so....trying again. and next year we might go back, so we might have other amazing things to report...but to paraphrase what i said in the post that got sucked into a vortex.....
new mexico is just magic.
it has more indigenous people than i have ever seen...despite the fact that the hellish, depressing town of tuba city in arizona is meant to be the biggest conurbation of native americans. in new mexico...as in arizona, they still refer to first nation people as 'indians'....something us bleeding heart europeans would never do, but i would say in taos, santa fe and around the mountains, about 85% of the population is first nations....not to mention that we couldnt visit the pueblo of taos...the thing that i said is the oldest continously inhabited place in north america. guess why. because the spring is the time for rites and ceremonies...all the pueblos are closed for the whole month of march....how fantastic is that. i was really pissed...dont get me wrong...i wanted to go, but the fact that they were closed for their own rites for a month is something i did not expect. i thought, sadly, that all that kind of thing had been replaced by christmas, alcohol, and the hell of living on a reservation. but...not in new mexico. they have corn dances, rites in the khiva, and initiations...so we cant go for a whole month, however luckily we can visit pueblo ruins, drink great margaritas, and buy as many hopi, zuni and navaho rugs and pots as we can possibly fit in our luggage. and thats a lot...let me tells ya.
we stayed in fab adobe houses, drank margaritas almost every day, shopped till we dropped...and we all got sick in roswell. actually binni was ill before this..but we arrived in roswell in a dust storm so thick you could barely see the road. kim said we shouldnt go out in it, and she was so right, even now im coughing like i smoked a cigar yesterday. we all got a flu-like thang...it was really crap, as it ruined our time in albuquerque, and i was so ill when i got home, i spent 2 days in bed.
but we have to go back to see taos pueblo...mesa verde in colorado, and silver city ghost town. omg...just too much to see....brilliant new mexico...love it. love it, love it....