The Penitentes of San Rafael - A Tale of the San Luis Valley #231262

T a branching of the heavy sand road the A young rider made toward a brown spot that might promise shade. He was rid ing down from the hills, where he had been fish ing for a week, to La Jara, to catch a train. The San Luis Valley was pitiless with a mid-summer heat as monotonous as an oven. He had passed through the Penitentes' village, with its black crosses marking fallen cross-bearers, and was now in the midst of the broad plain. The sun beat down from a dead blue Sky and the glare beat up» from the brown sand. The mirage twinkled on the distant horizon. Even Mount Blanca, massive and blue, with a patch of snow on his head, did not look cool. The horse plowed wearily along. But sure enough, after another suffocating interminable ten minutes, there was an adobe house, which seemed to be built right up against the blue sky.