Recently returned from a week in New Mexico, a favorite destination of ours. Sometimes we drive it (1-1/2 days) or sometimes we fly, this time used Southwest Airlines via Denver. In the old days of Northwest Airlines there were 3 nonstops/day Minneapolis >> Albuquerque but with the Delta merger those mostly went away except 1 seasonal flight in summer. Delta now wants to route us via Atlanta or SLC, both 2-3 times farther flying distance, no thanks, so Southwest it is.
A month ago I was driving past a yard sale and saw a nice beige straw cowboy hat sitting on a table and I thought, aha, that’s the solution to having to wear my floppy wide-brimmed “old guy” hat on hikes in strong sun places to protect against skin cancer. Those old guy hats have the style of a tissue of Kleenex, whereas a cowboy hat is full of style. So $3 later I have a new hat. It sure is a pain to carry it on an airplane, it has to sit on a guy’s lap for each flight. Watch the Diet Coke spills.
Having visited all 50 US states there are 2 that stand out to me as being like different countries, one is Louisiana, the other New Mexico. So a bit like taking a foreign trip. We have friends with money in Santa Fe to stay with so for us it is a plush vacation. Lodging is provided in a separate guest house but since they eat all their meals out it isn’t necessarily a cheap vacation. Fortunately, Santa Fe has one of the best American restaurant scenes and the food is a bargain for the quality.
Arrived to ABQ airport, undergoing a lot of noisy renovations right now. Caught the car rental shuttle, got a good deal on a rental car but had to beg for a free water, “Enterprise always gives us free water” I said (it’s true), and it worked. Hit a lot of city traffic northbound for the 60 mile drive to Santa Fe. Arrived at the beautiful architect-designed AirBnB our friends run on their 2 acres south of the capitol, so walking distance to the plaza. Wonderful shaded outside patio with wild deer snacking, pleasant weather the whole visit, blue sky all 5 days. Views of the Rockies as well.
First night went to La Choza, a great New Mexican restaurant. New Mexican food is a bit different from Tex-Mex. There’s always the choice of red or green sauce on top, I just choose “Christmas” (half and half). Despite all the trips to NM and SF I still had not visited Taos or the Valles Caldera, so first day did a hike in the caldera, access is via Los Alamos with a security stop which was just a few questions. Had a nice hike in the pine forests of the rim of the caldera, apparently where the show Longmire was filmed. That night we waited an hour for the hottest restaurant in SF, Leo’s, a Thai/Malaysian fusion, essentially new dishes based on ingredients from those places. Very inventive and tasty, but one dish was too spicy to taste the food.
Santa Fe has a series of festivals all summer, Indian Market is probably the biggest one with 1000 native artists selling art and jewelry. Friday was the beginning of the 313th annual Fiesta de Santa Fé, a week-long series of events. Friday evening is the burning of Zozobra, a huge event where about 50,000 people gather to watch an enormous animatronic puppet burn. Conceived by an artist about 100 years ago, Zozobra is a cleansing ceremony where the town writes its “Glooms,” worries, fears, etc., on paper to stuff into Zozobra for burning and purging.
Here’s a series of videos of the burning. Chanting of “Burn him! Burn him!” can be heard from the crowd. Zozobra grunts and moans. I’d never seen drones used in this way. Loved all of it!
And yes, the modern Burning Man event is based on the older Zozobra ritual.