[dsc]

At last. I’ve been wanting to ask a couple of questions of someone who has seen the original.

I have heard God-haters and Protestants alleging that there are visible brush marks on the image.

I would like to ask, if I may, were you close enough to have seen brush marks if they were there, and, if so, were there brush marks?

Oh, and are there enough commas in the paragraph above?

[La Lydia]

No, I couldn't see any brush strokes. The first two times I went, it was still in the old basilica, in a frame, and you could get very, very close. Now the tilma is in a large frame, under glass, with a spotlight on it, in the new basilica. I got as close as I could every time I was there, and couldn't see any brush marks. It is an amazing object. The colors remain fresh. I have been many times and it always moves me to tears. Being there at the basilica on December 12 is quite an experience, if you can tolerate huge crowds. I have been to Fatima and to Lourdes, as well, and Guadalupe seems the most tangible to me.

Why don't you go to Mexico City and see it? There's a lot of other things to do there, too, such as the Archaeology Museum, which I think is the best in the world, Teotehaucan, Chapultepec, the zoo and the castle, Xochimilco, all the Frida stuff.