New Mexico -- Go Home

July 9th, 2005

Today is the last day in New Mexico. We're going to head back to San Jose in the afternoon.

BL got up very early in the morning and took the car to next door for window repair. I went to hotel lobby to check email. Then I suddenly found out that instead of Alamo, I actually booked the car from enterprise-rent-a-car. That's why Alamo can't find our record from their database, what a joke!

After a couple of hours, BL took the car back. Except for the tape around the windshield, it looked exactly like before.

Since we still have the whole morning, we drove around Santa Fe and went to visit Santa Fe art museum. After lunch, we were on the way back to Albuquerque airport. We stopped by gas station right before the airport, filling in the gas and peeling off the tape from the windshield. Then we drove to the car rental place, the guy came to check the mileage and he looked around the car. We were so nervous, but he didn't find out anything, Phew! :P Then we happily walked away and took the shuttle to the airport, by then we had enough time to get on the plane. When we got to the airport, ready to check in, I suddenly found out that we lost one bag, which has the e-tickets information and the books BL borrowed from library. BL hurried back to the car rental place, in the mean time, I called the car rental company and asked them whether they found the bag. Luckily, the bag was found and returned to the front desk already. Then I called BL again, telling him to go to the front desk directly to get the bag. Then he called me back from there to tell me the e-tickets confirmation number. I checked in for both of us at the airport. He came back; we barely have enough time to get on to the plane.

After transferring, some delay, we finally got back to San Jose sound and safely. J and W picked us up, and we went directly to P's party. Yeah, Saturday, party night, back to normal life!

Thinking of the whole journey, there are so many things happened:
1. I left tripod and jacket in Vegas; luckily, J took them back for me.
2. We rent the wrong car. :P
3. Crackle on windshield, we had to fix it before we returned the car.
4. I lost my new bracelet.
5. We forgot the bag, and had to go back to the car rental place to pick up, almost missed the plane.
6. I lost my best collection of CDs in Vegas. I left in the rental car, and my friends forgot to pick it up for me. All my most favorite original CDs!!! :((

But still, I really enjoy the trip! I took many beautiful pictures! If I have a chance, I still want to go back to New Mexico again!


Santa Fe


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New Mexico -- Taos (3)

July 8th, 2005

In front of St. Jerome Chapel


The present San Geronimo, or St. Jerome, Chapel was completed in 1850 to replace the original church which was destroyed in the War with Mexico by the U.S. Army in 1847. That church, the ruins still evident on the west side of the village, was first built in 1619. It was then destroyed in the Spanish Revolt of 1680 but soon rebuilt on the same site. St. Jerome is the patron saint of Taos Pueblo.

Ruins from the original church


During the war, the army locked hundreds of local Indians in the church and burned the church. All the people who died in the fire were buried next to the church. The church ruin then became the grave yard for local Indians.

Graveyard


The grave yard is still used today. If a local Indian dies, he/she will still be buried here with his/her ancestors. But the grave yard size is limited, so locals will take out some crosses and bury the new body in the same spot. You can see the crosses piling up by the corner of the wall in the "Ruins from the original church" picture, those are all the crosses which are taken out from the grave yard.

Waiting ...


How can people treat life like dirt? How can they just burn so many people to death? People's lives are precious. We should always cherish our lives. But some people seem not to care about a life at all. I read some news online about current college students in China. Some students just suicide because they cannot get used to the college life, because they have never lived on their own before. I feel like our education system is a big failure. They teach students how to get a high score to go to college, but don't teach any student how to be a successful human being, how to live a real life. Life doesn't just belong to ourselves, we also carry responsibilities. Life doesn't just compose of studying either, there are so many things we need to do. We need to be responsible to the people who give our lives, to the people who love and care about us. Things are always easy for the dead people, but hard for the people who need to deal with it. How can a person just be so selfish, discarding all the responsibility he/she carries on and leaving the world, leaving the people who care about him/her?

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New Mexico -- Taos (2)

July 8th, 2005

Taos Indian Pueblo

I was very excited to see Indian Pueblo. I saw so many nice pictures about it from the tourist book, finally I can take my own pictures.

Indian Pueblo (I)


The Pueblo is made entirely of adobe -- earth mixed with water and straw, then either poured into forms or made into sun-dried bricks. The walls are frequently several feet thick. The roofs of each of the five stories are supported by large timbers -- vigas -- hauled down from the mountain forests. Smaller pieces of wood -- pine or aspen latillas -- are placed side-by-side on top of the vigas; the whole roof is covered with packed dirt. The outside surfaces of the Pueblo are continuously maintained by replastering with think layers of mud. Interior walls are carefully coated with thin washes of white earth to keep them clean and bright. The Pueblo is actually many individual homes, built side-by-side and in layers, with common walls but no connecting doorways.

Indian Pueblo (II)


In the earlier days, there were no doors or windows and entry was gained only from the top. And for defense purpose, the Indians use ladders to get to the second level, then get into the adobe.

Indian Pueblo (III)


The pueblo doesn't have electricity and sewer system. So right now, only about 4 or 5 families still live inside pueblo. Most of the local Indians are not living in the pueblo any more; they live outside the pueblo in more modernized area, and come back from time to time to check out the house and their business -- mostly hand crafts store.

Indian Pueblo (IV)


This is local's cooking utility. They light fire inside to bake the Indian bread.

Door, Ladder, Chili ring


Indians always have very bright color, which are reflected in their clothes, crafts, even in the pueblo. Brown, blue and red, locals just left the stuff without any intention, but to me, it's the best scene.

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New Mexico -- Taos (1)

July 8th, 2005

Before the trip, BL borrowed several books about New Mexico from the library. Based on what we read or more exactly, the pictures we saw from the books, we set the places we are going to visit and planed our trip. One place we both are really interested to go is Taos.

Taos is about one hour drive north from Santa Fe. We got up pretty late that day, (well, like all the rest days), and drove to Taos around noon. Since the crack on the windshield is still growing, we drove very slowly and carefully avoided all the big trucks along the way.

First thing we did in Taos is to find a restaurant for lunch! Even today, BL still mentions that this vacation is the most relaxing vacation he ever has so far. Yeah, it is a pretty relaxing vacation. Even though all the hotels we stayed provide continental breakfast, we only had once in the hotel. The rest days, we just slept as long as we wanted and got up before noon. Then we just drove around and looked for a nice restaurant with happy music, sat in, and enjoyed our lunch!

It's no exception today! We saw this neat Indian pueblo style Mexican restaurant and went in. It has a pretty big front yard; we chose a table outside under a tree. After ordering some food, we chatted a little bit and just sat there enjoying the environment. Sun is very warm, but we were sitting in the shade, and the wind cooled us down. The air is filled with happy Mexican music, with a little episode added in by the bees. We almost forgot the time, just stayed there enjoying the food and savoring the quiet moment.

San Francisco Church (I)


We really took our time and enjoyed the food. After lunch, we went to San Francisco Church next to the restaurant.

San Francisco Church (II)


I really like the adobe structure of the church, simple, practical, and artistic. It's a really nice place to take pictures.

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