We spent the day in Taos, neither of us were overly impressed with Taos. The drive up was nice, an hours drive from Santa Fe through the "Rio Grande Canyon". We weren't in a hurry which was a good thing since we got behind a Harley Davidson Club from Santa Fe. Looked like fun but I know I would never get Carol on a bike. We toured the Taos Pueblo, which I enjoyed. Carol informed me she wouldn't move to the Pueblo even though I have some Indian heritage. I wouldn't want to live there either, but I was surprised how liveable they were. Ask Carol about the vinyl flooring, classy! After shopping in the plaza and visiting Kit Carson's home we returned to Santa Fe. We drove through Espanola, New Mexico going both ways,but we never saw much of a crowd to see Obama who there campaigning. I can't understand why he needed to campaign here as he has over 65% with local Indians and Mexicans. I guess that's another reason why I won't vote for him, can't prioritize his time.
After we returned to Santa Fe I stopped at the first Mexican restaurant I saw, "Adelita's". There were a very few people in here that spoke English, the menu offered dishes with cow tongue, cow lips, cow stomach, chicken livers and more.........hmmm, Carol and I opted for the combo plate, 1 burrito, enchilada, taco with chicken or beef with usual accompaniments. After dinner, which was very good, we found the local Kmart, purchased a few items, then returned to the RV park for the evening. Tomorrow we have no plans so I wouldn't be surprised if we headed back to the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe.
The canyon of the Rio Grande and the mountains north of Taos. From Velarde to Taos you drive through a canyon, winding roads and very scenic.
"Historic Taos Plaza" Spanish settlers began their colonization of the Taos Valley in 1616, but the Plaza dates to the late 1700s when the Don Fernando de Taos Land Grant was ceceded to the settlers from the Taos Pueblo in 1796 by Don Fernando de Chacon, Governor of New Mexico.Taos Plaza served for decades as the central meeting place in the valley and survived numerous fires that destroyed several older buildings. Taos Plaza has the distinction of being the first place in the United States, by tradition, to fly the United States Flag both day and night. In 1861, Southern sympathizers repeatedly tore down the flag flying over the Plaza. Captain Smith Simpson with the help of Kit Carson and others nailed the flag to a tall cottonwood pole and raised it over the Plaza, with the threat that anyone who molested the flag would be shot. To assure it was not torn down, the group went to St. Vrain's nearby store and took turns standing guard over the flag day and night. Since the flag was nailed to the cottonwood, it could not be lowered at dark. When military officials in Santa Fe learned of the incident, they permitted Taos to fly the flag twenty-four hours a day. Congress later granted official permission to fly the flag at Taos Plaza round-the-clock, only one of a few places in the country to do so.
Typical shopping area at the Plaza, this was an alley way.
This is the plaza of "Kit Carson's"home. Carson's home is the building with the large blue trimmed window behind the oven.
The remains of the original San Geronimo church which was built around 1619 by Spanish priests with, of course, Indian labor. The Indians of all Pueblos were forced into "Catholicism" and slavery by the Spanish. This is what eventually led to the Pueblo revolt which drove the Spanish out of the area. The Taos Pueblo was prominent as headquarters of the revolt. All the Pueblo people lived freely until the reconquest by the Spanish in the 1700's.
The San Geronimo Church that was built in 1850.
This structure at the Pueblo is over a 1000 years old. We found while visiting with residents, the walls are repaired and/or re-plastered with the mud compound at least yearly.
Part of the Pueblo. The people on the roofs were working on the structures.
The locals were mixing their "mud compound" in this bin. Then it's carried to the work area in buckets as well as buckets of water.
Red Willow Creek, very clear, good flow. The source for water for Pueblo
Carol is in this photo, standing by one the many shops in the Pueblo.
An alley in the Pueblo, notice the ovens on the right. We were fortunate to enjoy some hot fresh bread right out of the oven. It was delicious. The ladies baking the bread told us how they do it. A wood fire is built in the oven when the coals get to a specific size and color they sweep the coals out and bake the bread. It looked like they get two loads of bread baked with each fire. The coals are just sitting beside the oven so they just throw the coals back in the oven to heat it back up. They really know what they're doing.
Another large Pueblo at Taos.
Same Pueblo as pictured above, just a closer shot. Notice the pole on the right, it has a pulley at the top with a rope, it used to transport mud and water buckets to upper floors.
I took this shot at a Pueblo where a local was selling his hand made drums. I thought the texture of the wood fence, the drum with the flowering vine would make a nice picture, it did. I don't know what kind of flowering vine this was but the blue flowers were very pretty.
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