Month: November 2017

Knowing that Greg wouldn’t be available until 8:00 PM, we decided to take the High Road from Taos to Santa Fé based on recommendations I read on the internet. There were some beautiful sights just outside of Taos, including golden Aspen Groves.

Our first major stop was the Picuris Pueblo, supposedly known for its “beautiful arts, crafts, and pottery.” Unfortunately upon arrival we learned that they Gallery/Gift Shop/Restaurant were closed for the season. It turned out that there was still a $5.00 fee to enter the reservation and another $15.00 fee to take photographs. I kind of assumed that if they were charging another 15 dollars that there must be some great shots to be taken.

The church was beautiful, though not as striking as the church we had seen at the Taos Pueblo the day before.

The church was the highlight of our visit, and I found the almost childlike simplicity of the altar

and this display

truly beautiful.

I found the 400 year old kiva less impressive.

Unfortunately, I left feeling that I had been ripped off with the photography surcharge, and a little exploration on the internet revealed that I wasn’t alone in the feeling that way. Though there might be a few special holidays when it would be worthwhile to visit, our visit didn’t turn out to be so.

We had an equally unhappy experience at the Nambe Pueblo where I had intended to visit their waterfall, the second highest in New Mexico. The sign at the entrance said the park was open, but after driving ten miles down the road we found the gates locked and a sign warning that trespassers would be prosecuted.

It wasn’t a complete waste of time, though, as I pulled over and took some shots of the striking landscape.

In retrospect, if I were to make the trip again I would have researched the artist tour and focused more on visiting studios hidden off the road. We only managed to visit two of them but were quite impressed by both, even if I didn’t take any pictures At both places I was seriously tempted to spend a lot more money than I could afford. The first place had beautiful pottery and watercolors. The second was a weaving store; as much as I admired one coat, I couldn’t justify the $600 price tag though the handwork more than justified the price.

After last year’s trip to Mesa Verde I was eager to further explore America’s Southwest Indians, particularly the Pueblo Indians this year. I hoped to extend our explorations to New Mexico and Arizona. After Leslie’s classmate’s invitation to visit in Santa Fé, I searched the internet for nearby places to visit. The most obvious was the Taos Pueblo, “one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States.”

I’ll have to admit, though, that the pueblo wasn’t quite what I was expecting. In retrospect, I’m not sure what I was expecting, certainly something closer to what I saw in Mesa Verde last year. I thought “pueblo” described a particular kind of architecture, not that it was simply a synonym for “village.”

The Catholic Church that stands at the entrance of the Pueblo was the first indication that this was not going to be Mesa Verde.

As it turned out, Catholic Churches stood out everywhere I went in New Mexico, but especially in the small Pueblos.

It was only from a distance that Taos Pueblo reminded me of the Mesa Verde ruins,

but the brightly painted doors (and parked cars, of course) didn’t quite seem to fit in.

The other part of the village, across Red Willow Creek, looked even more traditional, at least from this angle.

Much of the village looked like a Western trading post, like this café which served a delicious green chili and fried bread.

Perhaps the most interest site to me was this church what was destroyed by the U.S. Army after braves killed Governor Charles Bent in a Taoist revolt during the Mexican-American War in 1847.

Apparently the warriors were under the illusion that they would receive sanctuary there. American troops bombarded the church killing or capturing those inside. Our tour of the village began with a visit to the destroyed church.