we get up @ the crack of dawn, (actually 7:30am) to go on our road trip! brush our teethes, feed the huskies and we're flying down the mountain to pick up matt, who is all excited and ready to go. and we're off!
(the sights & sounds of espanola)
we drive approx. 2 hours to a little town called ESPANOLA. the city has a bad rep of being the east LA of new mexico, and heroin capital, but i am curious. i'm convinced that the interesting things these days no longer happen in large cities, but in small towns. that's where artists can afford to create, and not have all their income go to living expenses. espanola is also where the LOW RIDER was invented.
(big dawgs restaurant)
(raymond's van in front of big dawgs restaurant)
"i'm hungry," i announce so we look for a good, local place to eat... raymond and i are pretty good @ finding cheap/good food and we do it once again. a little diner called BIG DAWGS. the chili was amazing- and i mean amazing! bright red- hot, but not too hot, and the green chili was even better. raymond is impressed and it's hard to impress him when it comes to chili.
(big dawg's portrait)
big dawg's portrait is above our table.... i'm guessing he was a gang member who was shot in a drive-by. i could be totally off the mark, but that is my guess. they have the best recreation of the sistine chapel's CREATION OF ADAM- that i have ever seen, and i do love "muriels."
(me in front of the "muriel," recreation of michaelangelo's- creation of adam)
we take in a few more sights & sounds of espanola, everyone is intrigued with the place.. don't get me wrong, it's a pit, but an intriguing pit.
(the sights & sounds of espanola)
our next stop is EL SANTUARIO DE CHIMAYO they have RELIGIOUS DIRT. as the lore goes, In the early 19th Century, nineteen families lived in what was then called El Potrero de Chimayó (potrero means pasture).
(matt & i in front of el santuario de chimayo)
when the missionaries first came to this area, they found a relic, (fetish?!) with a beam of light shining brightly upon it. accepting this as a miracle, they build the church on this spot, after completion the spot was still illuminating. the priesty's decided that this was a sign from god and left a hole in the floor with the exposed dirt. the locals began to come by this now sacred room and take dirt from the hole, believing it to have healing properties. eventually people would make pilgrimages here to cure any ailment they and their loved ones might have.
that is my take on it, here is the official press release-
The land where the Santuario now stands belonged to Don Fernando Abeyta, one of the first members of Los Hermanos de la Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (the Penitentes) in the area. Also, he was probably devoted to the Christ of Esquipulas, a pilgrimage site in Guatemala where the clay is ascribed healing power.
Fernando Abeyta built a small chapel to the Christ of Esquipulas on the present site around 1810. On November 15, 1813, he wrote to Father Sebastián Álvarez, the parish priest of Santa Cruz de la Cañada, asking him to write to the Episcopal See of Durango for permission to build a bigger church in which the people of El Potrero could worship Jesus as he appeared at Esquipulas and could hear Mass The next day, Fr. Álvarez wrote the letter, mentioning that cures were reported and many pilgrims were arriving.
Abeyta's daughter, Carmen Abeyta de Chaves, inherited the property and kept it despite an attempt to force her to give it to the Church; a major source of her income was donations from pilgrims. Her daughter, María de los Ángeles Chaves, inherited it in turn and was the owner as of 1915. In 1929, when the owners were in financial trouble, members of the newly formed Spanish Colonial Arts Society bought the property and donated it to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
Many visitors to the church take a small amount of the "holy dirt", often in hopes of a miraculous cure for themselves or someone who could not make the trip. Formerly, at least, they often ate the dirt. (Likewise pilgrims to the original shrine of Esquipulas eat the supposedly curative clay found there.) Now seekers of cures more commonly rub themselves with the dirt or simply keep it. The Church replaces the dirt in the pocito from the nearby hillsides, sometimes more than once a day, for a total of about 25 or 30 tons a year.
The Church takes no position on whether miracles have occurred at the Santuario.
Each year some 30,000 people from all over the world make pilgrimages to the Santuario de Chimayó, especially on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, some seeking blessings and some in fulfillment of a vow. Walking is traditional; some pilgrims walk from as far away as Albuquerque, about 90 miles... we drove.
rio de Chimayó was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
(prosthetics & crutches from the past ailing visitors)
the room was pretty amazing, even for an heathen like me. i loved the way it looked and loved the idea of religious dirt. the adjoining room had numerous crutches, prosthetics and locks of hair from the many past ailing visitors.
we then check out the local shops and relics. the entire area had a beautiful glow.. it was an amazing experience, very organic.
we drive back to espanola. we just can't get enough. raymond wants to buy local red chilies. the chili stand is right next to a street called ROSEBUD. we find that very amusing.. can you guess why?
( local red chilies @ rosebud lane)
raymond is excited to take a photo of this dive bar called SAINTS & SINNERS. btw- there is also a saints & sinners in culver city.. i'm thinking the owners visited espanola and knocked off the name & sign.
(raymond & i in front of saints & sinners)
we decide to go into the bar and are very pleasantly surprised. saints & sinners is a gourmet liquor store with an incredible selection of spirits, wine, hard liquor, soft liquor, beer and gourmet sodas.
(me & dennis- owner of saints & sinners)
they have one table which the owner dennis calls "the bar." dennis also tells us that he has owned saints & sinners since 1965!!.. a few years back the roof began to leak so he closed the bar section of the building to repair it.. one thing lead to another and he never repaired or reopened the bar. so we sit with at the one table with a local and shoot the bull, drinking root bear, locally brewed beer and munching on blue corn- popcorn. it was a blast.
matt, raymond & i, - happy hour @ saints & sinners)
we have a leisurely, beautiful drive home taking the scenic route. matt is starting to work my nerves.. he can be fun, and then other times he is such a spoiled, trust funded republican dumbo.. all his taking points are directly out of fox news. as we past this beautiful area called, VALLES CALDERA. he insists that george bush made it a national park. i know for a fact that clinton was responsible and signed the bill in 2000.
(me & kia, chauegha & azula)
once back home, raymond makes this INCREDIBLE meal. blue corn chicken tacos with homemade guacamole, salsa and red chili.. WOW.. what a meal.. he must be the best cook in new mexico. i curl up with raymond's three huskies dogs and watch john waters's A DIRTY SHAME with matt, who complains about how weird it is the entire time. i go online and find confirmation that clinton did indeed sign valles caldera as a national park. i email this info to matt.. we will see what neocon response he has.
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