¡De regreso! (y Dolores Hidalgo)

After about 10, 000 years (in Mexico we tend to exagerate) , I'm back.

This is that time of the year when lots of Mexican teachers start to go crazy. Bi-monthly exams, final exams, National exams, Public Class, whew! So much work, and not even half-way through. But thankful to have a job, and doing our best till the last day of school.

So I will be posting every once in a while.

About three weeks ago, our whole class went to Dolores Hidalgo. It is a small town about an hour and a half from where we live. This place is where the Independence movement began in 1810. This year is the 200th anniversary of this event. The whole state is getting ready for this celebration in September. I will be posting photos a little at a time so you can see this pretty place.

The Independence movement began here, at this church.
The person who got the peasants together was
"El Cura Hidalgo" (Priest Hidalgo).
He rang the bell at the steps to call everyone
to take up arms and fight
against the Spanish.

Every year, on September 16 at 11:00 p.m.
the bell is rung, and the governor (sometimes the president
of Mexico) will shout:
"Viva Hidalgo,
Viva Morelos,
Vivan los héroes de la independencia,
Viva México, Viva México, Viva México!"
Then everybody shouts Viva!!!

The inside of the church is very nice.

A lot of restoration work is going on...

On each side of the altar there is some incredible
woodwork. On this side the wood is covered with
gold sheet.

On the other side the wood was left natural.
The guide said that the official verson was that
it looked very nice like that,
but the truth was that they probably ran out of gold!

Some detail of the wood carving.

I will try to make shorter posts, so I can put something up every day. Tomorrow I will continue the tour of this town...

So till tomorrow (hopefully)!