High road to Taos

Today we took a day trip to Taos, about 70 miles N.E. of Santa Fe. There's two roads which lead to Taos, the main road, or the Low Road, or a bit further to the east, the High Road, which takes you through the badlands of stark, weathered rock, then into rolling foothills and finally up into pine forests. One of the highlights along the route is the village of Chimayo, famous for its weaving, its red chiles and its two chapels. My blip shows El Santuario de Chimayo. It is built on the site where believers say, a mysterious light came from the ground on Good Friday in 1810 and where a large wooden crucifix was found beneath the earth. A small room contains a round pit, the source of "holy dirt" that is believed to have healing powers. The walls of an adjacent Prayer Room display many photographs, discarded crutches, and other testimonials of those purportedly healed. The Santuario draws a steady stream of worshippers year round - during Holy week as many as 50,000 pilgrims come here, earning it the title of the Lourdes of the Southwest. A smaller chapel, Santo Nino de Atocha is just across the road. It was built in 1857, and as at the Santuario the dirt at Santo Nino chapel is supposed to have healing properties. The little boy saint was brought here from Mexico by Severiano Medina, who claimed Santo Nino de Atocha had healed him of rheumatism. Tales of the boy saint losing one of his shoes as he wandered through the countryside helping those in need endeared him to the people of northern New Mexico.

Once we reached Taos, we headed first for the Rio Grande Gorge bridge , which, at 650 feet above the Rio Grande is the fifth highest bridge in the United States. You can walk out to the center of the bridge (if you've a good head for heights!) and look down on the river way below. Then we drove into Taos itself and found a nice place for lunch, then we went to explore. As in Santa Fe, it has become a mecca for artists, and a number of illustrious artists, including Georgia O'Keefe, Ansel Adams and D.H. Lawrence took up residence here at some point in their lives.

We returned to Santa Fe by the Low Road, which cuts across a plateau, then joins the Rio Grande and follows that for a number of miles - very picturesque, especially in the late afternoon sun. All in all, a spectacular day!
If you're interested you can see more pictures from the day on my Smugmug gallery here.