Because he's been interested in checking out El Santuario de Atotonilco, an old church located about 6 miles from San Miguel, he hailed a cab - and off we went.
Rick sat in the front seat with José, the English-studying cab driver who was about our age, and I enjoyed sitting back and listening to these two men converse - José using his halting English as much as possible, and Rick trying out his Spanish. It was very cool.
Upon arrival, we found that the main (perhaps only) street was closed off to traffic due to extensive work being done on the road, so José drove us as far as he could and then he said he would study his English while he waited for us. We estimated that we would be back in about two hours and he kind of laughed and said, "there's not that much to do here". And right he was.
The town of Atotonilco fits a lot of the old stereotypes of the dusty Mexican village. During our visit most of the workers were either lounging around or moving very slowly, probably due to the hot afternoon sun. "Siesta" time is not only a traditional but a practical idea for manual laborers in Mexico. The sun can be brutal, even under the best of circumstances.
El Sanctuario de Atotonilco, begun in 1740 and taking 35 years to complete, has recently been titled a UNESCO World Heritage Site (like San Miguel). It has sometimes been called The Sistine Chapel of the Americas because of the amazing "folk baroque" style frescos on the ceiling, mostly depicting the passion of Christ. Flashes inside this church were not permitted, so unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the unique, beautifully done ceiling and statues. The above is a photo of Rick standing outside the church.
Here's another photo of Rick, standing in the middle of the dusty, all-but-deserted road in town. We walked for a way and although there were a lot of old structures, the only place that was open was a little convenience store. And the only place we saw people (except for the workers) was at the end of the street. When we realized that they were all women and children, we surmised that they were standing in front of the town's school. We decided not to venture down there since we were obviously the only tourists in town, and didn't want to disturb their daily activities.
As you can see, much of the road in this little town has been torn out or - even more likely - no real road ever existed. It is now an attractive array of cobblestones, with another type of stone creating diamond shapes in the middle. The effect will no doubt be fantastic when completed. Apparently UNESCO is pouring money into this town to make it into a tourist destination. At this point in time however, it's only claim to fame is it's beautiful church, which was definitely worth seeing.
Once we had seen the church and walked down the road a bit, we decided to have lunch. The only restaurant we found was next door to the church and was run by some Dominican nuns who were dressed in full habit. Above is a photo of Rick, a lover of religious medals and crosses, checking out a St. Benedict medal that he ended up buying. Although it's not a great photo, you can see one of the nuns in her traditional attire.
A long view of this sweet little restaurant/religious goods shop where we had a simple but delicious meal of quesadillas con pollo, prepared by one of the nuns. Our delicious quesadillas cost 8 pesos (or about 66 cents) apiece.
*****
After lunch we asked José to take us to a nearby Benedictine Monastery that Rick was curious about. It wasn't an easy find, and as we traveled down desolate, dusty, deserted roads flanked with cactus and tall, dry grasses, I wondered if José really knew where he was going. But I soon realized that José is "the man", and congratulated him on such when he successfully pulled into the parking lot of the Monastery. We were lucky enough to find the lovely little church open.
A photo of Rick standing on the altar of the Monastery's cepilla (chapel).
As we drove into the Monastery's grounds we were able to read, in Spanish, that this area was considered a sanctuary of spirituality and peace, and asking that visitors be as silent as possible. As promised, this little chapel and it's surrounding area exuded great peace. On the left hand side of this photo you can barely make out an image of me. (just to the right of the left stone arch). I'm placing our prayer petitions inside of a petition box.
Rick standing outside of the Monastery cepilla.
****
We enjoyed our day and our time with José so much that we ended up getting his phone number, telling him that we would call when we wanted to go on another day trip to either La Grutta (a hot springs spa) or Dolores Hildalgo (a neighboring town known for it's pottery).
El Día de Ricardo was topped off later with chilequilles con pollo at Rick's favorite little San Miguel Restaurant. It was the first time we had been back there this year, and the lovely lady who waits tables and cooks remembered us and greeted us warmly.
Needless to say, El Diá de Ricardo was a marvelous success. We need to have more of those days. But now...back to the homework - and class this afternoon. Hasta luego.
No comments:
Post a Comment