Reflections on New Mexico

Made it back to one of my favorite states, land of enchantment. It is a mystical, beautiful place. When I went to Taos last year, I went to this restaurant that was like stepping back in time 400 yrs. It was a free-standing adobe place with ancient wood floors and things hanging on the wall like cow skulls and this awesome painting of Christ made to look indigenous. In that area, I drove over the rio sangre de cristo, river of the blood of Christ. I Iove how the rivers here cut through the reddish orange clay. All that combined with the history of Taos Pueblo gave me an image of Christ crucified on top of a New Mexican mountain with his side pierced and his blood flowing out and forming rivers through the countryside, maybe a couple adobe casitas in the foreground. If I do say so, that would make an excellent tattoo or a painting if you did it in gold leaf like an orthodox icon.

Taos Pueblo is a village of stark beauty and powerful history.  Some of the most interesting aspects of their heritage is the interplay between Spanish conquering/exploitive forces and the indigenous people, the melding of architectural styles, and they manner in which the indigenous spirituality became fused with Judeo Christianity.  The adobe dwelling found in the pueblo date back centuries and were the basis for the architecture one sees all throughout the state.  On the pueblo, there are two churches, one in use today and the other in ruins.  The current cathedral features art depicting the harvest and seasons mixed with the stages of the cross and the brightly-colored altar.  The original church was destroyed twice.  The first time was due to the tribe's animosity from having Christianity imposed upon them by the colonial Spanish forces.  The second time, two hundred years ago, as a reaction to a political assassination by members of the tribe, US soldiers burned the building down with dozens of men, women, and children inside, seeking refuge from the seige.  The adjacent cemetery must stay uniform, every member of the tribe continues to be buried there with uniform white cross markers in the desert brush next to the ruins.  A nearby mountain provides potable fresh water as it always has.  The river has become a focal point of their spirituality, with this being revived most notably after Jimmy Carter passed legislation undoing the outlawing of Native American religious practices and dances are regularly performed on the mountain at the river's headwaters.
Both Santa Fe and Old Town Albuquerque are villages designed in a Spanish style with a central Square adjacent to the cathedral.  Both have great shopping, amazing food (La Choza in Santa Fe and El Pinto in northern Albuquerque are my favorites), and cultural opportunities.  Silver jewelry and other Native American art forms are available for purchase in abundance in Santa Fe at a wide range of price points, from simple/handmade pieces sold by folks in the square, to bracelets made of giant pieces of silver, turquoise, and other gemstones by artisans.  Browsing alone is worth the visit.  There are Indigenous museums and cultural centers in both places as well as striking, beautiful nature and houses in the surrounding areas.  Often times, I tend to feel that signs of human habitation detract from the beauty of nature, but in New Mexico, murals, shops, and especially adobe homes, add a great deal to the value and stateliness of the countryside.

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