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"Calvario", the hill where Mary is said to have
appeared. The last mile is bordered by hundreds of small
stands, many selling miniatures of the objects which represent
the dreams or miracles that people have walked here all night
to wish for miniature cars, trucks, houses, and stacks of
cash. One seller yells out, over and over again, "$50,000 for
one Boliviano (the local currency equal to about 15 cents)!"
For those seeking travel there are miniature suitcases and
even tiny US passports. For those whose wishes are more humble
there are miniature shovels, picks, and other tools.
With
the objects of choice in hand, people climb the a long hill
through a towering white arch and reach the church dedicated
to the virgin, the entrance to which has hundreds of flower
arrangements spread out like a carpet. While one set of
priests |
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carry out an all-morning series of services inside,
behind the chapel another set of priests and sisters tend to
the never-ending line of people waiting to be blessed with a
sprinkle of holy water on their head.
Beyond this buzzing
beehive of traditional Catholic activity, lies the real
objective of the day, the hill itself and the task of using a
huge sledge hammer to pound a rock out of it, which must be
carried back home and then returned the next year in order to
fulfill the "please grant my wish" bargain with Mary. [By this
time my teenage daughter Elizabeth, had run into some friends
and ditched me and I had also gotten hopelessly separated from
my own friends in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.].
Imagine
a hillside, perhaps a quarter mile across, covered with 10
foot-deep pits filled with and surrounded by groups of people
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