Pilgrimage walk

Today we walked to Cuatro Vientos - the site for the WYD gathering. What a day!! The boys set out early at 9am and walked the 14klm. We set off in the afternoon and walked the 7klm. What a great walk, so many people and so many happy faces. When we arrived at the old airport we had never seen so many people, it was hot and dry and very dusty and there were just thousands and thousands of people walking in. We made our way through to find our allocated area, only to find out that it was closed and we couldn't get in!!The boys were in there waiting for us. Out of some sort of miracle I spotted Billy and he went and got Damian. However, after a lot of talking with the police we still couldn't get in!! We were so upset and angry. Around us there were thousands of disappointed people who were unable to get to their allocated area. Many tried to push through, only to be herded back by mounted police. We decided to leave and go into the city to watch it on a big screen.
After making our way back we came across the main road to find it taped off and police everywhere. To our shock and amazement the Pope was on his way and drove straight past us. What a wonderful experience - we caught it on video, but as it is 1am I will work out how to download this later. What a high after such a big low at the airport. We have come home thrilled that we are away from the millions of people, the rain (it stormed late) and we have seen the Pope. The boys are still there we have had word they are fine, they did get wet but of course are now dry and will sleep out until the morning. They are inside the barrier and are safe.
Until tomorrow...

The boys were inside this barrier on the tarmac - we had no hope of getting in even though we had a ticket it had reached capacity.