Day 5 - We're halfway done!

Halfway through the day we got halfway through the trip. Yippee! And we have yet to leave New Mexico. Adina’s thinking of buying property and staying here. I’m not joking.

To start: We left Tucumcari on what the locals described as a ‘quick’ trip to Santa Fe. Three hours later, we arrived. The sense of distance out here is a little off for us Northeastern girls. Most of the day was spent off the interstate and on long highways where every ten minutes or so, we’d pass another car. The amount of space in this part of the country is crazy. I keep thinking of all those people crowded into Manhattan, and wonder if they’d pick up and move if they could. Then again, I probably wouldn’t. Not to mention this gas thing. Gas is damn expensive. And there’s only one gas station every 100 miles or so out here, so you’re stuck with whatever outrageous price they want to charge. Apparently, prices are lower on Indian Reservations, if anyone is traveling soon and wants to economize.

Santa Fe is lovely. I thought it was all tacky and gimmicky with the new-looking adobe buildings downtown until I found out most of them had been built 200 years ago. Adobe, man, the wave of the future. We managed to get to Santa Fe on the one weekend a year the largest Native American open-air market takes place. Blocks and blocks of gorgeous jewelry, clothes, paintings, and furs. Adina quickly went to work quizzing every single one of them on where they were from, what tribe, and how they made their jewelry. We now have the official Native American census taken. Erin and I, sadly enough, saw several people passing by with Starbucks and went off on a mission. We asked a local policeman, who radioed in to his colleagues to help us find it. That’s when we decided we liked this town.

The outskirts of Santa Fe are a little more run-down, but somewhere along that route I spotted my first mesa. Yay! We made it up to Taos, home of Julia Roberts, amongst other movie stars. This not being ski season, though, it was a little quieter in town. We went to the Abominable Snowmansion hostel, which was, well, very hostel-like. We walk up to the door and a guy comes out wearing a pink hat with fake blonde dreads and a teddy bear backpack. They also have teepees in the back you can sleep in. Despite my best efforts, it was decided that we would camp using our own tent instead, to save money. Yes, kids, I camped. Not happily, but I did. Especially as I saw 2 skunks run past the outside of the lounge/kitchen cabin. We’re in the wilderness now, and I am officially scared.

Also, I don’t have as many photos anymore as I’m starting to switch over to my 35mm real camera to get some of these amazing views out here.