Lucy Meets El Pipila

This huge monument, towering over the colourful valley of Guanajuato, commerorates the actions of the young miner Juan José de los Reyes Martínez.

Known to many as El Pipila, he was often the butt of ridicule (El Pipila is the Spanish worrd for hen or turkey) due to a birth defect which gave him a terrible hunch, forcing him into a walk that many say resembled that of a chicken.

All this changed however, in the early days of the Mexican revolution.

As Mexican rebels, led by the legendary Miguel Hidalgo marched on the city of Guanajuato, the Spanish barricaded themselves and their riches in a grain warehouse - a veritable fortress but for it's large wooden doors.
Up stepped El Pipila, who tied a long stone slab to his oddly-shaped back and was able to walk toward the doors, setting them alight with tar and a torch. The flat stone shielded him from the barrage of Spanish musket fire, and soon the Spaniards were smoked out and easily overpowered by Hidalgo's forces.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case with such acts El Pipila's ending is not a happy one. It is said that just a year later, in Chihuahua, a betrayal by one of his subordinates led to his capture. He was tried for insubordination and executed by firing squad.

In 1925, his remains were moved to the mausoleum in the Independence Column in Mexico City, his immortality in the hearts of Mexicans assured.