Going to Church in Dolores Hidalgo

This was, I suppose, going to be church day for us. So, we finished our ice creams and headed for church number two, Templo Calvario. While facing The Parish church of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores and looking to your right, you will see what is called Guanajuato Street and on this street you can just barely see Templo Calvario. We walked about four blocks and quickly came upon this church. It looked very old from the outside but had nothing to indicate any particular style of architecture. The inside was modern and really was fairly plain.

The church was the brightest and most well lit church in Mexico I've seen to date. It had a beautiful arched ceiling in which I counted 39 arches. The floors were a modern tile with cross designs in the back of the church. The pews were new looking and of a modern design. The place looked like they could pack in a good crowd of parishioners. What I really loved was a message in the back of the church conspicuously arranged so all who entered could read it immediately:

In order to talk with God you don't need your cell phone.

Don't you just love that?

It was getting late and we wanted to see just two more churches (the city has 12 churches in a town of 56,000 people) and get another ice cream before it got too dark. So, off we went in pursuit of Parroquia de la Asunción de la Santísimas. With my wife's superior intelligence and wit, we (she) found the church in just a couple of blocks and a right turn. It was simple really, but I would have most certainly gotten us lost.

I got to this church in Dolores Hidalgo, Parroquia de la Asunción de la Santísimas, and discovered within seconds of sitting down in the front pew a huge pile of pigeon doo-doo caca. I looked up into the dome of this church and there was not one pigeon but another flock of pigeons living in the rafters of yet another church in Mexico. I made a movement to get up and the whole lot of the flock takes to flight causing a snow storm of old and rotting pigeon feathers to come raining down from the dome's ledge and on to the altar area of the front of the church. It was suddenly like a blizzard of bird feathers inside this church.

Am I wrong in thinking that this is really beyond the pale? Is it just me or would it not be a little hazardous to attend services in this church or any church that has pooping machines soaring over your head in a panic each time they hear something that is a little scary? Can you imagine coming into church in your brand new Easter hat only to hear a "splat" in the middle of the sermon and feel a sudden "plop" on your head? Or even worse, wouldn't you want to have someone testing the wine and the bread for Pigeon Dive Bombing Pooping Contamination before letting the priest put it into your mouth? Now, I have digressed here and promise that I will speak of this no further unless of course, when we get to San Miguel de Allende, I find yet another flock of pigeons playing tag-team pooping air games in another church.

We really had no opportunity to see this church. It looked very modern or at least totally renovated to look new. The inside was typical of the rest of Mexico's Baroque churches: Huge ceilings held together with giant pillars connected with those marvelous arches. The outside of the church was a deviation from the usual Mexico or Spanish Baroque construction. The towers were Gothic. However, while dodging pigeon poop bombs we hear someone in the back tell us that we'd better leave before we got locked in the church. So, we left vowing to see the church again on a later trip. Onward to the next church.