Croft's Wanderings: Hot Springs and Revolution

We picked up Steve and Robin at their RV Park this morning and headed for a swim at La Gruta Hot Springs. It is a holiday here so it was crowded but the people were friendly and the water hot. We had breakfast in their restaurant and then soaked and socialized for a while and then headed into the dark tunnel to the Grotto. You feel your way along the wall, rubbing shoulders (at least I hope they were shoulders) along the pitch black passage into the much hotter grotto. It was so humid in there the water was dripping off the ceiling causing Robin to comment that she never realized it was possible to sweat in a swimming pool.

Next we headed for the nearby town of Dolores Hidalgo where, at 5:00 AM on September 16, 1810 Father Miguel Hidalgo rang his church bell, calling his congregation to hear his “Grito de Dolores", the call to arms to end the Spanish occupation of his beloved Mexico.

His Church in Dolores Hidalgo is recognized as the birthplace of the Revolution and is the destination of millions of Mexican people who make the pilgrimage to see where it all started. If any of you think that Father Hidalgo was acting on behalf of the Church or that the Church had any sympathy for the millions of aboriginals tortured and murdered by the pious Spaniards, you would be wrong. The "Holy Church" supported Spain in their conquest and enslavement of the Mexican people and quickly excommunicated Hidalgo when they heard of his revolt. Today Hidalgo is honoured as the ‘‘Father of the Nation’’.

The Grotto