santa fe

sorry folks! i got up here to glorieta on wednesday, and today (sunday) was my first real day out. i came down with something, probably in the dread state of arizona, and have spent the last few days recovering and hanging around glorieta--i'll probably write a post on it soon. but because of this, i was determined to have a fun and full day. so mid-morning i headed to one of my favorite cities--santa fe. that's it above, with the st. francis basilica in the background, just off of the city square, to the right. it being a weekend during the summer, the city was pretty busy. i parked my car and walked around, since i find this city, which is quite old and has few straight streets in the old part, is quite pedestrian friendly. i love new mexico because you never know what you will see. in the square i saw a father and son going at it on a set of xylophones, as well as a woman playing beatles songs on a spanish guitar. there were people everywhere, and of all sorts, too. part of the reason that i like this state is that there are so many distinct cultures--native, mexican, spanish, anglo--and they all seem to get along better here. mind you, they still have their problems, but better than most anywhere else i've been. it helps that everyone makes most of their money off of the indians.

but i digress. santa is a town which thrives on art and jewelry. pretty much every store in the city sells both. and a good deal of pottery and clothes as well. it has a pretty good opera, great markets and festivals, and fantastic food. i wandered around for a while, taking in the city, which feels more like home than any other place i have been since i left home.

but the reason that i came to santa fe today, in particular, was because i was meeting jacob and his dad for lunch. yay! it was nice to see a friendly face, finally, after the flagstaff fiasco. we had a great meal at the popular guadalupe cafe--we all had huevos rancheros, despite it being close to two--and good conversation. they live in albuquerque and were on their way back from a weekend trip to denver, so hopefully i will get to see jacob again as i head back south. they decided that the chile sauce there was destinctly nortena (sorry about the lack of accent) as opposed to what they were used to. i just thought it was good chile, and wish that i had taken a picture of the restaurant. after lunch i went and grabbed my laptop, headed to an internet cafe/studio to get some internet, which i had been without since flagstaff. i bought a latte and sat inside to work. this guy was outside for several hours--i had seen him earlier in the day, before lunch--and was still there when i left. i think he's friends with the owner. it was neat to see all of these other locals come up and say hi to him: it seemed like it was his regular spot. and i liked his hat. like the pottery fountain above, you never know what you will find.

after going and praying in the now slightly less crowded basilica, i went back to my car to drive the 14 miles back to glorieta. it turned out that it was a good thing i did, because it started to rain directly. on the way out i snapped this picture of the first baptist church--even it is adobe, or at least something that looks like it. santa fe is not as uniform as the smaller taos to the north, but i would say that about 90% of it is adobe.

on the way back i decided to drive a little further north to visit the pecos national historic park, another 8 miles or so north of glorieta. pecos itself i have renamed the city of wild dogs, since i almost hit three different dogs, one of them twice. maybe they just let them run around? anyway, like a lot of small new mexican towns, pecos is not very rich and not very worried about it. the park itself and the ruins are fascinating. it protects the ruins of an ancient pueblo, as well as a spanish mission built in the early 17th century. the picture to the right is of the old mission, with the taller part being the old cathedral. you can walk around and see what the old buildings used to look like and what used to be where, as well as the beautiful landscape in which it is set, pictured below. if you take a 3/4 mile loop tour you can see what remains of the pueblo, which is significantly less than the mission. the park also sits on part of the old santa fe trail, a wagon trail which led from franklin, mo to santa fe. why everything from trails to railroad tracks is named after this city, or why everything ended here, i attribute to the wonderfulness of the city itself. anyway, by the time i had walked around the ruins, the park was about ready to close, so back to glorieta i went.