A trip home to New Mexico (warning - large photos)

[timmy]

Folks:

It is getting nearer to that time of year when my Wife and I like to head back home and get rejuvenated. I have hesitated too long, but here I will post photos of our previous trip there. I've tried to trim down the number of photos I'm posting, since these are pretty large. They are all 1024 x 786 and may not fit well on a small screen, but you can right click and open them in their own window if you see one that tickles your fancy.



This is the plaza in Old Town Albuquerque. Albuquerque is the largest town in New Mexico, but not the oldest. It was founded in 1706 by a scam. Back in those days of the Spanish Empire, municipalities were ranked in five sizes, and the smallest required 25 families in order to be recognized. Albuquerque only had 17, but lied. To "schmooze" their application through the Council of the Indies, the body in Spain that handled these matters, they named the new town "Alburquerque," after an eminent Spanish/Portuguese family, one of whom was the Viceroy of New Spain. (Nowadays, the first "r" is left out and the name is "Albuquerque." Albuquerque was well-suited as a crossroads of East-West and North-South routes, and grew quickly with the coming of railroads. All Spanish towns would have plazas, and most towns of any size in Northern New Mexico will have a plaza, as well. Folks owned their house and surrounding property, and the land around the town was held for grazing, wood-gathering, hunting, and other common use.



Through the trees, you can see the church of San Felipe de Neri. The gazebo in the center of the plaza is very popular for weddings. We have seen three weddings held there on a Saturday, one right after the next! You may note the cannons, there is an interesting history behind them, as well.



This is a Model 1841 Mountain Howitzer. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1841_Mountain_Howitzer) Compact and handy, they were pulled by horses and served as a giant shotgun in battle. You can see one at the Battle of the Big Hole in Montana, where Colonel Gibbon's forces fought the Nez Perce to a draw in 1877. One accompanied John C Fremont on his expedition to California, and is still resting in some unknown spot in a valley in the Sierra Nevadas. XL has shown pictures of these in some of his Minnesota photos. These were a group of 8 or 10, which were captured by the Confederates during the Civil War. Confederate forces got as far as Santa Fe, until they were defeated by the Union forces in the Battle of Glorieta Pass.

The original settlers of modern-day Arizona (which had been part of New Mexico Territory) came from Texas, and Arizona is more or less a Texas Junior to this day. They favored secession from the Union and defeated Union forces in Southern New Mexico. The South sought to obtain a Pacific outlet for a transcontinental railroad route after the War, and Texas had always sought to grab Santa Fe like they grabbed El Paso. Union forces from Colorado defeated the Confederates soundly at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, east of Santa Fe. The hero of the day for the Union was one Major John Chivington, who later became infamous for his massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho Native Americans at Sand Creek after the War.

Confederate forces needed to clear out of Northern New Mexico as a result of their defeat, and unable to take these mountain howitzers with them, they buried them not far from the Plaza. Sometime in the 1880s, one of the former Confederate officers returned to Albuquerque and showed the townspeople where the howitzers were buried. They were dug up and put on display, but the ones you see today are actually replicas -- the bronze tubes alone of these guns would be worth a fortune!



We like staying at a small motel near Old Town when in Albuquerque. It is on Central Avenue, which is the famed old Route 66, often called "The Mother Road" in the USA. We like staying in a place that has character, rather than being a bland sort of place one can find anywhere. Right behind the motel is this house, which is fairly typical of the older houses in the area -- except! You will note the telephone pole in front of the house. Those are women's high heeled shoes stapled all around and up the pole, all the way to the top. The fellow has all kinds of junk in the front yard, like pyramids of bowling balls. I could not find a picture of his station wagon, which is totally covered with wine bottle corks.







This is the old Kimo Theater downtown. This was an architectural style one finds in some towns (like the Mayan in Denver) and is sort of a Mayan art deco design. Built in the 1920, today, the theater operates as an "art house," occasionally showing films that aren't playing anywhere else.

[timmy]

For us, a trip to Albuquerque isn't a real trip unless we go to some of our favorite places. Behind the church on the Old Town Plaza is the Church St. Cafe, in the oldest building in Albuquerque.



Tony has been waiting on us for 20 years, and recognizes us even when we haven't been back for a few! What's going home if you can't see old friends? Note the typical adobe construction, which is mud-dried clay, covered with adobe stucco. The standard size adobe brick is 14" x 10", but older buildings can have any size bricks. The vigas, or beams, are usually left like this, although in some buildings they may be decorated with carvings and then painted.



This is on the Sandia Pueblo, looking south toward Albuquerque and the Sandia Mountains. Native Americans living in one of the 19 pueblos are descedents of a large empire that once inhabited the Four Corners region, where New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah meet. A thousand years ago, a great 30 year drought brought an end to this empire, and the survivors scattered throughout the region, which now includes the 19 pueblos in New Mexico and the Hopi Reservation in Arizona.

The old Spanish Conquistadors, like Don Juan de Oñate, founder of New Mexico, had a whimsical sense of humor that is reflected in many place names. "Sandia" is Spanish for watermelon -- the old Conquistadors thought that the mountains took on the color of watermelons in the setting evening sun.



A closer look at the sacred buffalo at Sandia Pueblo. Note the stout timbers used for fenceposts. I doubt that these are sufficient to keep a determined buffalo in -- but as long as they have something to eat and drink, they are willing to hang out and let folks think that they "own" the buffalo! I guess everyone is happy, since everyone is getting what they want.

[timmy]

After leaving Albuquerque, we traveled west on I 40, which follows the route of old Route 66, passing the Acoma Pueblo (which is a fascinating, magical place!) and heading on to the Zuni Pueblo near the Arizona border. Zuni is the largest Pueblo and is quite unique. Zuni is about 40 miles south of Gallup, and north of Gallup is the huge Navajo reservation, most of which is in Arizona. Navajo artisans are skilled at working in silver, which the Spanish brought to the New World. Zuni artisans specialize in silver inlay work, using turquoise, jet, mother of pearl, and coral for these inlays. For well over a thousand years, the Pueblo people traded with Native Americans from the Gulf Coast, the Pacific Coast, Mexico, and Central America. For instance, the symbol of the Laguna Pueblo is the parrot, which is found far south of these areas. The civilization that has existed in this area for millennia is quite sophisticated -- there is much more than meets the eye!



Once getting past the sandstone cliffs that divide Laguna Pueblo from Acoma, the land flattens out into a high altitude plateau.





A considerable amount of rail traffic parallels the highway.



Turning south at Gallup and traveling to Zuni Pueblo, we come to the sacred Corn Mesa, which is the symbol of the Zuni Pueblo. Folks don't go on top of this mesa, as it is considered sacred ground.



The only place to stay in Zuni is a bed and breakfast. This and other surrounding buildings, including a grocery store and school, were built by a Dutch Reformed missionary back in the 1890s. This and another building, located in the very center of Zuni, were converted to a bed and breakfast and consist of old adobe buildings. When we first went here years back, the granddaughter of the missionaries and her French husband ran this place. Sadly, she's since passed away and her husband, daughter, and son-in-law run the place today.



Our room was this small one at the top



which has a great view! (you can't see Corn Mesa beyond, but we could!)



It's always good to travel with a friend.

[timmy]

The next day, we drove back up to Gallup to do a little shopping. There are a lot of places in Gallup that sell Native American crafts, such as jewelry and pottery. Between the two of us, you may guess which of us is into what...



While Gail was trying on jewelry, I was speaking with Aaron Anderson, a noted Navajo artist who creates modern designs in silver. New Mexico folks are quite friendly in a very easy-going way. It's never hard to strike up a pleasant conversation, and I've had many with folks on the street who I had never met before or since.



We stopped at five trading spots that day, as well as Blake's. Blake's is a New Mexico tradition. While there are the regular fast food hamburger places in New Mexico too, no self-respecting New Mexican would eat there. A New Mexican goes to Blake's, where they cook your food on a big grill right in front of you and slather the burger with a mound of tasty green chile! Yum!

So amongst other baubles, Gail needed a new watch and we found this one in a pawn shop. After haggling with the shop owner for a bit, Gail was back on time and we took this to send it to the kids -- so they could see that we were behaving!









We got a pretty good blow of snow while in Gallup, and when we headed home that evening, it had let up. New Mexico has always been a favorite haunt of artists, and when some folks see their work, they consider some artists' use of color to be exaggerated. As you can see from our drive home that night, colors can be quite vivid in New Mexico.

[timmy]

After spending New Year's in Zuni, we went back through Albuquerque and headed north to Taos. We stopped south of Taos at Ranchos de Taos, a small town a few miles south. Like most Northern New Mexico towns, Ranchos de Taos has its own little plaza, which is dominated by the famous San Francisco de Asis church -- much photographed by folks from around the world.



You will note the farolitos on the wall -- these are traditional Northern New Mexico Christmas decorations. Nowadays, they are usually electric, but not too long ago, they were still done the traditional way by using small paper bags with a hand full of sand in the bottoms, and small candles placed inside. The effect is quite nice, especially on a snowy night.



Inside the gate, you draw near to the church building proper, and its massive adobe walls.







The adobe is massively thick. Usually, the ground is quite stable, but masonry like this is very heavy. If there is any settling of the structure, cracks can form, especially at the corners. It is then that additional structures will be built around the corners to stabilize the walls with sheer mass. You will note the viga roof beams protruding through the sides of the walls near the top, and also the canales above them to drain the roof and keep the water far from the adobe stucco of the walls.

The traditional roof treatment was also dirt -- small latillas, or long sticks between an inch or two in diameter, would be laid closely, side by side to each other across the vigas. This is done diagonally, so the entire ceiling has a herringbone look from the floor.

The adobe stucco protects the bricks from deterioration and must be renewed every so often. As long as this is done, an adobe building can last forever. The townspeople of Ranchos de Taos get together every couple of years and renew these walls. It's not uncommon to see little plant sprouts popping out of the walls in the summer!

[timmy]

About 25 miles north of Taos is Questa, and beyond is the Colorado border. All along this route for many miles, a look to the West will discover the Rio Grande valley and ample evidence of volcanic activity.





We also visited one of the places we lived, about 5 miles south of Questa on Lama Hill



This is a bit above the house. You will note that there is a depression in the center of the picture that runs under the tree and to the right of the photograph, where it runs under the road I'm standing on.



Now, toward the center-left of the picture, you see the depression heading down the hill. This is an acequia. These are used all over Northern New Mexico to irrigate farmland. They channel the runoff from the mountains through the fields. Each farmer has so much time on the acequia. He will heap up dirt and force the water out of the acequia and over his fields, and when his time is up, he will break the dam and let the water flow down the hill for someone else's time.

We lived to the right of this photograph. We had 45 minutes on the acequia every Saturday. You can see the 1.5 inch plastic pipe hanging in the tree -- every Saturday, we would jam this plastic pipe into the culvert under the road and pull it to the high side of the acequia, where you saw it in the previous picture. A little below the tree, there was a good spot to stick this hose into the acequia and get a syphon going. In the winter, like now, I'd head over here with an axe to keep the ice from getting too thick.

The hose was about 50 feet long and below this tree in the field were two 1000 gallon tanks. I would get a syphon going in this hose and fill the tanks for our week's worth of water. We used about 1200 gallons a week for the six of us.

All worked well, as long as I walked under the hose and made sure all of the water was out of it. If not, in Winter, it would freeze inside the hose and then there was no way of getting water or thawing out the hose!



The field containing the tanks is to the left of this picture and our house was in the trees to the right. A pipe carried the water from the tanks to our house, and that's where our water came from! Much more reliable than pumps or city water.

One year, we got so much snow that the kids made tunnels all over in those trees. The snow was so deep that they never popped up out of the snow. As you might imagine, there was no way for me to drive down this hill (which also overlooks the Rio Grande Valley) and get to work. So, my boss would come down from Colorado to work in his 4 wheel drive and pick me up on the highway, after I snowshoed down the hill. Nobody was in Taos at that time and we would have the restaurant practically to ourselves for lunch. Those were wonderful days -- it is very hard to forget a sight like this, going to work every day.

We went to Colorado, where my old New Mexico boss and mentor has a ranch that has been in his family since his ancestors settled it sometime after the Mexican American War. We had a great time and came back a different way, on the other side of the Rio Grande Valley, and past Mt. San Antonio. This his home to a huge herd of elk. It was -28°C when we got back to Al's house from the restaurant and we didn't hit the road until around 2am. I don't know how cold it was by then, but the windows kept frosting up. The night was absolutely crystal clear and bright, as it is only when it's this cold and you are 8000 feet + high in altitude. But we kept a sharp eye out and the elk who were standing in the road had time to get out of our way as we slowed and drew near to them. I'm so sorry I couldn't get a picture of that for you all!

I hope you enjoyed these few pics of our last New Mexico trip.

[nagarifle]

thanks Timmy, some awesome pics, what about the night life?

i once did a grayhound ride from Boston to LA, 3 day and night of back braking ride. not sure if touched New Mexico or not but it was very interesting to go through mid west towns.

[brihacharan]

Hi timmy,
> Thanks for sharing a wonderful experience & interesting snippets of history....
> The photographs add to the pictorial narration (well captured)

Briha

[xl_target]

Nice images Tim.
Never been to New Mexico but it looks so desolate to eyes used to Minnesota's greenery.
The colors are fantastic in some of those images.

I suppose Adobe buildings are wonderfully cool in the summer.

[timmy]

I suppose Adobe buildings are wonderfully cool in the summer.

They are not magic, but it has seemed so to me. I remember going into a lawyer's office in Taos years ago for a land matter. His office had been a house and on that hot summer's day, it was immediately apparent that it was much cooler inside. I told them that their air conditioning worked well, until they corrected me and sad that there wasn't any.

Taos has large groves of trees in the center of town, and I think that was part of it, because an adobe standing out in the middle of nowhere will get hot without any cooling.

We generally use "swamp coolers" in New Mexico, which are simple evaporative coolers. The quick evaporation in the dry climate makes these work quite well, and they are much simpler and cheaper than refrigerated air conditioning.

The adobe makes a lot of sense because, at such high altitudes (Taos and Santa Fe are both 7000 feet), there is not much UV protection afforded by the atmosphere. Wood can decompose very quickly, so masonry is very practical. However, most new construction is stick-built, covered with stucco to match the older houses. In the old houses, the doors are usually short and narrow, and I have to stoop a little and turn sideways to get through them. The older houses also usually have narrow rooms, because the vigas, or roof beams, are kept shorter. In the picture with Tony, above, the original part of the Church St. Cafe can only get a few tables in each room.

Naga, Albuquerque has night life, but Santa Fe (much smaller) has little. Most towns roll up the sidewalks and folks provide their own entertainment. Both towns can have their rough sides. Years ago, there was a prison riot in the State Pen. We were living in Montana at the time, and folks there pride themselves on their toughness and pugilistic skills. The riot started a fire and New Mexico had to ship some prisoners temporarily to other states. An old cop that I new remarked gravely about how mean the New Mexico prisoners were! Some sections of Albuquerque can be rough, but I'm too old for the party scene, so that doesn't affect me. In general, particularly in the Hispanic and Pueblo communities, folks are the nicest people I've ever met.

It is very difficult to describe the magic of the desert. The movie Lawrence of Arabia put it best, where Arthur Kennedy asks Peter O'Toole what the appeal of the desert was. O'Toole, leaning back on the fender of his Rolls Royce armored car, says, "It's clean," and elaborates no further.

Maybe you would like to watch this youtube of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR leaving Chama and heading up to Osier, in the middle of the line. This is 3 foot gauge, and part of the old Denver & Rio Grande RR network.

[youtube][/youtube]

[Vikram]

Timmy,

Thank you very much for this wonderful travelogue. You made a lot of effort in composing the text and posting many photos. The photos themselves would have been appreciated for the visual appeal. But, your gift of explaining the historical, cultural and social background make them much more meaningful. I must say I really enjoyed the text as much as the photos. The last one is especially grand!

Best-
Vikram

[xl_target]

Tim,
Thanks for the great video.
I will have to add a C&TS ride to the bucket list.

[bennedose]

Simply breathtaking. Thanks for posting.

[Moin.]

What a beautiful landscape Timmy. Thank you for sharing the pics and for a very informative post. If it's of interest to you please do check out the works of Luis Barragán and his disciple Ricardo Legorreta. Both these architects have taken traditional mexican architecture to another level.

Regards
Moin

[timmy]

Gentlemen, my pleasure!

Moin, thanks for the tip on architects -- I'm looking into this.

One thing here -- New Mexico is actually a very different thing from Mexico. New Mexico was divided from the rest of the Spanish Empire by the Chihuahuan Desert for the over 200 years that New Mexico was part of New Spain. During that time, the city formerly known Tenochtitlan. After the Conquest, the Spanish rebuilt the city and called "Mexico" after the Mexica people, later called Aztecs. The city's influence dominated New Spain and when independence was declared, the new nation was called "The United States of Mexico."

Some people (chiefly Texans) will refer to "Old Mexico," but there is no such place: New Mexico existed officially for over 200 years before there was a "Mexico," other than the City. (Just to confuse things, not only is there a "Mexico" that is the nation and a "Mexico" that is a city, there is also a "Mexico" that is also a state!) The "New" part of "New Mexico" referred to the Spanish hope of finding another bonanza of gold and silver, not that it was a new part of an existing country or principality.

In fact, New Mexico was Spanish from 1598 to 1821, Mexican from 1821 to 1848, and American from 1848 to the present day. There are some similarities between New Mexico and Mexico, but New Mexico existed as an island in the middle of wilderness, separated by a large desert, until traders from St. Louis blazed a trail to Santa Fe in the early 1800s. The old Spanish culture remained in a way, preserved like an insect in amber, and even today, linguists will come to Northern New Mexico to study the Cervantes-like dialect that is spoken there.

Mexico actually has a huge culture of art, literature, cuisine, painting, etc., that rivals anything in Europe. Oddly enough, this Mexican culture has significant influence from East and South Asia, as it was the crossroads of a Spanish trade route that collected trade from Asia and funneled it across the Pacific to Mexico from the Philippines. That's why "Malabar Coast" spices are common in Mexican cuisine today.

New Mexico's culture was that of a small, isolated colony surrounded by hostile Native American tribes and a brutal desert. (Part of the trip from El Paso through southern New Mexico to Santa Fe consisted of the "Jornada del Muerto" (Dead man's path) because of the harshness of the climate and hostility of nomadic tribes present there.

Even though the culture of Northern New Mexico is limited and isolated, it is still quite vibrant today, and quite enjoyable to experience!