Some people... (corrected)

(Note: I just got the latest edition of Revue, a free, tourist-oriented magazine, and noticed that they identify 43 church sites in La Antigua and surrounding villages. They failed to include three other adjacent villages, Jocotenango, Ciudad Vieja and San Felipe de Jesus, however. Two of the sites the Revue listed are active parishes, as are Jocotenango, Ciudad Vieja and San Felipe de Jesus. I've adjusted the totals below to reflect this. I'm sure I'm missing others, but, as you can see, the vast majority of church sites are no longer in use.)

Recently, I read someone on-line who claimed that within the 10 blocks by 10 blocks that made up Antigua, there were 35 churches...all operational. To this, I wonder if the writer actually visited Antigua and, if he/she did, if he/she bothered to actually go out and look around. Now, if you include the surrounding villages that immediately surround Antigua, you can get to 46 churches. In Antigua proper, however, many are mere ruins, with only about twelve churches in regular use. Here are some shots of churches that are no longer in use, that I took on my walk to our casita from Ochenta after lunch.

This is El Carmen. In the former monastery adjacent to it, they now have an area where you can purchase crafts.

This is what the inside of El Carmen Church looks like.

The detail work on the facade is quite intricate.

While the cathedral is in use, the part in use is only about 25% or less of the original structure, as this shot from the east side shows.

Behind Tanque de la Union (the public laundry facility), is the ruin of Santa Clara Monastery.

Right now, it's being used to store some processional barges. It's also open for tours, but hasn't been used for services in at least 300 years.

I've already shown photos of other churches that are mere shells, due to 18 century earthquakes. I'll show others in later blog entries.