Turbo-tourism and tuckering out.

Today I visited El Santuario de Chimayo and am very glad I did. It's a moving place; faith, ritual, and sacrament are powerful, even if you yourself are a godless heathen. I found myself tearing up several times, especially at the wall devoted to prayers for those in the armed services, deceased and otherwise. Also, it's breathtaking and I took ten million pictures, and if you ever wondered what color the Virgin Mary's aura is, stay tuned! That is, if I ever again have a decent internet connection. Oh, and Mr. Patron, I posted a prayer on the prayer tree for your eye surgery.  

After El Santuario, I'll give you three guesses as to where I ate lunch. Hint: the answer has the words "El" and "Parasol" in it. I swear, man, they're putting something in the chiles they stuff into their vegetarian burritos with guacamole. I also made the discovery of their delectably punishing red salsa today. I might have to move here just so I can eat there every day.

Barring this being a practical life plan (seeing as how I pride myself on practical life plans), I plan to begin the drive to Austin tomorrow. I still have no idea what the heck I'll do there, but this experience definitely drove home for me that I need a stable home base from which to operate in the interest of doing what's best for the mooshies. This will definitely make my future adventures easier on everyone. And if it doesn't work out? Well, hell, if my life is priming me to learn anything, it's that if I let the prospect of failure get on top of me, I'd be dead by now.

In other news, I drove to Santa Fe, realized I was done with tourism for the day, and turned around. The hills and sky alone made the drive worth it. Now I am once again bunkered in the hotel, with prospects and projects and projectiles to mull.

Tomorrow commences the Don't Mess With Allison portion of our journey!