Playing Tourists

October 4 – I woke up with a stiff neck!  I guess I slept funny last night. 

Today once we had breakfast we went to the Nambe Pueblo to attend their annual Francis of Assisi Feast Day.  Our timing was perfect as we found the pueblo and got parked just before the start of the native dances.  They were performing twice this morning and twice this afternoon.  The dance were very good and they had mostly adults and teenagers but there were children as little as 3.  They all are in native costume and they danced for almost 30 minutes without stopping.  It was a pretty hot day to continuously dance in heavy costumes.  They do not allow photos in the Pueblo so there aren’t any. 

There was also a pretty large area of native food available as well as craft booths.  Of course I checked out every booth but only bought 3 things.  Bill waited in line for an Indian Fry Bread for us to share and later he bought 4 thick shortbread cookies.  We each had one and had the other two for dessert tonight.   I saw a lot of things I liked but I was looking for some specific things. 

Sanctuary de Chimayo

Outdoor prayer room

From Nambe Pueblo we went to Chimayo to visit the Sanctuary of Chimayo.  We had never been to the back outside of the Sanctuary and it is huge with numerous prayer rooms where you can leave a photo of a loved one to be posted.  There are several statues of Mary with baby Jesus and an outdoor seating area where a sermon could take place.  No photos are allowed inside the Sanctuary.  The small church was founded in 1810 and the original painted Altar and other spiritual paintings are original.  From there you go through a small door to a room of crutches left by those healed by the Holy Dirt from the second room.  There’s just a hole in the floor with trowels and dirt.  The dirt is know as the “pocito” which means well and is considered holy because in this spot the crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas was found by Bernaro Abyta in 1810.  Thus the building of he sancutary.  Thousands come here in search of spiritual, emotional and physical healing.  I can’t describe how it feels, it is quite emotional and I was emotionally overwhelmed.  It didn’t affect me like that when we came here before, but I think I have a different viewpoint than I used to.  I took a small scoop of dirt and have it in a special container.

Chilis hanging from Rancho

Just down the road is one of our favorite restaurants, Rancho de Chimayo.  This was our 3^rd visit there and they are highly rated and have earned numerous awards.  They served what they call authentic New Mexican fare.  I had the Carne Adovado and Bill had a beef Burrito.  They serve

Fresh chilis

warm sopapilla with honey so we had that for dessert.  Sopapilla is a smaller version of Indian Fry Bread.  Lucky us, twice in one day!

On the way back we went via Espanola where we stopped at Dollar Tree and Wal-mart.  I found some southwest kitchen rugs and a new rug for the dining room also.  I look everywhere I go!  I only had a short list of things to actually get and then we stopped at CVS to see if I can get my missing mail order prescription filled at a storefront.  Well, about 30 minutes later and a long phone call, they are going to let me use my next refill since the one THEY mailed to the wrong place and it hasn’t resurfaced, but the pharmacist has to do something to get it transferred.  So they will call me but I think we will be in that area tomorrow so we’ll stop by on our way home.

We got home and supper going before the storm hit.  Boy did it thunder and rain!  Glad we were home.  I made some chicken with corn and broccoli slaw.  Simple but it hit the spot.    The TV has been on all evening since there is a string of shows on that both of us or Bill watches.  The storm shut us down for a while but it came back on.

I worked on what photos I got to take today and my blog written.