Now for a tourist blurb about Chimayo, where the famous chile is grown.
A very pleasant day may be passed in Chimayo, on the high road from Santa Fe to Taos. In the summer, the little valley is pleasantly warm (about 7500 feet altitude). In the morning visit the Sanctuario de Chimayo, a holy place of pilgimage, especially at Easter, for at least two centuries. The faithful walk to it from all over northern New Mexico. Miraculous cures have been claimed. The high road villages are still home to some of the remaining penitentes (flagellants). The villages of the high road have adobe churches dating back to the 17-18 c.

A lunch (of course local chile, frijoles, posole, etc.) may be had across from the Sanctuario at Leona's.

At the edge of the village, tha remains of the old settlement should be visited. It is a square, protectively walled in by the low adobe dwellings and chapel remains, which date to the 17th c. Now in disrepair, it still is the best-preserved of these original settlements along the Rio Grande corridor. Some residents, including some working at the Galleria Ortega, the main shop for local foods and souvenirs, discourage visitors from seeing it, but they won't bite if you go. At one corner of the square is a little grocery where a cold drink can be obtained.

Reasonably-priced accommodation and excellent southwestern food are available nearby at Rancho de Chimayo. A bed-and-breakfast also is nearby.

Excellent hand-weaving, from blankets to coats,jackets and pillows, available in Chimayo, a center of the art since the first weaver came in the 1720s. - Weavers