The journey opens where the Americas' faith begins: at Tepeyac, before the tilma of Saint Juan Diego, with Mass, an evening Rosary and a candlelight procession. Millions come here every year, and standing in front of the image — a cloak that should have rotted five centuries ago — you understand why the Guadalupe apparition converted a continent in a single generation.

From Mexico City the road turns south and west through colonial Mexico: Puebla's tiled cathedral and Rosary Chapel, the sanctuary crowning the great pyramid at Cholula, the baroque gold of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca, silver-built Taxco and its Church of Santa Prisca, Morelia's rose-stone cathedral and the lakeside shrine of Our Lady of Health at Pátzcuaro. The last stop returns to Tlatelolco, where Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego's uncle — closing the twelve days where the story itself closed.