Framedlight

Today was to be our last day in Taos. And my birthday! So it was up through the Sangre de Cristo mountains to Taos Ski Valley. The resort was very busy, not with tourists, but with workmen getting all ship shape for the winter season. We walked around the village where not much was open part from a coffee shop. We then decided to take a walk up into the mountains. Unfortunately due to our Covid lungs and the fact that Taos sits at 9,200ft we did not get very far before we were fighting for breath. So we made it back to our base in Taos for lunch before our next excursion. The road in and out of the village followed a swift flowing river and cut through rocky crags.    

  We left the house in Abiquiu in the morning and drove to Albuquerque to get rid of the odious van. Getting a taxi to the airport we picked up a rather nice and comfortable Ford 4x4 which we thought might be appropriate in the now rather chilly weather. As you can see it was a very bright and clear day so we took the scenic route to Taos through the Sangre de Cristo mountains and passed through the little town of Chimayó. Here we discovered El Sanctuario de Chimayó, a little church which has become a shrine and place of pilgrimage. During Holy Week thousands of pilgrims arrive, some of whom come to be cured, so the place is known as the Lourdes of North America. There is a pilgrim's walk from Santa Fé which many undertake carrying crosses. Native Americans regarded Chimayó as a sacred place and in 1810, before the church was built, a local priest found a crucifix buried in the soil after seeing mysterious lights in the hills. He took the crucifix to Santa Fé but it miraculously di