1 Adventure

Beggar at St. Teresa's Chapel in Avila

Another image from a very recent trip to Spain. This woman beggar was so forlorn that it was hard not to resist giving her a euro for her time. These people are all over Spain in front of many of the chapels, cathedrals, and other pilgrimage sites. It's so common that those on religious pilgrimage and regular tourists should expect it. Another example of a homeless man from a photo I took in Merida, Mexico. However in Mexico, they seem a bit more worse for wear and very poor. Spain has very clean beggars or people who actively worked in groups to panhandle tourists. The tour guides tell everyone specifically to not give money to these people as it become a big problem of people depending on work like this. It similar to not overtipping waiters, taxi drivers, guides, etc.. as they will expect more and more as time goes by. Who doesn't like a big tip though.

The place where this was taken was in Avila, Spain. It's home to the revered mystic St. Teresa, who reformed the Carmelite Order in the 16th Century. It's also home to the St. John of the Cross. One thing most people do not know about St. Teresa I learned is that she came from a noble family of Jewish family before converting to catholicism. I was never more moved and inspired by this saint's quest to bring people closed to Jesus by displaying such a level of piety and dedication in her belief. They told us the nun's used to sleep on wood blocks, go bear foot, had no outside connection with the world, and wear the most basic habits (dress). It's the same to this day. We did have the fortunate circumstance to actually meet a Carmelite nun who was in charge of all outside communication and run a small shop to raise money for the nuns. They only allow one nun this position. The rest of the convent has no outside connections.

I liked this image, even not as good as the one above. It was funny, this older woman came out of the church and just started shouting something to me in spanish that I didn't understand. All I understood was something about the church. So I think she was telling me church as starting. So I snapped a picture as she was talking. I was like a foot or two taller than her.