Another afternoon...to explore...a small town...a few miles away. 
Twenty five kilometers west of Cuernavaca is situated the pre-Columbian sacred site of Chalma. Now a Christian holy place it is the second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico after Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. While its early history is shrouded in myth it seems that when Augustinian friars first visited the area in the mid 1530’s they learned that local Indians were making pilgrimages to a sacred cave with the name of Chalma. The pilgrims would walk for days through the surrounding mountains, wearing flowers in their hair and carrying incense burners, in order to make offerings to a statue of Ozteotl, the Dark Lord of the Cave. This statue was said to be a large, man-sized, black, cylindrical stone reputed to have magical healing powers. The god was variously identified with a deity of human destiny or of the night, sometimes taking the form of a jaguar, or with the god of war, depending on different Indian oral traditions. The arriving pilgrims bathed in a river fed by a sacred spring and drank holy water before entering the cave. (These words are not mine :) 
This is a holy week...people gather from afar. There is whispers of a sighting of the Christ! 
Ancient architecture dots the land...churches...for worship.
Street venders hoping to prosper.
We stopped for lunch...my only meal outside Nierika...quesadillas & beer...shared with friends...Sandra, Adriana, Claudia, Rachel & Miriam.
Mmmmmm!
Twenty five kilometers west of Cuernavaca is situated the pre-Columbian sacred site of Chalma. Now a Christian holy place it is the second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico after Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. While its early history is shrouded in myth it seems that when Augustinian friars first visited the area in the mid 1530’s they learned that local Indians were making pilgrimages to a sacred cave with the name of Chalma. The pilgrims would walk for days through the surrounding mountains, wearing flowers in their hair and carrying incense burners, in order to make offerings to a statue of Ozteotl, the Dark Lord of the Cave. This statue was said to be a large, man-sized, black, cylindrical stone reputed to have magical healing powers. The god was variously identified with a deity of human destiny or of the night, sometimes taking the form of a jaguar, or with the god of war, depending on different Indian oral traditions. The arriving pilgrims bathed in a river fed by a sacred spring and drank holy water before entering the cave. (These words are not mine :) 
This is a holy week...people gather from afar. There is whispers of a sighting of the Christ! 
Ancient architecture dots the land...churches...for worship.
Street venders hoping to prosper.
We stopped for lunch...my only meal outside Nierika...quesadillas & beer...shared with friends...Sandra, Adriana, Claudia, Rachel & Miriam.
Mmmmmm!
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