Heading To Santa Fe
About ten miles south of Pueblo on I-25 we gradually rise up and leave the high desert of the Arkansas River Valley as the mountains return on the right. The road heads due south towards New Mexico, but the road goes up and down as we cut across the foothills of the Rockies reaching out into the Great Plains. We’re definitely not in the high desert anymore, as the hills in the distance are heavily wooded with the bushy juniper trees common to the area. You can see how the terrain has changed in the background of this picture of Augie in the “doggie playpen” in Colorado City. He doesn’t get off the leash very often so this was a big treat for him, and he buzzed around the fenced enclosure like a mad man!
Just before the Colorado/New Mexico border the mountains spread out in front of us as the road climbs towards Raton Pass. At the base of the pass the town of Trinidad climbs a hillside. Trinidad was the center of the coal and iron ore mining districts that helped feed the steel mills of Pueblo to the north. Just as in Pueblo, the late 1890’s and early 1900’s were boom times for Trinidad and the downtown area reflects the building of the time.
Note in the picture above right that the street (which is a side street heading north off of Main Street) is red. That’s because Main Street (the main highway through town) is paved with asphalt but the side streets leading off of it are still paved with bricks! I can’t imagine the cost these days of paving city streets with individual bricks, but the climate has allowed the brick pavement to last in pretty good condition. Here’s a close up from the middle of the street looking straight down.
Leaving Trinidad we climb up and over a branch of the Rockies and enter northern New Mexico. The land is noticeably dry, wide open with mountains and mesas rearing in the distance to the north and west as we leave I-25 at Raton and head west on Hwy 64 to Taos. This is a long stretch of road with few towns. The last 30 miles consists of a narrow, winding road that climbs up and over the tall mountain range just to the east of Taos, our next stop.
Taos, New Mexico, is an interesting area of contrasts. Taos Pueblo (about 10 miles northeast of the town of Taos) is a World Heritage Site and the multi-storied pueblos have been inhabited for more than 1000 years. Having visited there before, I decided not to go again and instead concentrate my visit on the Spanish town of Taos and surrounding area. The Taos area was first visited by the Spanish in 1540 but the village wasn’t settled until 1615. Set on the eastern edge of the upper Rio Grande River Basin, high mountains dominate the eastern sky while vast, open plains stretch out to the west. Several small streams drain west from the mountains to the Rio Grande River, but the Rio Grande itself is virtually inaccessible, flowing in the bottom of a narrow gorge approximately 10 miles west of the village.
On this visit to Taos I decided to explore the present, past and future of the area.
Taos Plaza
Like most Spanish settlements the town was built around a central plaza. Due to the history of conflicts with the natives, the center of Taos was constructed of rectangle of adobe buildings that had as a defensive strategy no openings on the exterior walls. The plaza is relatively small and today the surrounding buildings house restaraunts, shops, etc. Over time several “alley ways” were constructed that extend out from the plaza, housing more of the same.
La Hacienda de Los Martinez
La Hacienda de Los Martinez is an outstanding reconstruction/restoration of one of the original land holdings of the valley. In 1803 Antonio Martin purchased land along the Rio Pueblo, the “river” that waters the area. During the next twenty years his establishment became an important commercial hub for the area, serving as a trading point between Mexico and the United States. The Martinez family also be came key to the settlement of the entire upper Rio Grande Valley with both of Antonio’s sons being key contributors to the religious and political development of northern New Mexico. Descendants of the original family lived in the home until the 1930’s. After 30 years of neglect, the Milord family purchased the land and began the restoration. Ten years later the museum acquired the property and completed the restoration. Using the very detailed will that Antonio Martin left (it even detailed how many iron nails he had in his possession), the hacienda has been restored as close to it’s 1820 appearance as possible.
Located about a mile southwest of the plaze, visitors first cross the “river” and head up a slight slope to the hacienda.
The hacienda developed into its’ current configuration of a “squared off” figure eight by 1827. Given that this was one of the first buildings in the area, defensive needs required that there be no openings on the exterior walls except one gate in the corner of each of two interior plazas. The small door in the front wall is not original, it is now the entrance to the museum. Otherwise the only openings were the gate into the first plaza on the front right and the gate to the back plaza seen on the back side wall in the picture.
Many of the rooms had no windows or very small windows opening into the plaza. There was no glass available at the time, so whatever openings existed were open to the weather. The walls are made out of mud bricks covered with adobe. Much of the walls are orginal and one area has been not been restored so you can see the original bricks from 1804.
The front plaza was surrounded by the rooms used by the family for daily living, the back plaza was surrounded by work rooms and rooms for the servants. Today the front plaza is a green lawn, connected by the original arched hall to the back plaza. The large opening right of the corner in the front plaza is the front gate, the small door to the left of the corner is the entrance to the sala. Note how small the door openings are – I had to remember to duck to enter (only forgot once, ouch!).
In a corner of the front plaza the sala was the primary living area for the family, though it was far from the largest room in the complex. The larger rooms were reserved for the kitchen and other work areas. Most of the living was down outside in the plaza thus the rooms were sparsely furnished.
Located in the wing dividing the two plazas is the kitchen area. The entire western wall is taken up by a “shepherd’s fireplace”. The main fire would be in the fireplace on the right but then hot coals would be shoveled on the the platform that stretches to the left along the wall so that the entire wall could be used for cooking. Meals included family, servants and travelers so a lot of cooking space was needed. Meals were eaten outdoors so there was no need for a large table.
One of the largest rooms in the complex was the weaving room, where wool from the hacienda’s sheep was woven into textiles that were then traded across the southwest. The museum today has a collection of looms so there are probably more in the room than would have been actually used at the time.
There are 21 rooms in the complex enclosing the two plazas, not all are accessible to the public but the really excellent restoration certainly gives the flavor of what it might have been like to live in the area in the 1820’s.
Earthship
Taos in the 1970’s became synomous with the “New Age” movement. Young people moved to the area in search of a better world, to commune with nature, and explored mysticism on the high desert (emphasis sometimes on the “high” part!) When I first visited the area in the late 70’s there was a lot of flower power going on… Time has matured the New Age culture but it is still very much present. One of the more significant manifestations of the movement is Earthship.
In the 1970’s Michael Reynolds founded Earthship Biotecture, a movement dedicated to self-sustaining life structures made as much as possible from recycled materials and totally self-sustaining or “off the grid”. The process and design have developed over the last 40 odd years and continues to evolve. Kits are now available to help people build Earthships all over the world and development of the “Biotecture” continues on the main site just outside of Taos at the Earthship Greater World Community. Special legislation passed by the New Mexico government allows the Earthship process to experiment by building without the constraints of local building codes. All structures are self-sustaining, built of natural or recycled materials; using solar/thermal power for all heating/cooling/electricity; all water provided by rainfall; sewage is self-treated on site using septic tanks, and provide for the production of food.
The Earthship Visitor Center is essentially a model home rising from the desert west of Taos.
You can see from the picture above that the house is built into the ground with the south facing side consisting of greenhouse walls and solar panels. The walls are angled in such a way as to use maximum use of the sun, reducing direct exposure in the summer and increasing exposure in the winter. Looking down the greenhouse hallway from the inside the walls are crowded with plants grown for food.
Rain provides the only water for the house. Large tanks gather the rain off the roof and then it is used four times: first (filtered naturally) for drinking/washing, etc., then to water the plants, thirdly for use in the toilets, and lastly, after going through the septic system, to water exterior plants.
The large living area houses the displays and visitor entrance to the center.
The walls are made of used tires packed with dirt. The picture on the left shows the side and back of the visitor center and the pathway up to the roof from which you can see all around the development site. The picture on the right shows a house in the process of being built (note other completed Earthships in the background.)
Projects in development include the building of a structure that has the tires on the north walls but uses glass bottles set in cement for the south walls in order to increase the thermal properties as well as providing more light to the interior. A large multi-family dwelling is in the process of being constructed using both techniques. The close-up shows the detail of a bottle wall.
Leaving Taos and heading southwest towards Santa Fe there are two different routes to chose from. The Low Road takes a path around the mountains, the High Road cuts through the mountains in a beautiful drive. Taking the advice of my friends the Beckmans, I take the High Road. This is a combination of a number of different roads, so those of you following on a map should just Google “High Road to Taos” and trace it in reverse to find my path.
Next stop: Santa Fe, New Mexico
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