The Pilgrimage to Esquipulas

On Thursday and Friday we drove several hours to Esquipulas, on the Guate-Honduras border. Esquipulas is home to an interesting relic: El Cristo Negro—The Black Christ. Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa and Che Guevara have all visited this noteworthy Roman Catholic pilgrimage site, which an estimated one million trek to every year. It’s a rough drive along mountain roads. I felt like I was going to die at least twice, and it didn’t help that our driver had to stop at court to sign something relating to a fatal accident he was somehow involved in. Silver said it happened a few years ago, but was corrected—it happened in September. Womp, womp. At one point, we were chugging uphill into a hairpin mountain road turn and a semi leapt out from behind the mountain on our side of the road and I really thought I was going to die, but it was fine. The semi continued to careen downhill, leaving us unscathed.

In any case, we survived the journey and arrived in time to observe five o’clock mass. The church is incredibly beautiful, raised up over a gorgeous garden of vivid flowers and trees. We also happened to catch a perfect moment to admire the landscape spread out in front of the church, as the sun set behind the surrounding mountains.
(click on the pictures to see them bigger!)





We sat through some of the mass, but couldn’t resist; the glass enclosure at the very front of the church can be viewed at any time, and people were steadily trickling by throughout the service.



We made our way around and had our moment to admire this striking piece of history. “The Black Christ dates back to 1595. By 1603 it already had a miracle attributed to it…Father Pedro was eventually elected Archbishop of Guatemala, and he used the power of this position to order the construction of a cathedral worthy of this miraculous icon.” (Frommer’s Guatemala) If you can’t tip your hat to the Roman Catholic Church for anything else, you’ve got to admit that they know their architecture. The Black Christ itself isn’t a work of art, but the cathedral—granted basilica status 1968—is incredible.

We enjoyed the basilica and the grounds, had dinner and settled in to watch “Soy Tu Dueña.” We stayed at a place with a fantastic balcony overlooking the basilica grounds, and I couldn’t’ve asked for more. I got a hot water shower. My day was perfection.



The place we stayed is the little blue guy down at the end:



On the drive back, we stopped and went on a SAFARI. I’m not even kidding. It was super-random, but of all the local-oriented attractions we could’ve visited I’m sure it’s one of Guatemala’s more appealing options. Since zoological attractions in the US are under harsher scrutiny from the likes of PETA, I don’t think I could get this close to these animals outside of this sort of context. They did make us roll up the truck windows when we went by the lions though…





Further down the road, we stopped in Antigua. I LOVE Antigua; formerly the capital of the Spanish New World, Hispaniola, this charming city is full of buildings and remnants of buildings from the Spanish Colonial period. The Plaza Mayor and various old churches and ruins are contrasted against delightfully bright colored buildings that line the cobbled streets. Devastating earthquakes have certainly taken their toll, but the Spanish Colonial buildings that are still standing offer this welcome perspective on the original glory of the city’s ruins.









Back in La Maquina, I am recovering from a miserably long and bumpy car ride. My Blackhawks Parade blister has also been split down the middle. I'm wondering how I'm going to hold up on the active adventures.



Also, today for lunch, we had hot soup and hot peppers, and it is really hot out today. How on earth did soup become a big part of Guatemalan cuisine, when it’s hot and humid here for most of the year? I don’t understand this culture…