I got back into Los Angeles on Wednesday for another week of interviews and research (see post on my last trip to LA here). One of the women I interviewed that day suggested attending festivities for the Virgen de Guadalupe that evening. The Virgin Mary’s image appeared in the cloak of Juan Diego Cuahtlatoatzin on December 12th, 1531, in Mexico City. She is celebrated every year at this time and Juan Diego has since become the first Roman Catholic indigenous American saint. The Virgen’s image is now housed in the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Mexico City. Read more about her in the Huffington Post.
On Wednesday in Los Angeles, pilgrims walked miles into the downtown area carrying floats with her likeness made out of roses. Here are my snapshots from the evening, along with a few of the Union Station railroad terminal where I caught a cab home.
Tracy Perkins 