New Mexico, Old Mexico

There was snow all over the fields and streets. Santa Fe is beautiful…and the architecture is very unusual and striking – pueblo/adobe style, all mud brick houses, squat, square haunches, shades of orange and brown.

The air was exceptionally clear in the short time we were in Santa Fe – crystal and pure. You can see for miles and the landscape, too, remains untouched, for the most part – rugged, wild, overwhelming. The sun is bright and sharp, the sky is a deep, crisp, blue, the hue of hope and winter glory that is suggestive of summer. The countryside really is quite stunning, and Taos itself – like Santa Fe – seems to imitate it in the architecture, with adobe style buildings the colour of ochre, the hard soil, mesas and the cliffs.

Drove past Flagstaff, pretty little town cradled by the mountains. The snow covered the houses like frosting, and as we drove into the night, the snow reflected the bright and gaudy lights of the fast food chains, beacons for the lonely traveller.

The first morning we woke up and it was snowing! This complicated our plans for the Canyon, so like the fearless Aussies who can walk anywhere and everywhere (inc. 3 miles in and back to Lubbock) we decided to walk to the Canyon park gate, to see if it was closed for the day because my father didn't want to drive while it was still snowing/icy. We were really very lucky, in hindsight, that no one skidded off the road and hit us. A kindly park ranger pulled over to ask us if we intended to walk to the Canyon from the gate because if so, it was another 5 miles. At this stage, we could see the gate and knew it was open, so we walked back. It was actually quite lovely, if a little wet – the damp was pervasive. But either side of the road was woodland, all covered in white fluffy stuff, so it was very pretty.

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jAG