Enjoying New Mexico despite Wisconsin Weather

Keeping ourselves busy in New Mexico has let three weeks slip by quickly. We entered NM right before Aña's golden birthday on the 28th of January. After checking out the Roswell alien scene we were able to make it to hot springs for her b-day. We had read about the hottest hot springs in northern NM just outside of Las Vegas (NM!). With a wonderful couch surfing host secured nearby, we soaked to our hearts content. There was a nice cluster of three tubs near a small river overlooking the campus of the Montezuma World School. The tubs ranged from 98°F to 108°F. The morning of her birthday we awoke super early and made it into the tubs a half hour before sunrise. A wonderful way to start the day.

We actually had great weather too; stripping down to t-shirts during the day. We spent our non-soaking time reading adventures of John Long and exploring Las Vegas. Several factors make the town quite charming. First, there are trees, which were absent in the barren lands around Roswell. Secondly, many buildings around town and especially around the town square still have a retro or colonial look. It was also pleasant to sense a general “laid-back” vibe to the people. Many locals speak Espanglish, which I found entertaining to listen to. It was common to hear sentences and even parts of sentences alternate between Spanish and English. A heavy local slang makes it a little tricky to understand. There is also 14th and 15th century Spanish spoken by some of the decedents from Spanish immigrants of the conquistador era.

After two nights by the Montezuma Hot Springs, it was onto Taos. The downtown area was shockingly touristy. We noticed as soon as we began entering Taos that all the buildings are made to look like Adobe, even the McDonald's. It wasn't long before Aña coined the term “faux-dobe”, or fake adobe, for this this facade based architecture. We explored to kill time hoping to hear from a couch surfing host. With darkness and the desert's cold night approaching we decide to make way for a nearby hostel. On our way we stopped by a natural food store and eyed up the bulletin board. We notice that a sweat lodge ceremony was scheduled for the very next morning. In need of some spiritual consoling and a good sweat we decided to make it our next day's activities.

After awaking in the congested hostel we did some cleaning as part of our lower price bargaining. Then we bought some fruit as an offering to share at the sweat lodge ceremony. We found the house on the outskirts of Taos where the ceremonies are held. We almost decided to abort after meeting the woman who would lead the ceremony and upon realizing we were the only ones attending. I am so very glad, however, that we decided to see it through. It was one of the most beautiful lodge ceremonies I've attended (out of five to date). Aña is working on a more detailed and poetically expressed account of the experience. That will be posted shortly!

With Couch Surfing hosts still not replying we were a little frantic trying to find a place to stay. We had contemplated camping before learning temperatures would be dropping to 1°F that night and snow was expected. Amazingly, word reached a friend, of a friend, of a friend who was happy to take us in. Kim and Kelly were a friendly hippy couple that put us up for three nights. We hadn't planned on staying that long, but we were snowed in! We received about 9” of snow and night-time temperatures plummeted to -25°F; below zero. Still, we managed to visit the Rio Grande Gorge and check out some Earth Ships. The Earth Ship structures are incredible, but require massive amounts of labour.

We fled south to Santa Fe only to find more sub-zero temperatures. Luckily we had warm company making friends with wonderful Couch Surfing hosts. We had some frigid hikes around the historic downtown, but relished our time conversing with our hosts. Great conversations about traveling and community building. Two nights in Santa Fe and it was time to head to Iron Wood Farm just South of Albuquerque.

Now, we've been at the farm for just over a week. We found the farm through W.W.O.O.F.; world wide opportunities on organic farms (see link on the right of this blog site). We've been staying very busy getting trained to preform the basic routine and help with miscellaneous projects. Twice daily we feed and water the goats, sheep, cows, ducks, chickens, and Aña has been milking the milk cow, Reina. We've also fixed frozen pipes, rebuilt a chicken coup, modified the green house, cleaned out ditches, put up fences, hauled scrap materials, and butchered a sheep. At night we've been spending our time hanging out with another wwoofer here, Phil. We became instant friends with Phil, a Poli-Sci, major, while ranting about global politics and doing some exploring.