Tierra Santa

We finally made it to Tierra Santa. It one of the only religious theme parks in the world. There are probably 40 different statues of Jesus, most with some type of animatronic movements. There are 4 shows: Creation, The Last Supper, The Nativity, and The Resurrection--all equipped with booming narration, laser shows and smoke machines.

Callie, Niall and Kara blended in very well in these fancy get-ups.

Just like Disneyland! The workers are all dressed up like Roman soldiers, monks or scarved women.

Tierra Santa with its fake palm trees and the real city of BA in the background.

The 18 meter Jesus with many animatronic movements who rose from the mountain during the Resurrection.

Us in the Creation scene/Garden of Eden and Adam.

The Nativity Scene.

Us modeling by the Rio de la Plata.

When we first got there I was worried that the park could be offensive or making fun of Jesus, but throughout the day I realized that the purpose of this place is probably to educate about the stories of Jesus. The performance aspect of the place was incredible. Everything was decorated and set back around the time of Jesus even down to the trash cans. There were some historically inaccurate things, such as people of that time praying at the model of the Wailing Wall, and there were memorials for Martin Luther and Gandhi--all didn't fit into the supposed "model of the Holy Land".

When we arrived the place was close to deserted at 3pm, but then the park slowly filled with old people admiring the chapel and the shows, people our age giggling at the weirdness of it all, families, and children with a priest probably on a field trip. I can understand that it serves as a place to teach the stories of Jesus. I just can't imagine someone getting the idea in their head to create a model of Jerusalem and put animatronic Jesus's all around the park telling his story.

Obvi it wasn't weird for me to see images of Jesus, but in this context--a place that sort of felt like Disneyland and a church at the same time, with restaurants, kids, souvenirs and fake statues of random people all over. Sin embargo, I'm glad I went, and think this place is just an interesting phenomenon. If you ever go to BA, check it out!