A town like no other

Saturday, March 5, 2011

SANTA FE, NM — A yellow neon stripe of highlighter drawn by our KOA host on our map of Santa Fe showed us the way into town, nine miles from our campground. When we climbed into the truck, both our water bottles were frozen solid! It had been a very cold night, to the point that our water hose was also frozen and nothing flowed from our taps in the trailer. Good thing we’d filled our water jug last night, so Val could have his morning java.

Fortunately, Santa Fe delivered one of its 300 annual days of sunshine, though it never got so warm that we doffed our jackets. The points of interest in the town are clustered around the Plaza, a large city square with an obelisk in the centre and buildings and shops all around it. We walked through the narrow streets, which were flanked with brown adobe buildings that looked like they came straight out of a movie set in Mexico. Some had clusters of dried red peppers hanging in front, or fences made of sticks lashed together.

Our first visit was to the Basilica of St. Francis, which welcomed us with two magnificent wooden doors decorated with bronze bas-reliefs of the history of the church from the 1600s to 1986. Inside, the cathedral was painted cream with colourful embellishments at the top of the pillars, and beautiful stained glass windows. A wedding was about to take place, so we got to see a New Mexican family dressed in their finery bustling about, and the musical team, dressed in bright purple with embroidered black vests and silver-studded pants that filed in with their trumpets and guitars.

A short way up the street from the Basilica was the Loretto Chapel, now a private museum, but formerly belonging to the Sisters of Loretto. When it was built, there was no room for a staircase to reach the choir loft at the back of the chapel, so the sisters prayed to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, to find a solution. Nine days later, a man came to their door and began to build a spiral staircase that made two 360 degree turns in its ascent, with no nails or screws, only wooden pegs, and without any exterior support through the centre or on the sides. Then he disappeared, without payment and without leaving his name. The staircase bears the name “miraculous” and remains an architectural marvel to this day.

We strolled a little further and stepped in to a small coffee shop for a bite and were seated at a communal table with several other patrons. The fare was organic food with a New Mexican flair; I had hot chocolate laced with cinnamon and a big bowl of nutty granola and yogurt, while Val enjoyed a burrito and sampled the three levels of hot sauce - tomatillo, green chilies and red chilies - on top. He didn’t dive for my yogurt to quench the hottest spice, which I’m sure I would have done if I had tried it! Our eating companion was John, a friendly businessman from California, whose serving had red chili sauce and fried bananas.

On we went to the Plaza, where vendors had laid out their wares of silver and turquoise, serapes and pottery, and sat huddled with blankets around them, waiting for customers. We had been told they were only allowed to sell there if their wares were their own handmade items, so buyers could be sure they were getting authentic artifacts.

North of the Plaza was the New Mexico History Museum, just opened in 2009, depicting 400 years of history of the region. It was fascinating and beautifully laid out, but it told tales of endless conflict and bloodshed between the Spanish and native peoples, Mexicans and settlers. Famous names like Billy the Kid, Kit Carson, Pancho Villa and others were somewhat familiar, while tales of massacres, heroism and hardship in this large sector of the United States were previously unknown to me.

The Palace of the Governors, just next door, is known as the oldest government building in the US, and we could see some of the original foundations and hand-hewn beams over doorways from 400 years ago.

Our last stop was the New Mexico Museum of Art, where classic paintings of early regional history shared space with strange new works such as tiny houses made from butterfly wings and sculptures made from disposable plastic wineglasses and platters.

It was clear, from these displays as well as what we passed in shop windows in the streets, that Santa Fe is a thriving artistic community where innovation and creativity have full reign. It is truly a place unlike any other we’ve ever visited, and we’ve decided to stay another night to see more.