A little more information

A few notes about the pictures:

1) Carlos is my teacher - who is very patient and was a seminarian (about 40 years ago) until he met this young woman, who is now his wife. Carlos knows several languages and is a super clear teacher.

2) The figure of Jesus on the Cross was made by the Mexicans around the year construction on the Cathedral began (1540). It is quite remarkable the talent of those early Christians. On Good Friday, there is a procession with the figure around the inside of the Cathedral.

3) A photo of the Cathedral at night. I attended Mass at 8pm this past Saturday so I could watch the lighting of the Cathedral and the fireworks, but Mass went a bit long...as did the homily, especially when you can't understand it all! Anyways, I was pretty excited when Mass began, I thought, "oh cool, a Sunday Mass with a wedding, something like Fr Henry told me was a reality in Columbia!" It wasn't a Sunday Mass - it was a Nuptial Mass - not a Sunday Mass with a wedding included. Although I sort of figured this out right around the collect prayer, I thought, well, I'll stay, this should be educational. It was - as was the fellow sitting next to me, but that's a different story!

4) The organ you see in the photo was made in the 1900s in Germany - 4600 pipes - they still play it for Mass!

5) At one time, before the revolution in the 1900s - the altar was made of 20 different shades of gold and silver. Since there was such a strong push to seperate church and state - different military officials tore down the altar and melted the gold and silver. The only thing that is left from the old altar is the Monstrance (more like the stand for the monstrance) which is under the baldacino in the photograph.