The High Road to Taos that is, it’s
a lovely drive up into the mountains, through the forests and with lots to see
on the way.
We knew the road we needed to take,
but as we drove through Santa Cruz we almost missed it, good job we were in the
right lane and could make the turn. Our
first stop was the Sanctuario de Chimayo.
Dirt from the Sanctuario is reputed
to have healing qualities, I’m not exactly sure why or what people do with the dirt,
but there is a room filled with walkers, wheelchairs, crutches etc. etc. I don’t think it was a feast day or anything
but the day we visited there were lots of people there.
The entrance to the Sanctuario, no
pictures are allowed inside.
A shrine within the Sanctuario.
Our next stop was higher up in the
mountains, the village of Las Trampas which was established in 1751 by 12
families from Santa Fe led by Juan Argűello, who received a land grant from
Governor Tomas Velez Cachupin. The
church of San José de Gracia is one of the best examples of surviving 18th
century churches in New Mexico.
The church was locked so we weren’t
able to look inside, but it’s a lovely adobe building.
Taos reminded us of a miniature
Santa Fe and was very busy, the main road through town was just one continuous
stream of traffic, luckily we saw a parking sign, followed it, and quite nicely the parking turned out to be free. It was a good
spot, as we were close by the Kit Carson Museum and only a short walk to the
plaza.
The museum was really interesting,
although of course these days people have differing views on Kit Carson and we
enjoyed our visit.
Taos Plaza was established in 1796
as part of a land grant to Don Fernando De Taos. During the day it was a defensive fort and
at night it was a refuge for livestock.
Today it is surrounded by stores, art galleries and restaurants.
We took a different route returning
to Santa Fe, following the ‘wild and scenic’ Rio Grande for a good part of the
way.
Have fun, we are!
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