Wisconsin Journal Number 16 4 January 1998 Happy New Year! It's surprisingly mild here right now. A couple nights ago it didn't even get down below freezing, and almost all the snow has disappeared. Right now it is raining, and the weather doesn't seem that different from Oregon. On my last sabbatical, we were looking for somewhere to spend Christmas vacation that was off the beaten track, but still had interesting things to do. We ended up in Malta, and spent our time exploring prehistoric ruings, climbing around in caves, and enjoying the local cuisine. On this sabbatical Christmas, we ended up in Santa Fe, and spent our time exploring prehistoric ruins, climbing around in caves and enjoying local cuisine. Like Malta, Santa Fe was affected by a variety of cultures. Grab a pencil and take notes. There is evidence of humans in the upper Rio Grande valley dating to about 11,000 years ago, during the last ice age. But these people seem to have been roving bands without permanent settlements. Around 2,500 years ago, nomadic tribes began settling down in the northern Rio Grande valley, living in pit houses and planting some crops, mainly corn and squash. The early settlers were basketmakers. Baskets are quite practical when you travel, being light and relatively unbreakable. However, once the people in northern New Mexico had settled down, they switched to pottery, which is more durable, but doesn't travel as well. They also started building houses above ground, out of mud over wood and stones, usually with 3-4 rooms. The center of population was around the Four Corners area (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico) up until the 1200's, but dispersed after that. The ancestors (called the Anasazi) of the current Pueblo tribes reached their peak in New Mexico between the 1300's and the 1600's. They built large communities of up to 1500 rooms, and praticed more intensive agriculture, with canals and terraces to direct and capture water. (The terminology is confusing. The name "Anasazi" [Navajo for "ancient ones" or "ancient enemies"] is applied generally or narrowly to various groups of Puebloan ancestors. Sometimes it includes people in the Four Corners area back to 200 AD. Other times it means various groups who spread out later from this culture [Chaco, Mesa Verde, Little Colorado, Kayenta, Rio Grande] who extended from as early as 500 to as late as 1600, peaking from 1100-1300. Many Anasazi settlements in the Four Corners area were abandoned suddenly around 1300, possibly because of prolonged drought. The Rio Grande Anasazi group lasted the longest, and was concurrent with the beginings of existing Pueblo settlements. There are currently 19 Pueblo tribes in New Mexico, with four main language families.) The Pueblo Indians have had incursions from all sides during their history. In the 1400's and 1500's the Navajo moved in from the north. Their language ties them to the Athapascan tribes of western and northern Canada. The Navajo probably learned about pottery from the Pueblo, and took up sheepherding and weaving, which passed from the Spanish through the Pueblo to them. In 1540, there was contact from the south, in the form of Francisco Coronado, who showed up with 1200 people (including 800 Mexican Indians) and set up camp for a couple years. He was looking for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold inhabited by a legendary civilization he called the Gran Quivira. From his base at the pueblo of Tigeux near Santa Fe, he sent out expeditions to Colorado, the Grand Canyon, Texas, Kansas and possibly as far away as Nebraska and Mississippi. Permanent Spanish settlements and Franciscan missions were in place by the early 1600's. Well, not quite permanent. After the Pueblo Uprising in 1680, the Spanish were driven out for twelve years. Some of the original buildings were burned down, but most were occupied and converted by the Indians. After Mexican independence (in 1821), the Spanish prohibition on trade goods crossing the New Mexican frontier went away, and the first traders came from the east over the Santa Fe Trail, followed in the next decades by Anglo settlers. The Santa Fe trail grew into the main external supply route to New Mexico, but fell into disuse when the railway made it to Santa Fe in 1880. The trail oringinates in Missouri, and splits into two routes in western Kansas. The Cimarron route is shorter and flatter, but there wasn't good grazing and water was hard to come by. The more northerly Raton route is longer and goes through mountains, but was considered safer. Finally, in the middle of the current century, I-40 made it easy to get to New Mexico from population centers in the west, which I think is responsible for the New Age-ish influence from California and Arizona. The European roots of Santa Fe can trace their beginnings at least back to 1609, when the first Spanish governor of the New Mexican province chose it for his capital and named it "La Villa Real de Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis". But you can just call it Santa Fe. The Mission of San Miguel was founded the same year. Anyway, on to our adventures. We left Madison the Sunday before Christmas, and then ended up spending the night en route in Chicago, because Albuquerque was too foggy to land at. We made it with no problem the next morning, but it was quite crowded at the airport when we arrived, because all the other delayed flights showed up at the same time. I noticed about 25 people in line at the Delta baggage office, and heard an announcement to the effect "All passengers who were on the flight from Dallas that was rerouted to El Paso and then Houston last night, your baggage has already arrived and can be found..." So I guess we were lucky that we weren't in the air and made to turn back. We had planned to spend part of Monday exploring Albuquerque, but we heard there was another storm headed towards us and decided it would be better to head straight up to Santa Fe. It was already snowing a little by the time we got our rental car, and quite windy. Coming out of Albuquerque, there were lots of tumbleweeds blowing across the road. They made me nervous, because my instinct was that something that large was also fairly massive, and so I would clutch a little whenever one blew in front of me. We got to Santa Fe without incident, and were able to check in early to our motel. The motel brochure said we were 5 blocks from the central plaza, while I think it was more like 7 or 8, but it wasn't a bad walk. We headed down there to get our bearings. We noticed that the Woolworth's on the plaza had closed, which is too bad, because it may be one of the only adobe (looking) Woolworth's in the country. We were hungry, and found La Casa Sena in a courtyard of a block near the plaza. [Those of you who are not heavy foodies can skip the bits in brackets, where I will try to recount some of our menus. However, if you skip the meals, you miss about a third of what we did.] [La Casa Sena was a good place to start. It's a pretty restaurant, with lots of art on the walls, and a menu one might describe as Nouvelle New Mexican. Some of the dishes we had: Black bean soup Sandwich with guacamole, ham, tomato, turkey, black beans and cheese that was grilled and came with roasted potato salad (Luke pronounced it one of the ten best sandwiches of his life) Almond-crusted salmon with curry orzo (Sarah was a fairly adventuresome eater on this trip) Caribbean pork soft tacos Sampler with a smoked chicken tamale with banana salsa, spicy shrimp and 3-cheese quesadilla Dark chocolate sorbet Chocolate bread pudding Lemon tart with berry sauce We tended to eat just one meal a day out, usually lunch or dinner. You see why.] After lunch we stopped in to see a museum of contemporary Indian art. It was probably the least interesting of the museums we visited. To explain how town was decorated for Christmas, I need to explain about farolitos. The original farolitos were paper lanterns that settlers would set our with candles inside for Christmas Eve. They were later simplified to just a paper bag with some sand and a votive candle inside. Now you might know such a thing as luminaria, but the term luminaria in Santa Fe is usually applied to small bonfires lit on Christmas Eve. Okay so far? However, since people want to have decorations out for more than one night, you can buy strings of farolitos, with the bags made out of plastic and the illumination from electric bulbs. Many of the downtown hotels had the plastic version running along every roof edge and balcony. Also, when Kaye and I went out to the local Alberson's to get a few groceries for the room, there was a large display right by the checkout with "farolito kits"--packages of lunch bags, 24-count boxes of candles, and butane lighters. About 4" of snow fell our first night there, and it was still snowing the morning of the 23rd when we headed out to see some of the downtown museums. We must have all looked like real tourists, becuase we were fascinated by the snow, which was falling in individual flakes, most of them perfect 6-pointed stars. Wool mittens, fur collars and hair caught them the best, and about every 20 steps we had to stop and look when an especially big one stuck to someone. It turned out that the museums all had late openings because of the weather, and Kaye and I had a lunch reservation, so we looked around at the shops some more (there are hundreds of art galleries in Santa Fe), then sent the kids back to the room while we went to eat. The restaurant was on Canyon Road, which starts a little south of downtown and runs a couple miles into the hills, and is solid galleries, fashion boutiques and restaurants. More on Canyon Road later. [Lunch was at Geronimos, which I would also characterize as new southwestern cooking. Duck rellenos with mole and a yellow corn crust, with black beans Grilled tuna soft tacos with cucumber-guacamole cole slaw Dense apricot cake with apricot honey ice cream White chocolate sorbet with pinon caramel sauce] I left Kaye to check out the galleries and Indian craft stores, and took the long way back to the motel, looking for a sculpture I had seen on our way into town. I didn't find it, although I walked right past it, probably because it was across the street from a point where the sidewalk narrowed to nothing and I was trying to avoid stepping in front of cars. I did hear several groups of people speaking French on my walk back, and heard French speakers several other times during our stay. Later that evening we all headed out again, to a Baroque Christmas concert that was part of the Santa Fe Pro Musica series. There was a harpsichord, violin, cello, oboe and flute, who were joined on some numbers by a soprano. The oboe and flute were of the baroque style, but I don't know enough about string instruments to say if they were as well. I had been expecting a choral concert for some reason, and so was a bit surprised to find about half the concert was instrumental only. The concert took place in Loretto Chapel, which was built between 1873 and 1876 and is supposed to be modeled on St. Chapelle in Paris, though you would by no means confuse the two. The chapel is known for the wood staircase to the loft, which makes two spirals but has no central column, and supposedly was built without nails. On this trip out we noticed a tent in the plaza, with people taking pictures of what was inside. It turned out to be a group-effort ice sculpture, with four reindeer, a sled and Santa. [We stopped at the Blue Corn Cafe after the concert for supper. I had chicken chalupas with green chile, Kaye had pork tamales with red chile, while the kids opted for hamburgers. Luke, however did have guacamole on his. His goal for the trip was to have guacamole at least once a day. He didn't quite make his goal, but he did *average* guacamole once per day. We also tried some New Mexican micro brews.] Christmas Eve morning we bundled into our boots and hats and took another shot at the museums. [But first, we stopped off at Pasquals for breakfast, which had been recommended to us by a number of people. We ended up sitting at a community table, next to someone from Hood River, Oregon. We tried Breakfast quesadilla, with eggs, cheese, salsa and apple bacon or chorizo. Durango omlette--mushrooms, guacamole, sour cream, scallions, cheese and green chilis Papas Fritas--home fries with red + green chilis, eggs and cheese] The first musuem we visited was the Palace of the Governors, because it covers local history. The building itself is touted as the oldest continuously occupied public building in the US. It was started in 1610, and has been modified frequently since. It housed Spanish governors from 1610 to 1821, except from 1680-1693, during the Pueblo uprising. The Indians modified it to conform more to what they thought a building should be like, and storage pits that they dug were discovered recently under one part of the building. Mexican governors occupied the building from 1821-1846, and then it served as headquarters during the US occupation of New Mexico after the US war with Mexico. Once New Mexico was ceded to the US, it served as the seat of the territorial government until 1909. (NM didn't become a state until 1912.) In 1912 someone figured out that it would be a better tourist attraction if the building looked more "southwestern". The previous remodeling had been in the Victorian style, which was common in New Mexico around the turn of the century, when building materials could easily be brought in by train. While the new look of the facade does somewhat resemble some older versions of the building, the current "Santa Fe style" romanticizes the past quite a bit. Some of the most interesting exhibits for me showed how people made do when certain materials were in short supply. Hardwood was hard to get, so there was a violin made out of rawhide. A cart from the 18th or 19th century was a great example of how to make do without iron brackets or fasteners. The whole thing fits together like the 3-D wood puzzles I used to have as a kid, with each piece locking the previous ones in place. A few strategic rawhide straps added at the end prevented accidental disassembly. The arcade that runs along the front of the Palace of the Governors was one of Kaye's favorite spots during the trip. Here is where Indian artists and craftsmen spread out their wares every day. Lots of silver and turquoise jewelry. It's actually one of the best places to buy Native American work, because it's tightly regulated. You have to be a registered member of an Indian tribe to sell there, the work has to be made in the household of the seller (usually the artist him- or herself was there), each piece has to be "signed" by the maker (the art museum keeps a registry of all the symbols that the various artists sign with) and there are requirements on materials and methods. For example, reconstituted turquoise is not allowed, and all pottery has to be fired outdoors using wood or dung for fuel. The vendors are very friendly, the quality is high, and the prices beat what you find in the stores there. (However, people running shops are friendly, too, and have high quality merchandise.) Sarah got a couple of silver guitar picks, one of which she wears on a chain as a necklace. Kaye bought a lovely necklace mades of tapering disks of turquoise. >From the Palace of the Governors, we visited the Museum of Fine Arts. Given that you can see wonderful art in all the private galleries in town, the collection here didn't really knock me over. There was an exhibit of New Mexican art from the time that Georgia O'Keefe was living and painting near Santa Fe, in conjunction with the opening of the new O'Keefe museum. We headed over there next--it was quite crowded, because they were giving free admission that afternoon. I was surprised how extensive their collection was, given that it just opened last summer (but I imagine they had most of their art donations lined up before they built the building). Sarah enjoyed the video on the life of O'Keefe, who grew up not far from Madison in Sun Prarie, and moved to NM by way of New York. The kids had had their fill of museums at this point, so Kaye and I took them back to the room, and headed out to a couple museums a little south of downtown. The first we visited was the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. It is a well done museum that explains the history of Southwestern Indians, and shows how their everyday life changed over the past centuries. Another part of the museum has an encyclopedic collection of Indian pottery, both ancient and modern. It's a good place to learn what styles and motifs go with which time and place. There is a gallery for modern Indian art, of which I liked the weaving the best. There was also an excellent temporary (I think) exhibit on Navajo blankets, where they had asked tribal elders to explain what the symbology in each meant. I found out that these blankets typically have some kind of inclusion woven in---pollen, a bit of corn husk, a feather, strands of another fiber---that relate to the symbols on the blanket and its use. You could examine some of these inclusions through magnifying lenses. We then crossed over to the Museum of International Folk Art, which was by far my favorite museum in Santa Fe. One wing is devoted to Spanish colonial folk art, which was of medium interest. However, a temporary exhibit on art from recycled materials just blew me away. I liked it so much I drug the kids back later in the week to see it again with me. There were decorative and utilitarian items fashioned from bottle caps, license plates and Rayovac battery casings (in uncut sheets). We saw beads cut from old 78 records and toys made from plastic foam sandals that had washed up on the beach somewhere. Models of bicycles and motorcycles made from plastic filament wrapped around wire frames. Chests, lunchpails and briefcases made out of flattened cans, or, when the craftsman was lucky, sheets of metal intended for cans that hadn't been cut and formed yet (usually because of a misprint). We saw tin cans that had been turned into funnels, lanterns, basins, pitchers, grills, whistles, graters, noise makers, lamps, watering cans, dust pans, toys and bug sprayers. Baskets woven out of everything from plastic bread bags to telephone wire (the latter are becoming a standard basket form in Zimbawe and South Africa). Kites made from shopping bags. A sweater made from panty hose. A quilt made from old ties and another made from underwear labels. Some of the items were intended pieces of art, others were the product of necessity, while some seemed the products of obsession (a street scene made with pull tabs from Black Label beer) or boredom (a sculpture of a bear made by a prisoner using little twists of toilet paper dipped in coffee). I was still trying to digest this when I went to the final gallery, which houses the personal collection of Alexander Girard. He became fascinated with nativity scenes as a child, and started collecting them. He branched out to minatures of all kinds, and a few other varieties of folk art, such as bird cages and bead work. He's an architect and interior designer, and he designed the display space himself. There are dozens of street and house scenes populated with minature figures. He has collected figures from over 100 countries, although the collection is heavy on Mexican and Asian items. There are items displayed every direction you look, including up. Total eyeball overload. Later that evening was a high point of our trip. Almost all the business and home owners along Canyon Road decorate their establishments with farolitos (the ones with real candles). Some businesses pass out free hot cider, the police close off the street, and half the town turns out to stroll up and down the street. There are bonfires every couple blocks, and people gather around and sing carols. It was particularly special for us this year because (a) it was snowing and (b) the power had gone off on the lower part of the street, so the farolitos and the bonfires were the only illumination. Kaye noted that it didn't particularly make us think of Christmas, because it didn't remind us of any of our own traditions, but we certainly had the feeling of being at a celebration. Some of the crowd were personally decorated, as well: a sombrero with minature faralitos ringing the brim, chili pepper Christmas lights runing down sleeves and pants legs, a wreath with lights as headgear, Christmas lights as a necklace (for both human and dog). A mounted policeman had his horse decked out in a Santa hat and Christmas lights. At one point someone was launching tissue paper hot-air balloons borne aloft by candles inside. Flying candles, candles in paper sacks, open bonfires---Kaye was amazed that there weren't a few smoldering ruins around the next morning. [Stopped off at the Atomic Cafe for a bowl of Green Chili Stew on the way home. I wasn't easy finding a restaurant open on Christmas Eve that had any tables left.] We got quite cold on the walk back to the motel. The nights around Christmas had low temperatures in the single digits. This report is clearly going to be too long if I try to desribe the whole trip in it. I'll pick up on Christmas morning in the next one. Best wishes in the new year, Dave PS: Winter is back--5 inches of snow this afternoon and evening. Supposed to be a high of 12 on Sunday. PPS to Wine & Dine: Dibs on the next December date for "Christmas in Santa Fe."