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San Popo
San Popo is the popular name of local New Mexican folk hero Porfirio Podres. Born in 1948 after his father finally returned from the war, claiming to have been lost on Interstate 10 for three years. He first achieved fame for refusing to go to Vietnam, not on any political grounds, but because he "didn't feel like it."
Within weeks of making this statement to the Las Cruces Sun, which at the time was attempting to discredit draft dodgers, he had garnered a small but loyal gathering that referred to themselves as "the disciples."
Realizing that he might be able to get an actual draft exemption if he claimed religious reasons, Podres quickly formulated a basic philosophy that centered around the "maxing and relaxing" principle. The main tenets were:
I) No task shall be undertaken which does not serve primarily to bring about future maxation and relaxation.
II) All races, colors, creeds, sexual orientations (revolutionary at the time, and thought to be largely the result of the influence of Podres' gay uncle Tito, who typed the tenets up), heights, religions, nationalities, and all other etc. are to be accepted so long as they do not interfere with maxing and relaxing.
III) At no time may any man (unfinished)
Podre's following grew rapidly, drawing followers from as far away as El Paso and even Socorro. It was at a meeting, held at Roberto's Mexican Restaurant, that someone, now unknown, first called Podres "San Popo."
When the following had reached into the lower hundreds, local authorities began to crack down, fearing that the following would enable too many youths to skip out on their patriotic duties in Nam Land. Because of the first tenet, Popo could do little about this, but he did escape into the mountains, where he hid for a few weeks until the furor died down.
In later years, Popo's home on Townsend Terrace became the site of many pilgrimmages, the pilgrims coming mostly as a result of the book ''The Meta-Truth, and Get Me a Daquiri, by San Popo,'' which was not actually by San Popo, but, because of the title and the fact that the relatively small publishing company had forgotten to include author Ignacio Gomez's name on the cover, was assumed to have been a revelation of sorts.
Because of his basic lifestyle ("All I need is a lawn chair, a drink, and a burrito, and I have met the face of God" is a famous quote of his) and the continued support of his admirers, San Popo evidently had no job at any point in his life.
In the fall of 1981, San Popo abruptly disappeared. Some rumors spread of a comeback to be staged in the year 2000, but that definitely was wrong. He remains popular in Las Cruces and the surrounding area, rivaled only by La Llorona as a local legend.
== Trivia ==
The Catholic Church, which discovered San Popo in 1974 at the height of his pilgrimmage phase, attempted to excommunicate him, but discovered that he was in no way affiliated with them at any point in his life.
He remains the only Saint known almost solely by his Spanish name.
Ignacio Gomez also disappeared in 1981, but resurfaced in 1983, claiming to have received instructions from God to start a line of lawn chairs called the San Popo line. He never did anything about it though, and it was later discovered that he'd really been in Mexico.
Popularly known as the Patron Saint of Maxing and Relaxing.
Rumor has it that San Popo still roams the Organ Mountains, where he hid for those famous couple of weeks, and that, on clear nights, you can hear Cuban Jazz (common in his backyard) playing on the wind. Scientists say that this is not true.
Reporting and writing by J.D. Porter
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