Loretto Chapel Museum — Attraction in Santa Fe

Sometimes when falling asleep, or waking, or kissing, or walking, or listening (to music), or listening, one falls back or forward in time unlike or not unlike how we cross the border into the dry New Mexican heat all of a sudden the earth more pale and sight the clouds of fire and smoke distant the people evacuated- out of sight, and it is an hour earlier now just as I traipse through memories on the edge of sleep, or waking, in that motel in the side of Route 66 and then upon waking into the bright possibility of rest stop with culturally insensitive figurines and stolen candy and we finally reach that old familiar Santa Fe but indeed could be as arbitrary as Diet Coke at the burrito stand or these dreams, again, which are comprised of all memory and place as I move backward and forward through time not only in my mind where it is real but also in the real now in the white van and the airplane land. I want to go home but it gets further, instead we have the afternoon with the chimes and the great wind and hour pressing down of survival and remembering my grandmother's house and the objects of continuity of which we have none the movement of dishes in the kitchen.Thank god to ride back into childhood, through the rocks stained by sun so close to death indeed. The old ranch, the blue lake under Georgia O'Keefe's flat top mountain, the outposts of different memory- cantina, chimney rock in dawn, wildcats still howling, her bathing in the waters, the stolen secret ipod musics, hallowed hot afternoons of abandon, in the receding tide of the desert, friends, adolescence, mothers, fathers, leaning out over the wide lawn looking across at that great view.. The strange little town of Madrid, all fluffed up, though indeed the young did circle round, and her older, telling of a long, indeed six year road (will mine ever be that long?), and my dear from the big car town with the drag set and an organ played with minimalist veracity in the shifting light the arpeggio and before, an interview with the radio program further west while my music concrete friend did his set, although they ride the low riders round the plaza here all evening too, and everyone saying when they came or went from that dusk or another, sunset still reddened by fire, darkness still riddled (thank god), in blue. A chance encounter from where I sit stooped, side of the road clothing store in not yet heat but always sun of Santa Fe.youtu.be/ZY01PkLSCug mourning-dove.bandcamp.com/album/there-was-something-to-itDear old friends and new ones, another music of high desert. ...

We were insulted by the guy working there in front of a whole crowd of people!! So disrespectful!

We walked in through the gift shop, and went to wait in line. As we waited we listened to a guy taking the $5.00 entry fee (per person) tell the story of the staircase and the wood. Then some of the listeners asked questions. It got quiet, and some people walked into the chapel, while others left. There were a handful of people still in the room and 2 gentlemen in front of us but no one in front of them anymore, so i looked to my husband and asked if we just walked up and pay? He shrugged, not sure. So i said “excuse me” to the gentleman in front of me, and walked around them to speak to the man telling the story. I wanted to ask where we pay to go in. The moment we walked by and got in his eyesight, though, he starts calling to us, and this guy assumed we were just going around to go into the chapel. He automatically thought the worst of us.

Here’s the interaction that happened in front of everyone there in the room, and those within earshot in the chapel room. He said, “sir, ma’am, you need to pay before you go in”. I said, “we were trying to pay”, holding out cash in my hand. The guy then said, “well you pay here” and points to his side, but apparently we walked past that point without realizing it, and instead we had walked to the front of him. I acknowledged, and said, “oh we pay right there, okay.” Then this guy says loudly for everyone to hear, “don’t steal from our museum!”

Seriously??? Not even thinking we may have made a mistake, just assuming we were trying to “steal”, and announcing it for others to hear? No questions asked, he just really went straight there.

We still paid and went in cause I’ve waited years to see the miraculous staircase, but we stayed maybe 2 minutes. I couldn’t enjoy it. We were just insulted publicly, and I was mortified. I just wanted to cry.

I will never go back. It may have been a sacred place at one point, but all i saw was a judgmental man, and someone putting money first. There was no grace there for...

We went to Santa Fe on a Wednesday. It was challenging to find parking on the street. We ended up parking in the parking garage on the next street which was $15 for the day. The chapel outside was under construction so they had us enter through the shops to the right that were connected to the chapel. The entrance was through the Catholic bookstore. They only take cash for the entrance fee. There was this loud guy at the ticket counter. I don't know why he was almost shouting. We were in a church, not a ball game! We walked into the chapel, which is very small compared to the impression you get looking at pictures of it online. There were signs to be quiet, but we could still hear the ticket guy and then on top of that, there was a pre-recorded message and music coming through the PA. It tells the story about the staircase. In most religious sites I've been to, they give you a pamphlet or something. The recording annoyed me. There were a lot of people sprinkled in the pews taking pictures. People were polite in taking turns taking photos and not blocking each other. You cannot touch the staircase at all. There was one guy I saw who snuck behind the roped off section to get a better photo. The staircase is really beautiful for sure. The stained glass windows and the altar that was blocked off from entering were really nice too. From what I understand, they do hold mass here and do weddings. Apparently during the week, it is a tourist attraction for the staircase instead of a religious destination. We stayed long enough to get pictures and then we left. It was maybe 15 minutes long. We got souvenirs exiting through...