Guadalupe

On the 7th of May we drove from Toledo to Guadalupe. It was a little bit of a winding road through the mountains. The scenery was spectacular with greenery everywhere. You cannot imagine our delight when we arrived at our destination and found out we were staying in a monastery. The rooms were huge and charming. Granted there was no television or A/C but the setting was spectacular. We had a room upstairs and outside the door of our room overlooked a beautiful patio. The whole place was so calm and tranquil. It would have been great to stay there forever. It was a nice secluded place to just stretch out and read or meditate.

That evening we attended mass at the local parish church. I had never attended Catholic mass before but found it interesting. The priest talked about the importance of being good members. Following the mass little children walked up to the altar and placed bouquets of flowers in a basket. They were so cute.

In the back of the church is a painting showing two Indian servants of Christopher Columbus being baptized. Guadalupe is where the papers authorizing Christopher Columbus' trip to the New World were signed. It is also the home of the patron saint of most of Latin America, the virgin of Guadalupe. Legend has it that her carved statue was made by St. Luke. We took a tour of the church and monastery so that we could see her.