continuation of this miracle, though, is that this 500 year old cloak is still in tact and visible today! Aside from seeing the church, it was the cloak we were most excited about.
I have been so blessed to be able to have seen many beautiful and important places in my life. Seeing this cloak was one of the few that moved me enough to tears. I was crying mostly for my mother-in-law. But also at the sheer enormity of being in the presence of a miracle.
After our time at the church, we were on the hunt for carnitas. Tony had shared with our tour guide earlier in the week for his desire to find the best carnitas in Mexico City. Jose Maria did not disappoint – he took us to his personal favorite carnitas restaurant, Los Panchos.
It did not disappoint! The meat was the best we’d ever had, and was coupled with phenomenal guacamole and horchata. Yum yum!
After lunch, we took our final tour of the trip. Jose Maria drove us to the downtown area, where we saw the Angel of Independence statue and the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The cathedral is located in the historical center of the city. It is built atop a former sacred area of the Aztec. There is a ton of buzz and activity around the church. We wandered around the outside of it, eyeing all of the many vendors and traditionally dressed individuals performing spiritual cleansing. The buildings surrounding the church were extremely colorful and vibrant. It was a great way to start winding down our trip.
We finished up our evening with a delicious dinner at Anonimo Cocina, within walking distance of our hotel. I felt bad we couldn’t finish our food, but we were still so full from our carnitas earlier in the day!
We had some time before our flight left the next day. After grabbing a leisurely breakfast, we spent some time at the nearby park. All in all, our trip was a really special one and helped cement Mexico City towards to the top of our favorites’ list.
Until next time…
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