Stumbling onto a religious pilgrimage

Leave it to a couple of Americanos to decide to travel to a small town on the day of one of its biggest events and have absolutely no idea.

`Gee, Adrian, why are there about 500 people waiting for the bus to Alta Gracia?`
Hmmm ... must be a popular place.

More on this later, but about 70,000-ish people arrived on Alta Gracia's doorstep on Feb. 11 for an annual pilgrimage to a grotto or cave on the edge of town. People stood in line for hours to be blessed and bring their Virgin Mary statues to be blessed. Many crawled on their hands and knees in prayer for sick or disabled family members and friends.