if it is monday, it must be sante fe...6/19/06

i like to think i am pretty good at directions, but i have to admit to being defeated by one road circling the plaza in santa fe. we did end up on the famed canyon road looking at artsy fartsy stuff and cool adobe houses...why not make an adventure out of a screwup? took some pictures of some interesting sculptures while looking for some place to get coffee. eventually we found our way back to the center of the turquoise jewelry universe, the plaza at the palace of governors.

the visit on the plaza was sort of a bizarre mix of the materialistic and the spiritual. before we ever got to the plaza, we went into our second of several missions, st. francis of assisi church. it was quite lovely, with a gorgeous font in the center of the church and wonderful alcoves and carved stations of the cross. we had been into felipe de neri church in albuquerque, and i had come to new mexico with the intent of somehow getting myself healed and cleaned up spiritually and physically. when i went into st. francis, immediately i went to the alcove to the right which was dedicated to st. anthony, the patron saint of miracles. i had brought milagros to new mexico with me, which are tiny little tin images that the mexicans use to ask for special petitions from the various saints. milagros are sort of strange: there is one of the leg, an arm, a hen, children, dogs, donkeys, and others. you pin the little milagros to the statues of the saints and hope for the best. i bought the milagros off of the internet the first summer i was in my house thinking i would use them somehow in decorating in my house, but that never happened. instead, i took them to new mexico. the first one i put in the hands of the baby and then the beggar at the foot of st. anthony's statue. however, the milagro kept falling out of everyone's hands. i finally just put it at st. anthony's feet and asked for help...and i really needed it. i noticed pam next to me lighting a candle, which i later found out she was doing for her mother, who is about to have cataract surgery. i felt a lot lighter after i left the church. i am still feeling that way. i guess my prayers were answered, and st. anthony is the patron saint of miracles....

after the church we walked past loretto chapel, but didn't go in. pam had been there last year with her mother, and i felt i had done my thing at st. francis. we wandered the streets a bit and ended up on the plaza.

i don't think i had been out of the car more than 3 minutes before i made my second jewelry purchase, which was a ring of nevada turquoise. saw it, bought it, and put it on. pam was intently pursuing kokopelli's while i was intently pursuing FRITO PIES. one of the places on my list of the bizarre places to eat was THE FIVE AND DIME GENERAL STORE on the plaza. i went in there and got my frito pie, which was a bag of fritos slit down the side and smothered in chili and cheese. COOL!...and greasy. i bought a lot of stuff in that place, including a couple more t-shirts. i almost bought austin a slingshot, but got a brain and decided i didn't need to bring home a weapon of bird death as a gift from new mexico. pam headed out of the store before i did, and suddenly i found myself on the sidewalk in need of a photographer to memorialize me and my frito pie. i managed to snag a total stranger to do the deed!

i followed pam around as she shopped for jewelry. she bought a really nice pendant and earring set of nevada turquoise. we didn't notice until later that it matches my ring! the earrings and pendant were cut from the same piece of turquoise. she also bought a silver guitar pick for carter and a ring with a pretty green stone.

for lunch i had decided to have a carnita at ROQUE'S CARNITAS which i had seen at roadfood.com and it was touted as a great local place to eat. it is just a little food stand where roque grills the meat and veggies on the spot. the carnita was wonderful, and roque himself was cooking. i, once again, had my picture taken with the food AND roque! pam and i sat in the center of the plaza to eat. i had read that the food was mucho messy, and that was the truth. we watched another guy eat his over the garbage can, and i pretty much took a bath in the juices - you could read the ingredients off of the front of my shirt...but it was wonderful! i managed to get pam to try it, although she was getting leary at that point of the possibility of losing her lips to the spicy food!

after leaving the plaza, we tried to visit another of the mission churches, but it was closed, so we ended up on the wrong end, again, of the road, we stopped at an allsups and got gas, ice, a cooler and drinks for the trip. pam gently directed me back towards town and we managed to find our way out. the road to taos runs through the pueblos, and they had painted and decorated the overpasses with art, which was kind of cool. we stopped at camel rock and had our pictures taken, and we drove over to the camel rock casino and pam took a picture of it. was the first of many casinos that we would pass on the trip. and after that we headed for espanola,taos and the mission el santuaria de chimayo, where miracles have been reported...