Adventures in Yucatan, Mexico

Last weekend, the celebration of the Virgen of Guadalupe took place throughout Mexico. The Virgin of Guadalupe is celebrated as the patron saint of Mexico. Her story is one of the "mestizaje" the mixing of Spanish and native cultures. The Virgin of Guadalupe was first seen in a miraculous apparition by a native, Juan Diego, just outside Mexico City in the year 1531. She appeared in front of him, spoke to him in his native language, and asked for a shrine to be built in her honor at the site of her apparition. Some of our students with a group of "Guadalupanos" who had just arrived at the shrine of Guadalupe. The miracle of her apparition took place amidst the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The Virgin, although a Catholic figure, did not speak Spanish, but instead the language of the natives. She represents the combining of both cultures. Today she is celebrated as one of the most important figures in Mexican Catholicism, there are shrines dedicated to her all ov