Patron Saints of Lost Causes

The largest church in Latin America dedicated to San Judas Tadeo, patron of lost and desperate causes, standing on the ground where Hernán Cortés ordered a monument to the Spanish soldiers killed fleeing Tenochtitlan. Devotees fill Avenida Hidalgo on the 28th of every month, and on 28 October the city closes the surrounding streets.

Start on Avenida Hidalgo. The church was built to commemorate a Spanish military defeat and is now the largest temple in Latin America dedicated to San Judas Tadeo. Come on the 28th of the month if you want the crowds, any other day if you want to see the building.

The main temple of Tenochtitlan, buried under Mexico City for four and a half centuries and found in 1978 when electricity workers laying cable hit a carved monolith over three metres across. Excavation has run continuously ever since, and in March 2026 archaeologists announced that six offerings recovered across three different decades had all been buried in a single ceremony.

About 25 minutes on foot east along Avenida Hidalgo and Tacuba to the Zócalo. One ticket covers the excavation and the museum, and most visitors spend about 2 hours there. Closed Mondays.

Mexico City's main public market for traditional medicine and folk religion, a municipal market hall opened in 1957 whose back aisles grew into the country's largest working trade in herbal remedies, Santa Muerte devotion, Santería offerings and limpias. Roughly two thousand people a week come for that section specifically, and they come to buy and to consult rather than to look.

Another 20 minutes on foot southeast to the market hall on Fray Servando. The esoteric aisles are at the back, and this is where the candles, herbs and figures for the devotions at either end of this route are bought.

A life-size Santa Muerte has stood in a glass case on the pavement outside Alfarería 12 since Halloween 2001, when Enriqueta Romero moved the figure out of her house and made a private devotion public. The Catholic Church calls the devotion blasphemy and the army has bulldozed shrines in other cities. This one was left alone.

The last stop sits north of the centre and is the one leg worth taking on the Metro rather than walking: Line B to Tepito leaves you two blocks from Alfarería 12. Mornings are best. Go on the 1st of the month and the street will be full.