April 19-20, 2024

Between Santa Fe and Taos is a pilgrimage site called Santuario De Chimayo. The story is that on Good Friday in 1810, Don Bernardo Abeyta saw a light coming from a hill near the Santa Cruz River. When he approached it, he found a crucifix. He left it there and went with some other men to get a priest. The priest came and carried the crucifix to his church in Santa Cruz. The next morning the crucifix was missing and was found in its original location. This happened two more times. A chapel was built over the location of the crucifix and the dirt in the area of the crucifix was believed to have healing powers. Numerous miraculous healings were reported and eventually a larger chapel was built which is present today.

One entrance to the shrine area has a walkway with stone crosses in arches. Each cross represents one day of the Seven Days of Creation.

Father Casimiro Roca was the priest at the Shrine for over 50 years. A life size statue of him stands on the grounds of the shrine.

There is a Native American Chapel on the grounds. The picture below is of the altar in that chapel. It depicts the Last Supper with all the participants as Native American.

There are pilgrimages made to the shrine each year for people seeking healing. It has been called “The Lourdes” of America.

After leaving the shrine, we continued on the road to Taos and came across another church, San Francisco de Asis – The Shadow of the Holy Cross. This church has a painting of Christ on the Sea of Galilee. We did not see the painting, but we read that when the lights are turned out, the background of the painting glows and a shadow of a cross appears to extend from the shoulder of Christ.

We finally got into Taos and found our spot at the Valley RV Park. We then walked around town for awhile before going to The LaFonda Hotel for dinner. Our server was Maria, the owner, and the food was wonderful. We also enjoyed some live music – turns out the musicians were from Atlanta! Then we headed back to the RV park and did some laundry – running out of clean clothes. 🙂

The next day we had a relaxing morning then headed out for some sightseeing. First was the Hotel Luna Mystica – a “hotel” made of old travel trailers which have been reconditioned. Kind of a crazy idea. Then to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge which crosses the Rio Grande River. We were HIGH above it.

Then we had a tour of Earthship Biotecture. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Started by Mike Reynolds, this is a community of autonomous homes built with recycled materials. Each structure is self sustaining regarding water, electric, and sewage. The tour was really very interesting and we saw several structures, and pictures of many more. They are quite beautiful and creatively designed. Something to think about.