Chimayo and Truchus

Morning coffee and Scottish oatmeal with fresh fruit in the garden. Watching  birds feeding and goats grazing. After exercise and ablutions, Ernie, Jean and I pile into Ernie's truck and head off to Chimayo and Tesuque. Our drive takes through the outskirts of Santa Fe, past Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. (How good to be back in civilization. There are no Trader Joe's in Florida.) We continued on past the Opera House and into the hills.

Santuario de Chimayo

Our first stop was the Santuario de Chimayo, a chapel built on the site of what the faithful believe were miraculous healings 200 years ago. The chapel is freshly restored and thankfully the Native American artwork in the church has been preserved (no photos allowed). Thousands of pilgrims each year come to the sanctuary hoping to be cured of whatever they hope to be cured of. The anterooms of the chapel are lined with stacked crutches and baby shoes. The tacit implication being that they are from those who have been cured by the dirt of Chimayo. While we were there, I saw no crutches or baby shoes cast off. I did see a lot of sincere people with a variety of afflictions deep in prayer.

Across from the chapel, we stopped in Leona's that modestly proclaims to have the best tamales in New Mexico. I must agree. The pork and red chile tamale I had was heavenly. Unless another miracle happens though, Leona's will not be with us for long. According to a sign across from the cash register, Leona is retiring on October 15. It will be a sad day for tamale lovers who make the pilgrimage there.

Alfredo Baca

After a brief look at another chapel, our final stop in Chimayo was Medina's Gallery Cafe where I had the pleasure of meeting Alfredo Baca, a local artist and raconteur. I couldn't afford one of his paintings, but I did buy some of his fresh dried chile powders.

Mural, Truchus, NM

Up the road is Truchus, a curious mix of abandoned buildings and artist studios sitting on a high ridge with spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. We stopped in the studio of Sally Delap-John, a plein air colorist originally from Fresno.

Obligatory postcard shot

On the way to dinner, we stopped at Chimayo Trading and Mercantile, a wonderful art and crafts gallery, where I bought a small Mexican Indian pot. We ate dinner at Restaurante Rancho de Chimyo (the chile rellenos were devilishly tasty) and drove home through another spectacular lightening and thunder show provided the local nature gods. I can't say the day was miraculous, but it was certainly divine. Once again, there are more photos on Facebook.