Saturday, February 07, 2004
Thursday 29th
We started the drive to Santa Fe on Wednesday night; we stopped in a motel in Trinidad which I am reliably informed is the sex change capital of the world. The next day we stopped in Las Vegas, New Mexico for breakfast. A woman chased me down the street to tell me she liked my socks and I had to be restrained from picking up a sad eyed painting in a thrift shop. Starbucks are ubiquitous, its scary, even the small dinner we stopped in only sold the coffee.
It was a beautiful drive, I fell in love with the colours and spirit of New Mexico, lots of orange and turquoise and silver and earth and sun…..
We wandered around in the sunshine, there's a lot of Native American art and jewelry sellers on the plaza and we visited the Palace of the Governors where there was an exhibition on Jewish families in New Mexico and some fabulous pre-Columbian artifacts. We stopped at the cathedral, which was gorgeous, I don’t know why but I always like to visit a church in anew city. As I was looking at the beautiful images I realised what time it was back home and what was happening,… I lit a votive candle for the co-op although I fear it will take a miracle to save us now. (No, I’m not homesick in the slightest, I still have my emergency ginger beer intact) Curiously though, Santa Fe did remind me of Hebden Bridge in some obscure sense.
Later we went to St Lorezos church: legend has it Jesus built the staircase inside. These are Miraculous Steps ™ and it proved to be one of the most soulless places I’ve ever been. Its lovely enough as a church, the stairs are an amazing piece of craftsmanship and I’m a sucker for a Saint story, but this didn’t feel in the slightest bit sacred, there is piped voices telling you the story and urging you to visit the gift shop which is conveniently located at the exit and is twice the size of the chapel. Grim.
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It was a beautiful drive, I fell in love with the colours and spirit of New Mexico, lots of orange and turquoise and silver and earth and sun…..
We wandered around in the sunshine, there's a lot of Native American art and jewelry sellers on the plaza and we visited the Palace of the Governors where there was an exhibition on Jewish families in New Mexico and some fabulous pre-Columbian artifacts. We stopped at the cathedral, which was gorgeous, I don’t know why but I always like to visit a church in anew city. As I was looking at the beautiful images I realised what time it was back home and what was happening,… I lit a votive candle for the co-op although I fear it will take a miracle to save us now. (No, I’m not homesick in the slightest, I still have my emergency ginger beer intact) Curiously though, Santa Fe did remind me of Hebden Bridge in some obscure sense.
Later we went to St Lorezos church: legend has it Jesus built the staircase inside. These are Miraculous Steps ™ and it proved to be one of the most soulless places I’ve ever been. Its lovely enough as a church, the stairs are an amazing piece of craftsmanship and I’m a sucker for a Saint story, but this didn’t feel in the slightest bit sacred, there is piped voices telling you the story and urging you to visit the gift shop which is conveniently located at the exit and is twice the size of the chapel. Grim.
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