Come Away With Me : Part II - New Mexico
El Rancho : Where the Cowboys Went Below: Inside view
Old Town, Albuquerque
Chili Pepper Bouquets
Adobe Charm
Sculptured Gardens at an Art Gallery
A Spooky Restroom Break, Anyone?
The Plaza, Santa Fe
The Cathedral, Santa Fe
The arid, rugged terrain surrounding the vast stretches of highway from Arizona to New Mexico gave me time to reflect upon the journey so far, which had been a novel experience for me. Deserts have a character quite their own, not always picturesque, yet often profound. Driving on a road flanked on either side by straw-colored plains under a cloudless, blazing blue sky, the mind becomes a canvas upon which the sparseness of the scene creates a resonance and a sense of being far from civilization, down to the basic elements of nature. There you are, in the middle of nowhere, few signs of life around you, and the glittering endless road, one mirage followed by the next.
Arriving in Gallup, New Mexico, about half-way to Albuquerque, the El Rancho Hotel and Restaurant beckoned us to its star-studded past. Reflecting the days of the great Western movies, filmed in these parts, photographs of those famous movie stars grace the walls, many of whom stayed at this hotel and are enshrined in the aura it imparts.
Finally in Albuquerque, the city's skyline came into view, bringing us into the world of towering buildings once again. Following Grump's recommendations, a visit to the Old Town the next morning took us into its rich, southwestern charm. Narrow alleys off the main square leading to quaint shops, galleries and cafes revealed the strong vibrancy of its history, the preservation of its distinctly Spanish origins. Looking for a place to eat and beat the heat, we meandered through the plazas and hidden streets and found a lovely little French cafe, La Crepe Michel, to enjoy some of the finest French crepes and salads in a region far from France. This was just a brief introduction to some of the most delectable international dining experiences in New Mexico, as I was soon to discover. The simply designed, yet striking Pueblo-style adobe buildings form the heart of this city. In the evening, a ride in the cable car took us to the top of the magnificent Sandia Peaks, overlooking Albuquerque on one side and Santa Fe on the other. Haze-covered landscape below transformed before my eyes under the dazzling performance of the setting sun, as the shimmering veil of gold, orange and red slipped over the landscape.
Undoubtedly a major highlight of my stay in Albuquerque was the lunch engagement with Grump! Over a feast of Irish fish and chips at a delightful Irish pub, it was a novel experience meeting with a native whose written words over cyber space had so far been my only vision of him. I know now why Grump loves New Mexico - its spirit emanates from the man I met. True, we ate Irish food, but it was still the New Mexican I saw.
Driving through vast open expanses along the highway to Santa Fe the next morning, the last of our stops on this trip, brought us to the chilli-peppered doorways of the capital. Blending the desert landscape into its architecture, the adobe buildings bring its history of the fusion of cultures - Native American, Anglo and Spanish - into focus. The city square, the Plaza, is a marvelous embodiment of all the elements of southwestern charm, and comes to life during daytime with the jewelry and handicraft vendors selling Native American ware along the porch of the Palace of the Governors, and with live music, food and people filling the park at night, especially weekend nights. A food haven where hidden restaurants, tucked away behind alleyways, serve scrumptious cuisine from many parts of the globe, on patios with tables placed under old trees - decked with twinkling lights - you didn't quite expect to find there. To die for was, in my opinion, the fire-in-your-mouth igniting New Mexican food with green and red chilies. But to each his own.
From the Plaza to the famous Canyon Road, where art and photography come to life, Santa Fe's energy and soul is felt in every stroke of its drawing, in every walk along its streets, every chili pepper ristra hanging on the front porches of buildings. Deep, bright and alive.
Copyright: Neetu 2013
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A bit too difficult to choose what photos to use for this article! I have tried to capture the essence, though. Hope you like it.
Where can I get one of those cow skulls ? [A Spooky Restroom Break, Anyone?]
I need to liven the place up .
You can usually find one very near a dead cow.
Then you boil the flesh off of it and you have a skull AND soup, too. Tasty. Drill a 1 1/2 inch hole in the skull and you have a dandy bird house. For a decoration, get some large marbles, paint 'em up like eyeballs and put 'em in the eye sockets. The fun is never ending.
The Plaza in Santa Fe is always lively in the summer. Nearly deserted in the winter, though. My office was in the next block over on the east side of the Plaza. I would take my coffee/tea breaks on the benches and look at all the goofy tourists. They are very easy to spot and most often comical enough to brighten my afternoon. (Sorry, tourists. It's true.)
Can one be a tourist and not look like one? Probably not.
I can be a tourist and not look like one, Grump!
Did I look like a tourist to you????
Yup, Petey, in an art gallery on Canyon Road! I believe the owner is a collector of all kinds of torture weapons
! Would you like to meet him?
Dear Raven, next time you go there, take a quick peak into those areas. I assure you, you won't be disappointed!
GRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPP!
WhaaAAaat?
Neetu, "refinement" is very obvious now. I can see now why NM would be a very special tourist spot. I love the old Cathedral, but then I love to look at architecture, especially the old, when it is so intricate and detailed. That was a very nice write-up. Thank you for that, too.
The fun????
Thank you, Chloe. It is a very special tourist destination indeed. And I like to go merge in with the locals!
Neetu,
I recently read a statement saying in their view, that while both states shared many good qualities and can be a tourist's haven, that Az. seemed more like a real estate developers paradise, while NM was preserving their cultural richness and indigenous traditions and places.
Did you see excessive real-estate development in Az.?
I have to admire his entrepreneurial spirit ...
Indeed! The other side of the wall was full of the weapons, I assure you! I do have proof.
In whose view, Chloe? I did not see any real-estate development in the areas I visited. In fact, it did seem like the economy in both places wasn't doing well.
It was the author of an article that stated they had toured both extensively - just giving their opinion. Nice to read your thoughts on that. I think that would be very sad if development meant losing the cultural richness and traditions. I know there are large developments and commercial building in and near the large cities, but if they started or ever do start expanding out into the deserts anywhere - that would be sad imo.
Neetu,
I am beginning to really think that you have missed your calling. You really should be writing travel guides! You are a one person powerhouse. Think about it. Travel the world and get paid for it. Not a bad gig.
BTW, that should make it pretty obvious that this presentation is outstanding.
I agree Perrie! I had a neighbor that worked for a company that wrote travel brochures and she loved it - they paid for her expenses.
Funny, Bullwinkle... bring a carry-on bag filled with those cans of frosting...that should take care of them for the rest of the flight.
Neetu's photo excursion-essays have been really nice....bet she's saving the best for last!
I didn't notice anything booming in terms of new developments, but then again, I wouldn't know if there were areas earmarked for it. I also think overdoing development in desert regions can be harmful and resource-depleting. I mean, look at Las Vegas - all the water they have to harness and bring in to serve the tourist and gambling industry there is rapidly diminishing and causing problems for the whole region. As they say, the clock is ticking on its water supply.
Wouldn't I just love to, Perrie! You know me by now.
But who would hire me now? I have none of the credentials travel guide writers come packaged with these days
. But thanks for the wonderful compliment and encouragement
!
LOL, Bullwinkle, you are funny! I agree, they are pesky critters! But you did get to travel the world and get paid too - better than I have done
. Thank you for your kind words!
Where'd Petey go? I wanted to have some fun with him and a cow skull.
Probably gone to that restroom...
Neetu..... You weren't stingy this time. Those are absolutely beautiful and no picture can replace the experience of being there I know. Thank you. I will be back here to look at them some more for sure.
A funny travel story: We were flying on our way back from Spain after having spent the summer there. Seated next to me was a fellow from Egypt. He smelled funny, but seemed to be a nice enough guy and we struck up a conversation abut Egypt and such. The plane ride got a little bumpy and he freaks out and begins to hysterically speak in Egyptian. I calm him down. Then he asks the flight attendant to bring him a beer.
I look at her and slowly shook my head no. He dives into his pocket and comes up with a bunch of Egyptian coins. The flight attendant says she can't take them - she only takes Euros or dollars.
He turns to me and begins to beg me to buy him a beer.
Why?, I ask. He says he is getting sick and nervous and a beer might calm him down.
Do you ever drink beer?, I ask.
Never, he says.
I tell him that the beer will make him sick and no, I won't buy him a beer.
By now, he is hysterical. He says, If you don't buy me a beer, I am going to throw up - maybe on you.
I says, If you throw up, I will hit you.
He jumps up from his seat and runs to the back of the plane and tells the flight attendant that I threatened to hit him and that those Americans are crazy people.
She comes to me and I told her he threatened to throw up on me if I didn't buy him a beer. OK, that ripped it for her.
She goes back and makes him sit in one of the lousy flight attendant seats in the back. He never came to his seat for the rest of the flight.
Yes, I am an American. Just like John Wayne. If you throw up on me on purpose, I will beat the crap out of you.
Those flight attendants must be saints. I don't know if she was protecting him for me or me from him. Maybe she just didn't want a fight to break out on the long flight over the Atlantic. Later, she came by my seat, sat down and we visited a while. She said I scared the bejeezers out of the poor fellow. We laughed our asses off.
That IS a funny story, Grump
. It certainly calmed the guy down, or scared him off, whatever, enough to give you an empty seat next to you! Not that you could stretch on two seats, mind you, but maybe stretch an arm out? What cheek the guy had to threaten to throw up on you! Maybe they do that in Egypt, hmmmm. I think probably not. I have known some very refined Egyptians. Or, he might have threatened to throw his shoe at you, who knows? I am just trying to picture you telling him, very quietly and firmly, that you will beat him up - I have to close my eyes and concentrate now...
A very good point, Neetu. It's not just about housing developments - it's also about industry; dichotomous in that it aids their economy, while also destroying it.
Thanks, Six - you are welcome anytime, you know!
Love that little pool with the statues.
OK, the picture with the cow skulls. That is inside the lady's room, right? I see you there in the mirror. I really hope you are not having a sit. Always look at the background before you publish a photo.
You know, covered with all those gory skulls and things, I did not notice my reflection in the mirror! Grump, no, I went in there just to take a picture - it was a ladies' and men's room. Someone else pointed that out elsewhere and I was totally caught by surprise! Anyway, thing is, I wasn't doing anything other than taking the photo and you can barely see my face, now can you? Besides, it's distorted and looks almost like those ghastly things on the wall, blends in, if I may say so.
That garden was incredibly beautiful, Six.
I never did like dead animal parts hanging on walls. Especially in restaurants. Dead fish, dead deer, antelope, elk, the skin of a dead bear, an gator's head or gator claws for coat racks. Kinda creepy, really.
All that hot chilli hanging everywhere reminds me of Albuquerque when I lived there. I would eat a chilli dog and the only humidity was on my forehead.
You should really cease ordering animal parts for dinner then . I'm gonna have some dead fish for dindin but not the head ...
Me neither!
Hmmm, you do make a point, Petey. However, I think Grump just wouldn't like to see the dead animals on the wall, but maybe on the plate is okay
. Now if they served up a cow's head on a plate, that would gross me out! Well, they do serve pig's heads on plates in Austria, though...but I never ate any of it!
Now you never told me you lived in Albuquerque, Six! You already know what I am talking about
- and all I am doing is talking, talking, talking about something you are familiar with! Oh well! You should be used to that kind of humidity then, aren't you
?
I'd probably go to jail as soon as they opened the doors at the destination nowadays.
Lol, it would be, wouldn't it? Get the lawyers!
We were flying from Madrid to New York. If he thought he was going to puke, he should have gone to the lavatory to do so. Sitting next to me and threatening to puke on me if I didn't buy him a beer was a bit much. Maybe he got the puking idea from camels. Well, he was from Egypt and they have puking camels there.
I am guessing that just threatening to hit someone on a plane these days might get one arrested. Maybe that episode wasn't one of my best, but it sure worked and I didn't get Egyptian barf on me and that's what matters.
Neetu, the road from Flagstaff to Albuquerque goes through some very desolate country. When you drove through that area, things were very dry. Now the rains have returned to New Mexico and Arizona and everything is coming back to life and turning green. The native grasses, Buffalo Grass and Blue Gramma Grass, can go from dry and dead looking to a beautiful green nearly over night. Sorry you missed the beautiful green landscape of the desert after a rain. The landscape is very different now.
What credentials do you need to be able to be a trave writer????
Hmmm Let's see here: Can you board a plane, car, bus, yacht, cruise ship...? Check!
Can you travel to wonderful destinations around the world and find something worth writing about??? Check!!
Can you write a descriptive essay telling about those wonderful things in way that arouses interest and makes people want to g to the destination??? Obviously that is a big check!!!
You're all set. Get going!
I bet it is gorgeous now, Grump. But as I said in the article, there is something about the sparseness of a desert too, which impresses the mind. Maybe you could post some pictures of how it looks now? with your new camera?
Justice, what might that be??
Enlighten me, please. And thank you.
No car rides in a Federal limo for me, tyvm.
Bullwinkle, they take harassment of any kind towards the Crew very seriously, don't they. I do wonder if passengers ever have any altercations where they have to be separated, if possible..
Brolly, you are too sweet and always so encouraging - thank you! Since you have checked everything for me, all I need to do is find someone willing to hire me, right? Now let's see...
Could you please STOP changing your name?????????????The way it goes, I have even forgotten what identity you started out with!
Neetu,
Your photo essays are just outstanding!
That means a lot to me, Mac, coming from you. Thank you.