El Santuario de Chimayo
Downtown Subscription Backyard
Finally got my photos up on the computer so I will finish my memo on the Santa Fe trip (before it completely fades from my memory!) Where was I?
On Friday we drove to Chimayo and visited the famous church there. The santuario is next to a creek and has interesting crucifix sculptures and tile painting outside leading to and surrounding an outside altar with a view of the mountains. The church itself is an attractive NM edifice outside. The altar inside was surrounded an explosion of color. Unfortunately there was a mass going on when we were there so we did not go into the main part of the church and no photos of the inside are allowed. I did visit the side room where the famous healing dirt is located and got a young boy to fill up a container I bought to bring back the dirt. There are many stories of the healing power of the blessed dirt. Paul was a bit freaked out by the spectacle and stayed outside with the tamales. I planned to give the dirt to my friend who is very ill but have not had the chance to do so yet. She probably would also find it too freaky. And its not her religion in any event.
On Friday we drove to Chimayo and visited the famous church there. The santuario is next to a creek and has interesting crucifix sculptures and tile painting outside leading to and surrounding an outside altar with a view of the mountains. The church itself is an attractive NM edifice outside. The altar inside was surrounded an explosion of color. Unfortunately there was a mass going on when we were there so we did not go into the main part of the church and no photos of the inside are allowed. I did visit the side room where the famous healing dirt is located and got a young boy to fill up a container I bought to bring back the dirt. There are many stories of the healing power of the blessed dirt. Paul was a bit freaked out by the spectacle and stayed outside with the tamales. I planned to give the dirt to my friend who is very ill but have not had the chance to do so yet. She probably would also find it too freaky. And its not her religion in any event.
Taos itself was mainly a place to do some shopping. We found some wonderful unique leather bags there and a fun place to buy painted ponies, including a pin we gave to my mother in law. Paul spent much of his time in bookstores which we were not able to find the last time we visited Taos 15 years ago.
Saturday we visited Garcia's Bookstore and the Downtown Subscription cafe, which we also visited with our kids 15 years ago. I remember its back yard seating area in particular. We drove along Canyon Road and looked at the art galleries from a distance. I have never had the money to collect art and thus did not want to tempt myself. Instead we visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum which has a few famous pieces and a lot of her earlier or lesser known work. One piece had been in the White House and was returned for a lengthy stay at the museum.
After the museum, the sun had come out so we wandered around the block from our hotel past the Cathedral of St. Francis, the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (which is a Pueblo revival style building and on the National Register of Historical Places) and an outdoor art fair which was set up on the Plaza. I walked away from Paul for a minute to look at one of the booths when a thunderstorm suddenly started. After looking for him for about 15 minutes (he went to Starbucks thinking I had gone there) I finally went back to the hotel and got a new key to the room since he had the key. He was sitting in the room, dry, reading a book.
We had hoped to take the Turquoise road back to Albuquerque but we did not get out of Santa Fe early enough so we stopped instead for lunch, which I described in my earlier post.
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