The Virgin of Suyapa stands eight centimetres high but she is worshipped with a passion worthy of a giant. Pilgrims come from far and wide to pray to the tiny wooden image, dwarfed in its grand church, the Basílica de Suyapa in Tegucigalpa.
Lavish ceremonies and processions take place in honour of her saint's day on 3 February. As the patron saint of Honduras, she is the focus of nationwide attention on this day.
Suyapa is set in some of Honduras' most beautiful countryside, a land of rich forests famed for banana and pineapple plantations. The area around the little village is verdant and mountainous. A half-hour drive away is the magnificent Valle des Angeles, a 1000-metre high plain atop La Tigra mountain.
Suyapa is set in some of Honduras' most beautiful countryside, a land of rich forests famed for banana and pineapple plantations. The area around the little village is verdant and mountainous. A half-hour drive away is the magnificent Valle des Angeles, a 1000-metre high plain atop La Tigra mountain.
