Santa Fe - Day 2 (December 28)

    As Bruno Mars might say, "jump in the Kia, girl let's put some miles on it".  The plan for today was to drive to Taos, NM, then on to Chimayo, and return to Santa Fe.  We started with breakfast at The Burrito Company, which was next door to our hotel.  The food was great, but the crowd was unruly.  There was a group of families, along with their kids, taking up much of the table space.  The kids were feral.  Once they finally left, it was nice to be in near silence!  

    We started driving towards Taos at 0945 and arrived at 1110.  Our first stop was at San Francisco de Asis Mission Church.  The 1000 Mass was letting out and we were able to step inside for a few minutes after people left.  It was good to see the church completely full.  The church was completed in 1816 by the Spaniards and is one of the most photographed and painted churches in the world.  It has massive "beehive" adobe buttresses and flowing lines.  Artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams have created art of the church.  O'keeffe called the church one of the most beautiful buildings left in the United States by the early Spaniards.

Virginia O'Keeffe

Ansel Adams

    One of the ushers gave us a quick history of the church and turned us loose to explore.   The focal point of the church is the main altar screen.  Known as reredos (altar screens), the one in the parish church is among the finest surviving examples of Spanish Colonial devotional art.  In the center is an image of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Louis IX and Jesus the Nazarene.  The screen featured eight antique oil paintings on canvas that were likely imported from Mexico or Spain.

Altar at Christmas

Main Reredos

North Transept Altar

    After leaving the church, we stopped at the adjoining gift shop.  Jennie picked up a Christmas Tree ornament luminaria.  We drove into Taos and found it to be lacking.  We expected something along the lines of Santa Fe's plaza.  We didn't find anything like that.  There was another church about 5 miles from where we were, so we drove to it.  It turned out that the church (St. Jerome) was located on the Taos Pueblo and required a $25 per person admission fee.  The kicker was the Pueblo was closed down, with nothing else opened.  We passed on that "opportunity".  As we walked back to the car, we were asked by someone if we had purchased tickets.  We told them we did not and she fired back, "You can't take any pictures because they are covered by the admission fee." 

    We started driving to Chimayo and wanted to pick up some snacks.  There were no convenience stores open anywhere in Taos.  We ended up as a grocery store where we picked up some Utz potato chips and drinks.  The drive to Chimayo was on The High Road To Taos.  It was a slow drive (1:15) to go 45 miles, but the scenery was impressive.  Once we arrived in Chimayo, we found parking and began to explore the grounds.  

Carved Wood Doors.  

A River Runs Through It.  This Reminded Us of Lourdes.

Jennifer picked up some Mope along the way

    We wanted to visit Chimayo for a couple of reasons.  For me, I wanted to photograph the church, especially at night, with the luminary lights lit up.  For Jennifer, she wanted to visit the place where the holy dirt was located, and to rub some dirt on her heart.  The heart of the sanctuary is not the church or altar, but a small, low-ceilinged room called El Pocito (The Little Well).  The healing nature of Chimayo predates the 1816 church by hundreds of years.  Long before the Spanish arrived, the Tewa Pueblo people considered this site sacred.  They believed a hot spring once bubbled here, and when it dried up, the remaining mud and earth retained the sprint's healing spirits.  In 1810, a local friar (Bernardo Abeyta) reportedly saw a light shining from the ground.  He dug with his hands and found a crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas (the "Black Christ").  The crucifix was moved to a nearby church three times, but each time it miraculously ret urned to the specific hole in Chimayo.

    

Entrance To El Posito

Abandoned Crutches, Braces, and Photographs of People Who 
Have Been Healed at Chimayo.

The Spot Where The Crucifix Was Found

A Bag Of Holy Dirt To Go.  I Laughed At The 
Warnings Inside The Room.  Do Not Eat Or
Drink The Dirt.

    The church at Chimayo is one of the most photographed churches in New Mexico.  It did not disappoint.  The Catholic history of Chimayo began in 1810 when Bernardo Abeyta, a member of the Penitentes, saw a light shining from the ground near the Santa Cruz River.  He dug into the ground and found the crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas, a devotion originally from Guatemala.  After removing the crucifix three times only to find it returned to the spot, Abeyta realized the Lord wanted a sanctuary build on the exact spot.  Construction began in 1813 and was completed in 1816.  It was originally built as a private family chapel.  The architecture is a classic example oof Spanish Colonial adobe construction, with massive walls, twin bell towers, and a roof supported by heavy wooden beams.

Heavy Wooden Beams At Entrance To Chapel

Famed View of El Sanctuario de Chimayo

Inside The Chapel

The Beautiful Jennifer

    We had about two hours until sunset so we drove to a restaurant called Rancho de Chimayo.  There was nearly a 1 hour wait but it was worth it.  Jennie ordered soup and a chicken tortilla.  I ordered green Chile enchiladas.  The food came with Sopas for desert.  We were so done after eating and we waddled out of the restaurant to drive back to Chimayo.  I capture some photos as the sun was setting and more once it was completely dark.  I was happy that we waited to get these shots.

    After getting the shots I wanted to capture, we drove back to Santa Fe and spent some time at the Hotel Chimayo pub.  We ordered a few drinks and ultimately made our way to Herve Wine Bar for wine and dessert.  We had a bottle of sparkling wine and some cheesecake.  We walked back to the Hotel, had a fire lit in the room, and headed to bed after our long day.

 Santa Fe - Day 1 (December 27)

    We had a 0930 flight to Albuquerque, so it was out the door by 0700 to park the car and clear security.  The airport was crazy, being the Saturday after Christmas.  There were people who had no idea how to work the baggage check-in system, workers yelling at people to not cross some line until he said so, and just angry people.  Once we boarded the plane it was a quick 46 minutes from gate to gate.  The weather in Albuquerque was cold and rainy.  We found our rental car and were on our way North to Santa Fe.  It took us longer to drive to Santa Fe than it took to fly from Phoenix to Albuquerque.  It took a few drives around the block to find the parking spot for our hotel, but we finally parked around 1300.  I chose the Hotel Chimayo because it was really close to the plaza and churches we wanted to visit.  It did not disappoint.

 Hotel Chimayo Courtyard

    When we entered the lobby they had candles with pictures of the saints burning on a shelf and the fireplace had hand painted tiles of the saints.  Our room was ready and we dropped our stuff off in the room before getting lunch.  Location aside, this hotel was a great choice.  The room had a wood-burning fireplace in the sitting area and was nice and roomy.  There were black and white photos of El Sanctuario de Chimayo throughout the room and a bunch of crosses made of branches.

The Beautiful Jennifer In The Sitting Area

There was a nice porch with chairs outside of the lobby, but we didn't spend much time there with the cold temperatures.   We found a spot at Thunderbird Bar and Grill for lunch.  Since we were in Santa Fe I chose the green chile pork stew and Jennie chose the chicken tortilla soup.  The food was great and it felt good to get out of the rain for a bit.  

Thunderbird Was Quite Festive That Day

After lunch we walked over to the Loretto Chapel, home of the Miraculous Staircase.  When the chapel was completed in 1878, the builders realized that they had forgotten on major detail -- a way to reach the choir loft.  Due to the small size of the chapel, traditional stairs were not an option as they would take up too much space.  The Sisters of Loretto prayed a nine-day novena to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters.  On the ninth day, a mysterious stranger arrived on a donkey with not but a toolbox.  He built a masterpiece and vanished without asking for payment or leaving his name.  To this day, architects and engineers are baffled by the staircase with has no central support and seemingly defies the laws of physics.  The staircase it held together entirely by wooden pegs--no nails or glue were used in the original construction.  The wood is a non-native spruce that does not grow anywhere in the surrounding region.  Finally, it features 33 steps, one for each year of Jesus' life.  

The Miraculous Staircase

Before Stair They Used Ladders To Climb To The Choir Loft

    We spent a bit of time in the chapel marveling at the staircase and the beauty of the  sanctuary area.  The chapel is no longer a church or chapel of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.  It is owned by a private company and used for concerts, weddings, and other events.  My being a fan of photography, I would love to shoot a wedding in that chapel.

That Altar Is Begging For A Latin Mass

St. Joseph, Builder Of Staircase

Waiting Our Turn For Pictures

    After leaving the chapel, we walked over to the Cathedral Basilica of San Francisco de Asis for their 1600 Mass.  We had some before the Mass started so we picked a front row seat and took turns walking around the Basilica.  The church is constructed with stone, a striking departure from the "Brown Adobe" architecture all around Santa Fe.  The site where the church is located has been home to three different churches over the centuries.  The original adobe church was built by the Spanish in 1626.  It was destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.  In 1714, a second adobe church named La Parroquia was built by the returning Spaniards.  In 1869, construction began on the current Cathedral.  To keep the parish active, the new stone walls were built around the old adobe church.  Once the stone shell was finished, the old adobe interior was dismantled and carried out the front doors.  

  

Cathedral Basilica On A Cold Night

Rose Window Imported From Clermont-Ferrand, France

    The Cathedral was the dream of Jean-Baptiste Lamy, the first Bishop of Santa Fe and the inspiration for Willa Cather's novel Death Comes For the Archbishop.  The mass was presided over by Archbishop John Wester and was the Mass where the Jubilee of Hope was closed for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.  

Altar Set Up For Christmas

The Cathedra Which Makes It a Cathedral

Close-up Of Altar Wall Which Features American Saints

Only Remaining Part of La Parroquia Church

    After Mass, we walked around the Plaza which was glowing with Christmas lights.  The buildings had Farolitos, paper lanterns, a lit up and glowing in the night sky.  This was one of my favorite scenes throughout Santa Fe.  We had dinner reservations at Osteria D'Assisi, a well-known Italian restaurant featuring cuisine from Northern Italy.  The service was incredible and the atmosphere was what you would expect from an Italian restaurant.  Jennie ordered a pizza and I had a bolognese pasta.  The food was great and we rolled out of there for a walk to our hotel around 2000.  We had the front desk send the maintenance guy to start a fire for us.  It wasn't long before we were ready for bed and our adventure tomorrow.

The Loretto Inn and Spa

Cathedral Basilica Is A Prominent Building

Anasazi Inn, All Lit Up

Ready For Cold Walk Back

Jennie Became The Resident Pyromaniac