It was absolutely alien, this land. Horizon and sky seemed disparate--the piercing gray sky and the wheat-colored land--together they formed an endless world with no top, no bottom, no delineation of where the land started or where the sky began.
We arrived at the cusp of a storm. The smell in the air pregnant with the anticipation of meteorological brewing and the smell of earth. The lightning came out as hot white daggers piercing the open gray-stricken sky. For the first hours upon arrival we were greeted with bad weather, but still it was beautiful.
This land enveloped me. I was entranced, enticed, enthralled (even from within our rental car). The artist Georgia O'Keefe almost saw near 100 and I could see why.
Some call it Santa Fe while others may know it as Fanta Se ("fantasy"), and in complete truth it was a "fantasy." Yes, the strip mall culture of America permeates the outskirts of the city with its fast-food chains and supercenters. But the historic adobe structures in the city center and landscape leave your mind blown by the natural beauty. Heck, let's be real though, even the generic adobe style strip malls are nestled in scenic mountain scape. I guess it all works out in the end.
The air at 7,000 feet was thin and crisp. You find yourself breathing a lot more, forcing yourself to breathe deeply thus forcing yourself to relax.
The food. Phenomenal. A beautiful and delicious combination of Mexican and Southwestern cuisine. Chiles so fresh you could taste the sun and air in their savor and body.
The people. None like I ever encountered or maybe just on the silver screen. Men with dusty cowboy boots and worn-out cowboy hats; fluffy mouton chops with huge moustaches; heavy silver American Indian jewelry around their necks, wrists and fingers. Turquoise as big as a fists. And an unspoken pride that left me slightly intimidated, and I'd be damned to cross one of them.
I did want to write a bit about my experience at the annual Indian market, and about interacting with some of the American Indian communities from the region, but I'm not sure how best to articulate it. But what I can say is that is was awesome, for lack of better words, and so complex all at the same time. To be completely honest (we all love honesty here), this was pretty much my first experience being immersed in southwestern American Indian culture. And even though my family's been claiming that bit of blanket "indian"heritage for a minute it felt so foreign to me. I'm embarrassed to admit that most of my perceptions of American Indians are not from real contexts.
The beauty of traveling, right? If anything, I hope it makes us smarter.
