Our Lady of Guadalupe

The fireworks and bells started last night and continued through the night for the Festival for the Virgen of Guadalupe. I knew that today there would be a procession from out on the highway into our Colonia church that would include many people carrying their pictures and statutes of the Virgen so I planned to leave in order to be at the church when they arrived. I had already decided that I'd shoot the procession moving into the church with my 70-200mm lens. I was ready.....but not quite. Just as I was getting ready to leave, Ned called to me from downstairs that the bells at the San Antonio church were already ringing. I grabbed the camera and hotfooted it the four or five blocks over to the church. Sure enough the procession had arrived early and about half of it had already entered the church. I wandered around the crowd and did get some shots.

Update: I read that Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Houston was expecting 20,000 people to attend the various services during the day. So Guadalupe isn't just a Mexican custom.