We’d never really noticed the Virgin of Guadalupe until our road  trip to Mexico two years ago. After a few experiences (read all about the trip here), we began to feel that the line between death and life was very tenuous. Of course this is not a new thought, but when you actually come to feel it with every fibre of your being, it takes on a deeper significance.

Hurtling along uninsured in our truck with our dog and our kids, we came to rely on and to trust the Virgin of Guadalupe to safely bring us to El Salvador and then back home again.

On the return trip, we found images of the Virgin to plaster over our truck in gratitude for her protection thus far. Throughout El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, our truck looked perfectly normal. It wasn’t until we crossed the US border into Texas that we realized just how profoundly different the culture was… our truck now stuck out like a sore thumb!

When we opened our Bay Street location, we asked our friend Percy of Mirage Coffee if he could get us a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe from the village in Peru that provides him with all of his gorgeous paintings. He had this one sent up for us. And many people who saw this painting up in our new space were sure that it was a Mirage Coffee opening in Fernwood!