Other Foster "Places": Chimayo and Taos

Our current foster dog Chima is a beautiful gal and so is the town she was named after.

Chimayo is a small town North of Santa Fe comprised of several different plazas that homes and businesses are set around. It lies along the scenic byway called the "High Road to Taos" and like all the towns along the byway is full of artists and galleries. But Chimayo is most famous for its pilgrimage site, El Santuaria de Chimayo. Here's info about the site from Wikipedia:

The Potrero plaza of Chimayó is known internationally for a Catholic chapel, the Santuario de Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas, commonly known as El Santuario de Chimayó. A private individual built it by 1816 so that local people could worship Jesus as depicted as Esquipulas; preservationists bought it and handed it over to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1929. The chapel is now managed by the Archdiocese as a Catholic church. For its reputation as a healing site (believers claim that dirt from a back room of the church can heal physical and spiritual ills), it has become known as the "Lourdes of America," and attracts close to 300,000 visitors a year.

El Santuario de Chimayo and plaza

Looking straight at the church. We went inside but not to the "miracle dirt" area.

One of the many galleries in the town of Chimayo

Our final destination on the byway was of course the famous Taos Pueblo and one of our first fosters of the year was named for Taos.

Like the Pueblo atop Acoma, the ancient structures still currently in use as housing were fascinating, amazing and beautiful. Taos Pueblo was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you ever visit New Mexico I highly recommend both a visit to Acoma and to Taos if you want to better understand the native culture of the region.

One of the Pueblo structures seen from across the creek

Close up of an entrance - originally there were no doors in the structure for defensibility and all entrances were on rooftops, accessed by ladders that could be pulled up

The Pueblo church