Catching Up on Sleep at Cochiti Lake and a Visit to Chimayo, New Mexico

Favorite photo:

After leaving the Balloon Fiesta, it was time for some sleep!  We drove about an hour north to Cochiti Lake, a Corp of Engineers park on the Cochiti Indian Reservation.  At Cochiti we met up with another couple we met there about a year ago.  Dorothy, Jerry, and their dog, Sadie, are camp hosting at Cochiti for a couple of months.  It was so nice of Dorothy and Jerry to have dinner ready for us upon our arrival.

Our first site for a few nights

Dinner with Dorothy & Jerry inside their rig

Al and Sadie listening to Jerry tell a story

One day during our stay Dorothy and Jerry took us about an hour north of Santa Fe to the town of Chimayo where there is El Santuario de Chimayo, a Roman Catholic church. 

This shrine, a National Historic Landmark, is famous for the story of its founding and as a contemporary pilgrimage site. It receives almost 300,000 visitors per year and has been called "no doubt the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the United States.

At Santuario de Chimayo you find two chapels of historical significance. The first is the Lord of Esquipulas Chapel. This chapel is also the site of el pocito, the small pit of Holy Dirt. 

So many Rosary beads at this outdoor site

Jerry & Dorothy

"The Well" in a small room. The entrance door also is small and almost everyone has to bow so as not to hit his head.

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To reach to touch the holy dirt you have to kneel as Bernardo Abeyta did when he found here the crucifix of the Christ of Esquipulas on Good Friday of 1810.

For many people this place is blessed with the gift of physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Testimonies of pilgrims go back to 1816.

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Many people rub the holy dirt of the well to the areas of their body in need of healing. Other visitors bring holy dirt to a sick person back home.

Upon leaving the Well, another room is accessed with photos, prayers and testimonies of the pilgrims.

CHRIST OF ESQUIPULAS CHAPEL

Trading Post/Gift Shop

Across the street there was a man selling spices.  He had quite the presentation allowing us to taste many and suggestions for foods to put them on.  We bought some.

Separate from the Esquipulas Chapel but within easy walking distance is the Santo Niño de Atocha Chapel. Built in 1857 is the destination of what is a strong and growing Easter pilgrimage tradition which now spans several generations. The Easter pilgrimage, began by the U.S. soldiers and sailors who prayed to the Santo Niño during the Bataan Death March. Upon their return to the United States, began the pilgrimage to Chimayo, to give thanks for their deliverance.

HOLY CHILD OF ATOCHA CHAPEL

The devotion to the Holy Child of Atocha arrived to New Mexico in 1857 when Severiano Medina, a member of the tiny village of El Potrero, became ill and promised that, if he recovered, he would complete a pilgrimage to the shrine of Santo Niño de Atocha in Plateros. He carried out this promise and received permission to construct a chapel to host the Holy Child. It was at this chapel where the el Santo Niño became part of the culture of the northern Rio Grande Valley.

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The Bataan Death March

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By 1941, many of the New Mexico National Guardsmen were familiar with the story of Santo Niño. Stationed in the Philippines at the outset of WWII, they were the first to fire on the wave of Japanese fighter planes and bombers that attacked on 8 December 1941. They prayed to the Santo Niño as their supplies dwindled, and as they, and their Filipino compatriots, began the retreat to the very tip of the Bataan Peninsula where they made their last stand. Finally, on 9 April, 1942, they surrendered. 75,000 American and Filipino troops began what is now known as the "Bataan Death March" to the prisoner-of-war (POW) camp, Camp O’Donnell. As many as 18,000 soldiers were murdered on this 61-mile march. The remainder faced 40 months of interment in various POW camps. At the end of the war only half of the 1,800 New Mexico National Guardsmen were still alive. Yet, those who returned talked about how they attributed their survival to their faith and to the intercession of Santo Niño de Atocha.

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By the late 1940s some of the surviving soldiers and their families, began what has become the annual Easter pilgrimage to Chimayo as a means of expressing their profound gratitude to Santo Niño.

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Private Chapel until 1992

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Santo Niño Chapel was a private chapel until 1992, when the descendants of Severiano Medina sold it to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. By the generosity of pilgrims, visitors and benefactors, Santo Niño chapel is completely restored. Inside a small room adjoining the main chapel is a wooden statue of Santo Niño made by the famous santero, Felix Lopez. Filling shelves resting against the adobe walls are pairs of children's shoes left by the pilgrims. They are intended for the Holy Child so that he may have new shoes as he travels on his journey to provide comfort to those in need.

HOLY CHILD OF ATOCHA CHAPEL

Outside were statues for the 7 days of Creation:

What a beautiful place!

Next we went to a nice restaurant for lunch:  Rancho de Chimayo.

We ate a delicious lunch and had our first sopapillas served with honey.  Yum!

Sadie was with us all day and mostly stayed in the car (it wasn't a hot day).  Her reward was some Dairy Queen ice cream for being such a good girl.

We would never have known about Chimayo so we thank Dorothy and Jerry for sharing this place with us.   It was a beautiful day spent with some sweet RV friends!

We were enjoying ourselves so much we decided to stay a few more days but we needed to move to a different site in a different section of the park.  This one had no hookups but with our solar and three lithium batteries, we were very comfortable.

Before leaving Dorothy and Jerry and Cochiti, we had to go to the local golf course club house for a New Mexico Hatch chili cheeseburger!  Dorothy and Jerry turned us on to these last year so we had a craving for another on this trip.

It was time to start making our way east to Texas.  Stay tuned for the snow storm we experienced!