When you visit New Mexico, whatever you do, don’t get New Mexican culture confused with Mexican culture. The two are very different, and the locals will let you know it. For starters, the Mexicans I know never eat Sopapillas like this one I had in Albuquerque.
But it goes deeper than the culinary differences. As a California Mexican, I always heard about New Mexicans who insisted they weren’t “Mexican,” they were “Spanish.” Even in my own neighborhood, some fair-skinned kids came from families who preferred this label. I don’t know if their parents came from New Mexico or what, but it didn’t matter; we insisted that by preferring to call themselves “Spanish,” they were in denial about their ethnicity, ashamed to be linked to the Mexican Indian blood that many western Latinos share.
It’s a complicated issue, but ultimately, whatever label we Latinos choose to use, the fact is, we all have our unique ancestral histories, some that we relate to more than others.
Our workamping gig at Riverbend gave us the opportunity to meet so many interesting people from all over the world. Two regulars were Ann and Roger, a couple from Santa Fe.
As longtime volunteers at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a living history museum, Ann and Roger graciously invited us to the museum’s annual “Civil War Days.”
“On July 23, 1861, Confederate soldiers mobilized out of Texas invading the New Mexico Territory… so began the American Civil War in New Mexico, a battle lasting 12 months, leaving 1300 dead, with no territorial gains for the Confederate Army.”
Every May, the museum holds Civil War Days, when hundreds of volunteers dress in costume and hold battle re-enactments, life and culture demonstrations and more.
You might have guessed by now, that I’m not the churchiest person. Spiritual, yes, churchy, no. But, as anyone born into Catholicism can tell you, once you’re in, you’re in for life. You can run away from it, but it never leaves you. Just when you least expect it, you’ll put up a velvet Last Supper painting above the TV, and stick a dashboard Jesus in your SUV.
As a recovering Catholic, I love checking out old churches. Maybe I’m subconsciously facing my fears, but the more realistic Saint statues and lit up candles they have inside, the better.
There are two big events that happen in Truth or Consequences every year. One is the annual New Mexico State Fiddler’s Festival, and the other, is the Fiesta. Last week, the fiddler’s came to town for three days..
It wasn’t the usual alt-country scene that we’re used to, with hippies, rednecks or cool cats from Austin. No, it was more like a retirement village dance. These old folks were dancing to bluegrass and western swing music long before it ever became cool again. And most of them still have their moves down.
Just as the music got swingin’, the oldest folks in the room started to leave. Then, at 9:00 PM, the announcer came out to tell us remaining kids that everyone was tired and they were ending the show early, because they had a long weekend ahead!
We went outside, got on our bikes to ride home, and prayed that none of these old people would run us down on the dark streets of T or C.
Our workamping job has been keeping us busy, but a couple of weeks ago, we made time to see not only the Trinity Bomb Test Site, but the Very Large Array (VLA) too, a collection of 27 giant satellite dishes made famous by the Carl Sagan fiction novel, “Contact,” and later made into a movie starring Jodie Foster. In the movie, Jodie Foster plays a scientist at the VLA, who is on the verge of making alien contact.
Like the Trinity Test Site, the VLA is only open for tours once or twice a year. As you head up to the desolate area where the antennas stand, it’s like walking into a Christo and Jeanne Claude art installation. With a beautiful desert mountain scenery in the background, the huge antennas standing among the plains are quite stunning.
We were lucky enough to join a small tour led by one of the VLA’s leading project managers, a female astronomer who was incredibly enthusiastic about her work on distant quasars. As she walked us over to one of the 230 ton antennas, she burst our bubble about the movie “Contact.” Although it was filmed on site, VLA projects have nothing to do with alien research or SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). The VLA’s sole purpose is scientific stellar and galactic research. The world’s largest SETI station is actually close to where we used to live, just 75 miles east of Redding, CA.
When you think of New Mexico, what do you envision? Scorching desert landscapes? Native American pueblos? I did. But since arriving here in March, we’ve learned that this dry, arid place is also a haven for technology geeks from around the world. From observatories, to military technology development, to the world’s first private space port, New Mexico offers something for the geek in all of us.
April is a perfect month for technology buffs to visit. For one day only, propeller heads can walk amongst the low-level radioactive earth on the Trinity Test Site (home of the world’s first atomic bomb test).
It always works out for the best. I keep reminding René (and myself) of that whenever we’ve been driving along time in search of the perfect place to boondock, and the day is getting long.
Recently, while visiting El Morro National Monument, we kept searching for an inconspicuous place to pull over for the night. Good thing we didn’t find one.
On our way to Santa Fe this week, we tried to “make good time” so we opted to take the interstate.
But as New Mexico’s breathtaking scenery began appearing, how could we be in a hurry? Despite our frantic timeline to get to Jerry’s oncology appointment, I wanted us to have some real fun before we dealt with the serious issue at hand. So we hit the back roads.
My Road Trip USA book has a section about Highway 53, The Ancient Way, which parallels Interstate 40 from eastern Arizona into New Mexico. This route takes you between the Pueblos of Zuni & Acoma, and was the path that Coronado took while searching for the Seven Cities of Gold. This road has been guiding traders, explorers and adventurers through the west for over a thousand years, and since we are explorers, I thought it only fitting that we hauled our rig down that two lane road too.
I have always loved the mountains. And I’ve always thought I would love to live in the mountains. After having gone directly from boondocking at Three Rivers Campground in the shadows of Sierra Blanca overlooking New Mexico’s Tularosa Valley to the smog-filled traffic jam that is Los Angeles, I can say without a doubt that mountains are a definite requirement for the next place I live. (more…)
We just had to stop at Carlsbad Caverns when passing through Whites City on our way to Roswell, NM. And we just now got around to updating all the pictures in the gallery below.
The park was under construction while we were there. But I suppose this place has really been under construction for the past few hundred thousand years or so.
When you visit New Mexico, whatever you do, don’t get New Mexican culture confused with Mexican culture. The two are very different, and the locals will let you know it. For starters, the Mexicans I know never eat Sopapillas like this one I had in Albuquerque.
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