A curious item sits on the porch of the El Potrero Trading Post, a little gift and spice store dating to 1921 in Chimayó, a New Mexico village on the "High Road" — a winding route through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between the capital of Santa Fe and the mountain town of Taos. The figure consists of melted wax, used to make religious votive candles and kept in a barrel during the rationing days of World War II. Over the years the barrel itself fell apart, leaving the wax that itself sagged in New Mexico's heat. Photo by Carol Highsmith, 2021.