Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

 



 This Pueblo is inhabited by the Red Willow Indians and is known as the Taos Pueblo.



 



 

This is only a portion of the main northern structure, which has been inhabited continuously for over 1,000 years.  Some of the homes have been converted into shops for tourist trade while others are still used as homes.  There is a restriction on electricity or running water within the village.  Homes have little fireplaces and some have wood stoves for heating or cooking.  The walls are at least a foot thick and keep the inside cool in summer and warmer in winter.  A large quantity of homes are in this complex - homes are built side by side, sharing common walls, ceilings, etc.  Individual homes are anywhere from 1 to 3 rooms.

 

The construction is adobe brick, which consists of dirt, straw and water formed into bricks.  They are dried and then stacked with more adobe mixture between them.  The structure is then plastered with more adobe mixture.  As it ages, the straw shows through.

The majority of the population is Catholic, but the native culture and way of life is evident in the total population. 

 

The photo below is a shot of a couple Kivas, which are their sacred religious shrines.  This area is off limits to visitors, and they are underground, with sticks marking the entrance.

 

 

The photo below shows a typical house with the ladder to get to the roof and a bunch of dried chiles hanging on it.  Entrances were through a hole in the roof in the early days and ladders were needed to get inside.  In order to help protect themselves from invasion, they would just pull the ladder up on the roof.  



Most of the homes have only one oven, this one has two.  An oven is called horno and they are still used, especially for large quantities of food.  Wood is used to warm up the oven, then the food is put in.  The pieces of board in this photo just cover the opening.

The cemetery is sacred and no one is allowed to enter unless there is a funeral.  This is why it looks unkempt, they do not maintain it because they would have to enter it.  The ruins within the walls of the cemetery are the church that was damaged by US troops in the 1800s

 

This area was fascinating and I walked through the area at least twice.  They have several shops that open during the morning, with all sorts of goods for sale, including beautiful native pottery, jewelry, paintings.  There are also baked goods for sale, including fry bread, oven bread and cookies.  I had to try the fry bread, which was pretty good with cinnamon and sugar on it.



Enchanted Circle

 

  

I took a trip around the Enchanted Circle, starting and ending at Taos, New Mexico.  This circle of roads goes around some of the ski areas of northern New Mexico, thereby allowing for great scenery and a fun day trip.

I started early in the morning and drove north into the Carson National Forest.  I kept stopping at different areas to take photos.   The first town on the way was Questa, which wasn’t much of a tourist destination, but seemed like a nice little town.

Moving along, the roads were good and not at all crowded, and took me up to almost 8700’ and the ski resort town of Red River.  This area was very crowded due to a chili cookoff/music festival this weekend.  The main street  is situated between 2 mountain areas and is a very touristy place.  They make use of the ski lifts during the summer by giving rides up to the top at 10,000’.  I was feeling the effects of lower oxygen saturation, but I walked around town for a while, checking out some of the shops.

My next stop was Eagle’s Nest, a smaller town, and less touristy.  I had lunch there in a little restaurant that had all sorts of memorabilia for decorations – ice skates, vintage hub caps and chrome car names on the walls.  There were a few old license plates and a traffic stoplight in the corner. The menus were glued on old music LPs.  After lunch I went into a little shop that had a variety of rocks, minerals and crystals for sale.  Very pretty stuff, and some of them are priced anywhere from $5 up, mostly up.  I’ve seen some that are priced in the hundreds. 

The weather in this area was very pleasant – sunny, with a few clouds and about 75, with low humidity – just right for running around without AC in the truck and walking around these towns. 

On the way to the next town, Angel Fire, another ski resort, I stopped at one of the state parks and took the photos shown below. 

 

The prairie dogs are plentiful in this area.  They will stand by the side of the road or run across the road even with vehicles coming by.  I tried to get some good photos of them on the trail to the lake, but they wouldn’t come out of their burrows.  I got this photo at the last little town I stopped at today.
                        
Coming home, the roads were mostly downhill and very twisty, with lots of turns and brought me down to about 6700’, where I’ve been staying.  Along the way, I had to stop and take photos of a cute little house – a bit of a fixer-upper.  Check it out……

 

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, Taos, New Mexico

 

The above photo shows the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos, about 650 feet deep, with a small river running through the bottom.  Further south, the river widens and there are rafting tours down the river on a pretty swift current.

Below is a photo showing the bridge going over the gorge.  As I was driving up to the bridge, there were green fields, a little bit rolly, but mostly flat valley land.  As I got closer, I could see the deep gorge where it made a cut in the land.  I didn't look down when I crossed the bridge, since I really don't like heights.  I didn't want to see how far down it was.

 





I might have mentioned that I really don't like heights, but there's a walkway on the bridge, on both sides, with spaces to step away from traffic to view the bridge.  It was there, and it was the only way I could get a decent photo of the gorge, so I had to walk over to the viewing space, which is where I got the first photo above.  As I was standing there, taking photos and looking down at the river, a large truck drove over the bridge and I could feel the vibration as he passed.  That was while I was taking the photo below, looking directly down from the bridge.  I was glad that someone had just told me the bridge had been refurbished recently.

 

 

After getting my shots of the view, I carefully looked for traffic on the bridge and crossed over to the other side, where I got a few more shots of the gorge.  Then I walked back to the safety of land and back to my truck. 

 

That gorge is definitely dramatic.  I can imagine back years ago when the river cut it's way through the valley, it would have been a very deep river at that time.