Albuquerque

Right now we're in Santa Fe, having spent the last 2 days in Albuquerque. As you can see from the 2 photos just above, Albuquerque is flat and not very lush. It spreads out very far, probably farther than you'd expect 800,000 people to spread but they almost all live in one story buildings. I think you can count the high buildings ( greater than 3 stories) on one hand. In the photo just above, I noticed these people painting in the lot below our hotel room. I couldn't imagine what it was they were painting and so the photo just above it to demonstrate the view that the painters had. It is a puzzling place simply because there doesn't seem to be much landscape wise to attract people. I didn't get a good look at the Rio Grande but perhaps the river valley is quite lovely. I watched a film in the art museum about the development of the city and for awhile (50's -60's)it was the fastest growing city in the states. They interviewed people that had moved here at that time and a number of the people remembered looking out their windows of their new bungalows in the new subdivisions, and just crying because there was nothing to see, just Mesa for miles and miles. I have to admit that somehow it seems even more stark than the prairie, there seems to be less plants. Its glory however is in the light. The most intense bright sun imaginable. Joop thinks that it is brighter than I remember Saskatchewan to be because of the nearness to the equator. It is almost blinding.

The history of the area is most interesting. In one of the photos you can see Joop helping to push the cart of the first colonizers in 1598. These were a number of Spanish families that moved up from the south. It appears to have been exceedingly difficult for them. The trade routes ran only south - north and the mother country (Spain) wasn't to gracious at getting them supplies that they could not source locally. This meant no iron for tools, which in turn meant no furniture (they were apparently lacking carpentry skills anyway). So it seems that they modeled some of their lifestyle on the local pueblo indians, who lived in caves and mud huts etc.. I am trying to understand how the plethora of artistic materials which seem to represent this area are so tied to the natives. Despite the Spanish colonists horrid treatment of them (enslavement, lack of any kind of trading fairness) all of the things for sale are somehow related to the initial natives - pottery, weaving, turquoise jewelry, etc...It is almost overwhelming shopping in these areas because there is so much of everything: pots, blankets, jewelry. I can't begin to imagine picking out a piece of jewelry to bring home, there is just too much.

Touring old town in Albuquerque, the initial settlement from the 1600's (see the photos above - Joop in old town plaza, Joop in a restaurant with the tree in it ( restaurant from 1700's) one was awash in Native art and nostalgia for the good old highway Route 66. Things only improved for these initial colonizers in a material sense only after the Santa Fe trail opened up in the 1800's which was a trading route that originated in Missouri.

The current residents of Albuquerque apparently pride themselves on being unpretentious. There seems to be a strong sense of us vs. them about the university students. When we asked our hotel bartender which of two areas were worth seeing - downtown or Nob Hill, he quickly replied Nob Hill because downtown on a Thursday night would be too full of university types. Interestingly both areas are located on the old Route 66 - just a long line of commercial establishments snaking through the city.

We took the scenic route to Santa Fe. Just undulating hills covered in scrub trees that seem to be Junipers. Still a sense of vegetation having a real struggle to establish itself. Most probably due to the dryness.

Santa Fe seems like a delightful place. It has a population close to 80,000, sort of like Kamloops and so far the shops around the plaza amaze even me. I have seen merchandise in the windows (it was evening when we arrived) that I couldn't even imagine- a liqueur set in this amazing beveled glass display case that folds open, beautiful embroidered skirts, too much to even take in.

We are staying in a lovely bed and breakfast just 2 blocks from the plaza. So far we have to work hard to avoid the mexican food. It is good - and just like Yanni warned us - we have to ask which of the chili sauces always on offer,either red or green, is the hot one that day. We are only working to avoid it so that we don't have to eat it 3 times a day.

Today I turn 46. I hope that Santa Fe will provide me with birthday entertainment.