We decided to splurge on the audio guides at a cost of approximately three dollars person so that we could actually have some information about what we were looking at. It was a great investment because we learned a lot, but also because it added some structure to our visit. You should understand that the reason this type of structure was nice is because the place is frankly overwhelming. It is absolutely huge and ornate and around every corner is another Alterpiece, Side Chapel, Patio, Sacristy, .....and without the guide, I am pretty sure that we would have missed lots of interesting places and artifacts.
We skipped the long line to get in because we had pre-purchased our tickets but we still had to wait for our audio-guides.
Disclaimer: photos, even great ones like you can find in tour books and on professional web pages, fail to capture the sheer magnitude of art and architecture of this place. But I won't let that stop me, I will still include some of my own.
Some statues:
Some artifacts:
Some tombs:
So many beautiful and sometimes strange things to look at!
I feel like we had a pretty good tour that hit on the high points, and it took about 2 and a half hours. You would need days to see everything and years to learn about all of the history and art in this one huge building.
After our visit, we came home and had a quick lunch before heading back out to visit the church (San Salvador) that is right around the corner from my school. Since it was getting late, we opted just to do a quick (20 minute) walk through.
Then it was off to class and finally to intercambio - since the morning was filled with culture, I felt like I had hardly practiced any Spanish language today. With class and intercambio, I got my 6 hours in, problem averted.
