Pilgrimage to Mexico
PILGRIMAGE TO MEXICO
Pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Scarborough, ON
APR 29 Morning departure from Toronto on a direct Air Canada flight to Mexico City. City tour in Mexico City. We will begin our tour on the Zocalo Square to visit the Cathedral and the Aztec ruins of The Templo Mayor, then we will walk along Madero Street to have a panoramic view of the Temple of San Francisco, The Casa de los Azulejos (the tiles house), The Post Office and the Fine Arts Palace. We will continue along the Paseo de la Reforma Avenue built by the Emperor Maximiliano. This avenue connected the Bosque of Chapultepec with the Zocalo. Mass, dinner and overnight.
APR 30 Visit to the Shrine of Guadalupe, Latin America’s most revered religious shrine. It is here where the Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared before an Indian named Juan Diego in 1531, and an image of her was miraculously emblazoned on his cloak. We will have time to explore the New Basilica de Guadalupe (the Old Basilica, built in 1700, is slowly sinking) and to see Juan Diego’s cloak. Mass. Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight.
MAY 01 After breakfast we depart to Puebla. On the way we stop at the Basilica de Ocotlan, founded following the apparition of the Virgin Mary to the indigenous Juan Diego Bernardino in 1541. It stands out for its façade, white mortar towers and its baroque style interior of great beaty as well as the dressing room of the virgin. Mass. Continue to Cholula to visit the Great Pyramid of Cholula. Its remains measuring 450 m along each side of the base and 65 m high, make it larger in volume than Egypt’s pyramid of Cheops. Dinner and overnight in Puebla.
MAY 02 After breakfast walking tour of the old city of Puebla, including: the Cathedral, the Casa del Alfeñique, Market El Parian. Puebla is Mexico’s fourth largest city and a World Heritage Site, best known for the beautiful Talavera tiles that adorn its buildings and for the mole poblano – Mexican national dish. Mass. Continue to the famous “Silver City”- Taxco. Dinner and overnight in Taxco.
MAY 03 Panoramic city tour of Taxco, town famous for its silver jewelry production and Spanish colonial architecture. In 1930s Taxco was declared a national colonial monument, ensuring the preservation of the beautiful mansions built by the city’s early silver barons. Plaza Borda, the main square, is home to the landmark 18-th century Santa Prisca church, with stone towers and a rose-colored façade in elaborate churrigueresque style. Mass, dinner and overnight in Taxco
MAY 04 On our way back to Mexico City we visit Coyoacan, a former colonial village, located in the south of Mexico City. Coyoacan still has its own identity, with narrow colonial-era streets, plazas, cafes and a lively bohemian atmosphere. We will walk along Coyoacan’s main plaza, churches and beautiful old buildings, including the house of conqueror Hernan Cortes. We will arrive to the floating gardens of Xochimilco, which were once connected to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) by a causeway, and where the Aztecs grew much of their food. We will navigate the canals on board of a typical ‘trajinera’, a flower-decked punt, and will discover how Aztec life was like before the conquest. Continue to Mass, dinner and overnight in Mexico City.
MAY 05 Visit to the “Plaza de las Tres Culturas” in Mexico City, where three cultures converge: Aztec, Spanish, and contemporary Mexican. Continue to Tulpetlac, the place of the Fifth Guadalupana Apparition, where the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Bernarino, healed him and revealed to him the name “Guadalupe”, with which she wanted to be called. Continue to Teotihuacan, one of the most impressive cities of the ancient world, held sacred by the Aztecs. We will explore its temples, palaces and pyramids, including the Quetzalpapalotl Palace, the Pyramid of the Moon, and the immense Pyramid of the Sun, ranked among the biggest in the world. On our way back, a farewell visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mass, dinner and overnight in Mexico City.
MAY 06 After breakfast, transfer to Mexico City airport for direct flight back to Toronto.
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