On The High Road to Taos

We drove the High Road between Santa Fe and Taos and stopped at half a dozen villages along the way—Spanish is still the dominant language in most of the villages. Over 300,000 people visit this shrine each year. Somehow the mixture of burritos and the church blend together. Even people collecting a handful of the holy dirt stop to eat a enchilada.


El Santuario de Chimayo: The Lourdes of America

"Sometime around 1810, Don Bernardo, a Chimayo friar was performing penances when he saw a light bursting from a hillside.

He went to the spot and noticed that the shining light was coming from the ground. He started to dig with his bare hands, and here he found a Crucifix. He left it there and called his neighbors to come and venerate the precious finding. A group of men was sent to notify the local priest, Fr. Sebastian Alvarez at Santa Cruz.

Upon hearing the extraordinary news, the priest and people set out for Chimayo. When they arrived at the place where the Crucifix was, Fr. Sebastian picked it up and carried it in a joyful procession back to the church. Once in the church, the Crucifix was placed in the niche of the main altar. The next morning, it was discovered that the Crucifix was gone, only to be found back in its original location. A second procession was organized and the Crucifix was returned to Santa Cruz, but once again it disappeared. The same thing happened a third time. By then, everyone understood that the Crucifix wanted to remain in Chimayo, and so the small chapel of El Santuario was built.

The Prayer Room, which is located in the sacristy of the church (next to the dirt pit), is filled with discarded crutches, braces, and handmade shrines .

Also in proximity to the site is a restaurant, a burrito stand (Leona's de Chimayo), and gift shop that sells everything from souvenir T-shirts to refrigerator magnets."