Santa Fe

One afternoon we drove to a small town about 20 miles north of Santa Fe. There is a very old church there, the Santuario de Chimayo. In a tiny back room off the chapel, there is a pit of blessed earth, credited with healing power as witnessed by written testimonials and abandoned crutches hung from the walls in another room. A steady stream of pilgrims reverently collected bits of the earth in little boxes and plastic vials, prayed and lit candles. The town itself is tiny, and looks and feels more like a town off the beaten path somewhere in Mexico than in New Mexico, USA. Adjacent to the chapel is a tiny restaurant, selling famous local chiles, ground, bottled, strung into ristras to hang in the kitchen, and cooked into all of the local specialties. I'm hooked on tamales with roasted green chiles.

Santa Fe itself is growing as crazily as Raleigh, Atlanta, and Charlotte. There is a building code that mandates an adobe-like look, so Best Buy and all the other Big Boxes have a jauntier, more charming appearance outside, though the insane consumerism is identical inside to all other stores of that kind. Downtown, in old Santa Fe, the adobe is real more often than not, and a different kind of consumerism is at work. Tourism! There are probably more than a hundred art galleries, as well as museums, churches, restaurants, and open-air markets. We strolled downtown on Sunday morning, before many of the shops & restaurants were open, and still were elbow-to-elbow on the sidewalks with other visitors. We both tend to run away from crowds, so our tour of downtown was pretty brief. Still, I was like a kid in a candy store snapping photos of the plaza area.

I could see living here in Santa Fe, because of the wonderful outdoors options. Bikes are everywhere--there was the 23rd Santa Fe Century ride last Sunday out into the surrounding area--and a good bus system ensures that not everyone has to drive wherever they are going. Streets are pedestrian friendly too, and there is so much hiking, skiing, pretty much anything outdoors you want to do. We were unlucky in our weather, though, happened to be here during late-spring rains with sleet & wind. I think we'll have to come back sometime, maybe a fall visit for fiesta season.