Today we decided to head north out of Santa Fe and take the high road to Taos up to two tiny villages in the mountains: Chimayo and Truchas. First stop was Chimayo where the Sanctuario de Chimayo is the star attraction. It is a very small, humble, mostly hand hewn church for the small population of Catholic residents of Chimayo. But is famous for its holy dirt that is alleged to have magical healing properties. People make pilgrimages to Chimayo from as far away as Mexico to access the healing powers of the Sanctuario's holy dirt. One can purchase tiny metal cylinders (like the kind that hold one or two pills) to take the dirt home with them, or can kneel on the stone floor and put some dirt on their hands while they pray for relief from whatever brought them here.
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I bought a candle and lit it for Brendyn, who will face his biggest troubles so far tomorrow. I can only hope now that God will hold Brendyn in his hands.
The walls of the church are lined with wooden statues and icons that also appear to be hand-made. The overall impression is of a church that serves a very small and poor community, but displays an enormous amount of talent and love.The town of Chimayo is also known world-wide for the quality of its green chile. They also have excellent red chile. In a town with a one block downtown and probably about 6 businesses that are not the church, there are two shops that sell chiles. Carol and I purchased bags of green and sundried red chiles from Potrero's Store.
We drove back to Santa Fe to have pizza and salad dinner with Gail at Il Vicino on San Francisco Street. It was fabulous - even if it was vegetarian. Gail told us that the Christmas lights were still up in The Plaza, so we drove over there to see the lights. Which reminds me that Carol and I went shopping at the Native American street vendors who sell turquoise and other hand crafts at the Palace of Governors. I bought a couple of things.
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