taos

i did so much today that i think it deserves two blog posts, at least picture-wise. today i began my three hour trek back to santa fe. the drive from red river to questa looked much like the picture above--beautiful looming cliffs and tall trees. luckily for those trees, if somewhat unluckily for me, it was overcast and sprinkling for a good part of the day. after passing through questa the land opened up. taos is in the middle of a giant plateau--what would be considered a meadow in a rainier climate. i love it because all of a sudden you are in this huge bowl, surrounded on all sides by mountains and the sky seems limitless.

my first stop on my way into taos was a few miles away on highway 64--the rio grande gorge bridge. it was built in 1965, and is today the 5th tallest bridge in the country. you really have to walk out to about the middle of the bridge to appreciate its height, because the cliffs drop away pretty suddenly. it's a wonderful view though--and to think, just a little downstream the river is a soft, flowing thing. in addition, it is always entertaining to see who will be parked near the bridge selling things--i bought a ring here once. today it was only a few anglos and this highly entertaining bus: a coffeeshop on wheels, as it were.


after spending what i deemed a suitable amount of time of the bridge, which rattles a lot whenever a car passes by, i headed into taos. my first stop was at cid's, a local food market. i was sent on the orders of my mom, for whom i bought 21 pounds of posole, 4 pounds of red chile powder, and 2 pounds of chicos. from there i headed into town, which thankfully has free parking just off of bent street. taos is a peculiar town. it has very strict building guidelines, so that all new building have to be made of abobe, or at least fake adobe. and while it's got its fair share of tourist kitsch, taos is, and has been for quite a while, an artist community. numerous painters, writers, and photographers have lived here, and there have to be more art galleries per capita than just about anywhere. there's lots of turquoise trim, dried red chiles, and plants, since they can actually water the city. for example, these two pictures were taken on opposite sides of the plaza. the town was established in 1796 and has existed under the spanish crown, mexico, under the new mexico territory, and then finally the state. like most old new mexican towns, the historic part is centered around a square. taos, though, also has another center a block to the west at bent street. this particular street houses my favorite ever bookstore: mobey dickens. not only does it have a great local and travel section, but it is one of those old family owned bookstores you can't help but love. i wandered around taos a little more, popping in a few galleries and stopping to enjoy a smoothie at a table outdoors, near where i took the picture below.



on my way south back towards santa fe i stopped at a little town four miles south of taos, called ranchos. once again i was here on a georgia o'keefe mission: she did four paintings of the san francisco de asis mission in the town, which is little more than the square. i think that ansel adams also did some pictures of the mission, but i could be wrong. the inside was beautiful traditional spanish mission style--exposed and stylized wooded beams holding up the roof, and a beautiful mural behind the alter. i would put a picture here, but i wasn't allowed to take any inside the church. the grounds were also beautiful, well done with flowers and statues of saints. thus ended part one of my return trip to santa fe.