Iglesia de San Miguel — Attraction in San Miguel de Cozumel

According to a local tour guide/historian (Juan), Cozumel is named after a Spaniard Catholic priest, Miguel De Cozumel, the founder and first Spaniard Catholic priest in Mexico. He taught Spanish to the Indian locals. To date, the church is over 520 years old and also the very first Spaniard religious establishment in the entire Peninsula of Mexico. A real delightful gem of a relic. On a very hot, sunny afternoon, the small church is a refuge to any visitor seeking the cool shade in a quiet, reverent, peaceful environment. It is inevitable to notice that the church building is very well preserved and maintained in sharp contrast with the surrounding business establishments and humble neighborhoods. When I respectfully asked the tour guide why this was so-- "Why all the fancy merchandise for sale, yet all the extremely welcoming, cordial, friendly local community is suffering in extremely humble conditions? Why are they not financially benefiting from these businesses?" The answer I was given by the historian was: Because the foreign retail and travel corporations that opened their businesses there rake in a whopping 40% of those businesses earnings, then the Mexican Federal government from the Mainland collects another considerable amount, making it an "I win-You lose" situation. I was also corrected when I mentioned that I had been informed in the U.S. Mainland that the cartels own the resorts in Mexico. They are not cartel owned, but the politico-financial situation in these resort communities is brutal. A question was also asked by a couple of fellow cruise passengers: "Is it okay to tip and contribute to their community?" Because tipping the locals was neither mentioned nor encouraged by the cruise lines, which themselves also collect tips "for the services rendered by the crew/employees." When you visit these amazing places on foreign soil, as you look around, it is inevitable to notice how money and politics influence local communities and a...

La Eglesia de San Miguel is the local Catholic Church in Cozumel. The masses are in Spanish. Come to early mass (0700) on Sunday if you plan to attend at all, as the church is not air conditioned. (There are other masses also including vigil masses) The cantor and readers are friendly as are the people. We were given a copy of the mass readings and other parts of the mass, in English. It is simply decorated and quaint but portrays the faith of the people who go there. The church itself is open at other times if you just want to go in and pray. The pictures supplied here or not all of...

Walking in the Cozumel city center we found the church de San Miguel. We feel this is a beautiful, historic Catholic Church. The first thing we noticed was the church is meticulously cared for by the parishioners and very well maintained. It may not be as ornate as some, but the church has an extremely reverent feel to it and we enjoyed...