I want to thank Our Lady of Guadalupe with the present exvoto for having met mr. Smith, the owner of the fields where we pick up tomatoes. He is a good man, and he treats us well, and he doesn’t exploit me or my fellows who work for him. He pays us excellent salary which I use to support my family back in Mexico.

Felipe Gonzalez — Florida, USA

Ramon Macias has bought a convertible, and now he is driving around with a bunch of broads. He fervently thanks Saint Jude with this retablo because his salary is enough to allow him this luxury.

Pancracio Arcos was obsessed with buying magazines with poor women—those who can’t even buy them clothes so they pose naked. He was scared seeing that all his salary goes into this and asked Sain Expeditus for help. He stopped buying them, and now he’s buying Power Rangers magazines instead.

Forgive me, Virgin of Juquila, and I promise not to spend my fortnight salary on mezcal anymore.

Abel Templos

For my first salary I ordered this retablo. I dedicate it to the Virgin of the Miracles. I loved high heel shoes ever since I was little. But our family was so poor that sometimes we had nothing to eat. I’ve just got a job in an excellent shoe store in the capital.

The baker apprentice Rodrigo Fernandez burnt hundred breads because he was in love. He thanks the Lord of Chalma for he wasn’t fired and only have some money deducted from his salary.

I lived happy with my cats, but sometimes we had no food because my salary was very small. Also I needed a man. I thank the Virgin of Guadalupe because I met a milkman Jose, who proposed me. He is a very good man. He sheltered us. He loves me, and my cats don’t starve anymore, because they have fresh milk every day.

Virgin of Mercy, I thank you. Although there is no knowing when the works on avenue Masaryk will end and, therefore, nobody can enter my restaurant, I was able pay salaries to my staff when I found an Aztec pot and sold it to the Zona Maco [art gallery].

Happy chilango (Mexican)
April 2014

I give thanks to the Handsome Peralta. My family arrived at the bar to stop me from spending my fortnight salary on drink. But it was my fucking money! So I prayed to the Handsome, who came from the heaven and scared the shit out of them. And I continued to drink in peace. Thanks you, Handsome!

Rafael Diaz were drinking in a bar when robbers arrived. He thanks the Virgin of Juquila with this retablo because they didn’t check his underware where he hid his half-month pay.