Santa Fe & Chimayo

Sunday, October 12

What a wonderful day this turned out to be. In the morning we drove to Santa Fe. Stopped at Target to buy Carol some warmer pants. In the Girls section we found padded & insulated ski pants. A Girls XL fits Carol just fine. We’re ready for anything now!! Then to Albertsons & Wal-Mart. After shopping we went to Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe church. What a beautiful, old church. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patron Saint of Mexico. The Mass was at noon time. After church we drove to the Village of Chimayo to visit El Santuario de Chimayo, widely known as the Lourdes of America.. This church was built between 1813 and 1816, The Santo Nino Chapel was built in 1857. “Each year, thousands of visitors travel to Chimayo, an old Spanish village in the foothills of the Santo de Cristo Mountains. They come from all over the world….They come seeking healing or penance. They come hoping for a miracle.” One part of the Santuario contains an area called El Posito (Little Well). This is where the Crucifix was found in 1813 that lead to the building of El Santuario. “It is to the El Posito that the lame and the blind come, seeking miracles. The soil is believed to produce a mud that, when eaten or applied to the skin, has miraculous healing powers. The physically and spiritually injured come to be cured when all other treatments have failed. The walls are filled with crutches, braces and other mementos that the healed have left. “
I got some of the dirt for Carol. That evening she had me mix some of the dirt with her Holy Water that she brings whenever we travel, to make a mud. She rubbed the mud on her right arm and leg while she said her evening prayers.
About 5:oo we met our friends at the Orilla Verde Recreation Area Campground (Bureau of Land Management) near Pilar. It was just the three of us in the campground. Let Gopher off her leash. She really seemed to enjoy her freedom. It’s been her first run since we camped at Elephant Butte State Park. We all sat around a campfire talking and snacking until it got too cold. Driving here, we saw some snow on the peaks. Tonight it’s supposed to drop to about 40*.