Santuario de Chimayo

We left Mountainair and drove up the east side of the mountains and past Albuquerque. In Tijeras, we stopped at the USFS station to look at an interpretive trail related to the pueblo located there. It was full of interesting information about the trees and plants, how they were used for food, the number of people who lived there, etc. We continued north on NM 14 along the Turquoise Trail (many of the Anasazi mined turquoise in Cerrillos). We skirted around Santa Fe and continued on the High Road to Taos. The first stop was the Santuario de Chimayo, a pilgrimage site for many people since about 1850. All along the chain link fence (which surrounded a pretty scungy corral for horses and a private house) people had placed crosses of various sizes. Some of them were very large and were carried during processions.

Outside the church were these memorials and crosses, covered with flowers, rosaries, candles, crosses and other items. Near the church you could buy candles and rosaries.

The church itself is odd looking with the wooden center between adobe towers. Inside are five painted wooden sacred painting. Off the sanctuary is the room where the pilgrims can dig up dirt and carry it with them. There is also a room filled with crutches and other things indicating the miraculous cures people have had from praying and using the dirt. Off the church was a patio with a restaurant advertising the best tamales in New Mexico. Bob had a burrito on a homemade wheat tortilla and I had the best chicken tamale I've ever had. We shared a bowl of beans with hot chili sauce in it. Later we discovered that it had been written up in Jane and Michael Stern's "Road Food."

We continued on to Ortega's Weaving Shop, filled with wonderful woolen blankets and clothing. Eight generations have worked there. The wool is spun and dyed in the shop and then given to twenty people who weave in their own homes. From Chimayo we continued on to a private disc golf course near Taos. It was 18 holes set around two houses and between a river and an irrigation canal. Bob was the only person playing and I caddied (so that he wouldn't lose his discs on the course). It was called the Two Gray Hares Course and Bob had a great time.

We arrived in Taos in time to set up Snoopy in a relatively spartan RV campground, but it was quiet and had electricity. We went in to Taos to look around the central plaza and in to various galleries. In one of the galleries the owner gave us a real education on quality pots. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant we just found which advertised that it was the choice of Taos for the last two years. It was wonderful New Mexico cuisine.