Extremadura: Devotion to God and Gold

Leaving Toledo we ventured west off the main road through hot dry but picturesque countryside in the general direction of Portugal. We crossed into the region of Extremadura and headed for Guadalupe, a small town in the middle of nowhere which is home to one of the great Spanish religious icons. Its black virgin was allegedly carved by Saint Luke and discovered by a shepherd during the fourteenth century.

The Cloisters at the Monastery

We joined a group tour of the monastery's buildings, gardens and treasures, such as paintings, robes and illustrated song books, but in the best traditions of theatre they saved the best for last. After an hour the guide handed us over to one of the monks who solemnly unlocked the door to the virgin's room to reveal a highly decorated panel. He then slowly turned the panel on it's axis to reveal the virgin in all her glory as silence turned to gasps. Even for the non-religious it was a poignant moment that was beautiful in every sense. The virgin herself can be appreciated on a number of levels I'm sure, but at the most basic she is truly beautiful in her regalia.

The devotion that has brought pilgrims here for more than half a millennium also fired the desire of the Christians to gain their independence from the Moors and convert the peoples they found in the Americas. There is even a black virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico, which we visited in 2005 and whose fame now outstrips the original.  

Greed for gold was a major motivation for the conquistadors in the New World but the conquest of South America would not have endured if missionaries had not been prepared to die in the interests of converting the natives. The sword is most effective when backed by the church and the reverse is also true. See how threatening the religious statues are here!

Uncannily like the Ku Klux Klan, Caceres

Famous conquistadors like Cortes, who overthrew the Aztecs in Mexico, and Pizarro, who did the same to the Incas in Peru, came from these parts. So did most of the band of adventurers that went with them.  It is easy to see why men from a harsh environment like this would be tempted to risk it all for the gold of El Dorado. The wealth that came back from the Americas used to build, among other places, the monastery at Guadalupe and mansions of Cáceres and Trujillo - both astonishingly well preserved walled cities full of palaces and churches.

Pizarro, Plaza Mayor, Trujillo

This trip has closed the circle for us because we heard so much about the ruthless conquistador Pizarro when in Peru. We finally came face to face with his statue in his home town of Trujillo. The colonial wealth is long gone and these days Extremadura is back to being an agricultural economy. 50% of the region's land is "dehesa" - grazing land dotted with oak trees under which the unique black Iberian pigs seek shade and eat the acorns which give Spanish cured ham that distinctive sweet taste. If born here now Pizarro might have lived a quiet life as a pig farmer. He may even have been comfortably off producing the best ham in the world, but would never have earned enough to build a palace like those that still stand in Trujillo and Caceres in memory of Spain's brief and bloody golden age.