Later in the day when I passed back I was able to get a better photo of the top spire which is quite the "tourist photo" of a 'must take' when you're in the city.
As per the tour guide the church was built starting in 1903. It is unique in that the area was extremely poor and building material very difficult to find and locate. The priest urged the people to bring whatever material they had to complete the church and accordingly the outside is made up of quite a mod podge of different materials from rough rocks to sun baked mud bricks to red clay bricks. You can still see the different materials on the outside of the church.
On entering it was immediately beautiful with super high domed ceilings, chandeliers hanging, gold trim, statues and icons, colored glass windows
We literally had ONLY 5 minutes inside this church which wasn't nearly sufficient for me but I did mange to snap quite a few photos trying to capture the details of the building and architecture. Can't help but love buildings!
The paintings were none to shabby either
There was very little begging in this area however this elderly man was waiting outside the church hand extended begging. I didn't get it in the photo however he was wearing a sign printed officially on an 8x10" piece of paper by the city sanctioning him as an "official" beggar. There was also a handicapped man wearing sort of a uniform at a street crossing with a whistle. He blew the whistle at the pedestrian crossing to stop traffic. He also had an official sign hanging about his neck from the city designating that he was approved to be a crossing guard and it was ok to give him 'tips.'
This lady was quite typical of the street vendors. She spoke very broken English and did lay claim to making these dolls to sell.
More of my trip to come
Not what I had expected. My vision was of somewhere very touristy but that looks very similar to mainland Spain when you get away from the tourist areas.
