Nuestra Señora de Lourdes

On Feb. 11, as I mentioned before thousands descend on Alta Gracia to go to the grotto of Nuestra Senora de Lourdes. This is a replica of the one in France. As we drove into the town it looked pretty quiet - until that is, we arrived at the bus station.

The grotto itself is located about three kilometers outside of town and in those kilometers there were dozens of vendors selling food, trinkets and of course Virgin Marys. In the photo below, on the right side, you can see people standing in line. People waited about two hours or more to walk up to the grotto and be blessed. They often brought their Virgin Mary statues with them to be blessed as well.

Hundreds of children were playing in the river and families set up little campsites alongside its banks. Later, we walked into town to visit Che Guevara's boyhood home and it was practically a ghost town. A tour group visiting the town's sites would never know that less than 2 miles away there were thousands of people on a pilgrimage.