Framedlight

  In Antonito we took a side road up to see the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Legend has it that a group of Spaniards were driving mules through the San Luis Valley in the 1860's. When they reached this place one of the mules refused to move. A small statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was found in the mule's pack and so the group decided that the mule would not budge as they were being told by Our Lady that they should build a church at this very spot. Once they had agreed to do this the mule consented to move! The church was completed in 1863 but burnt down in 1926 although the walls and towers survived the fire. There is a small hamlet around the church and 2 metal memorials copying the picture of raising the flag at Iwo Jima in World War ll. We completed the day's journey, arriving in Alamosa in the late afternoon. We had booked a stay in a hotel and went into town for a meal at a very quiet Thai restaurant.