Zacatecas, Mexico

Deep in the mine, the guide’s flashlight beam illuminated the vein of white quartz streaked with a tracing of pure silver ore. On such a slender thread was Zacatacas founded by Spanish miners in the 16th century.

Today Zacatecas rests like a rose in the desert of what was once Mexico’s northern frontier. And like that rose, its pink canterra stone buildings glow in the clear, clean light. Called “The Silver City” for its origins, today Zacatecas offers travelers a wide variety of experiences from a tour into the only remaining mine to a exhilarating ride on a zip line from the heights of La Bufa hill into the valley.

For the museum lover, even a week’s stay is too short to cover them all. A full day can be spent at the Rafael Colonel with its extraordinary collection of over 12,000 Mexican dance masks. Museo de Guadalupe has one of the country’s finest collections of 18th century religious art, housed in what was originally a Franciscan convent.

A trip into the countryside brings amateur archeologists to La Quemada, a group of prehistoric ruins perched on the rim of a hill. After investigating the Hall of Columns and the Votive Pyramid, an alfresco lunch at a local restaurant is the ticket.

Unusual hotels include the Quinta Real, constructed around the city’s original bull ring, and Meson de Jobito, a rambling assembly of plazas, alleys, and houses centered around an old city neighborhood. Food runs from the traditional gorditas at legendary Dona Julia’s to fine dining at the Hotel Empirio or the new Santa Rita.

Turismo Zacatecas, Av. Hidalgo#403, Centro Historico, Zacatecas, Zac. Phone +52 (492) 922 6751. http://www.tourismozacatecas.gob.mx/



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A New Generation Views Los Alamos

Whenever guests arrive for a prolonged stay, they usually have certain attractions on their list of places to see. One of my least favorites is Los Alamos. As a child of the atomic age who remembers her dad bringing home an 8mm reel of the bombing of Hiroshima, I still have that horror implanted in my psyche. For those who were born after the end of WWII or for those who never saw the news clips of the human and property devastation visited upon Japan, Los Alamos is merely a tourist attraction on New Mexico’s Pajarito Plateau.

Recently our daughter, son-in-law, and teenage grandson wanted to drive up through the Jemez Mountains to Los Alamos. We agreed to mount the excursion but included some other, gentler sites such as Valle Caldera National Preserve, Jemez Pueblo, and the tiny city of Jemez Springs. For our grandson, it was to be a history lesson wrapped up as an outing.

For travelers unfamiliar with Los Alamos, it is a city unlike any other in New Mexico, perhaps in the U.S. First, the cultural mix, so obvious in the rest of the state, is missing. Instead of Anglos, Hispanics and Native Americans, you find an international amalgam of highly educated nuclear physicists, chemists, and other branches of science. Los Alamos schools always come out on top in state ratings, and the per capita income is also highest.

In 1917 in what is now Los Alamos, a wealthy Detroit businessman named Ashley Pond purchased the Harold H. Brook homestead. His dream was to create a school dedicated to transforming sheltered boys from wealthy families into robust scholars. By 1918 his vision was a reality in the Los Alamos Ranch School.

During the dark days of World War II, the U.S. government embarked on the Manhattan Project, a top secret venture to tame the power of the atom. They had five considerations for the location of their lab: available housing for 30 scientists, land owned by the government or easily acquired in secrecy, and area large and uninhabited enough to permit safe separation of experimental sites, easy control of access for security, and sufficient cleared land so new building could be started immediately.

The Los Alamos Ranch School was selected because J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of scientific research, knew about the academy. His family summer home was in the mountains at the headwaters of the Pecos River, and as a boy he’d ridden over the mesas of the Pajarito Plateau on pack trips.

After the detonation of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered and World War II ended, but the work at the labs has gone on with half the effort devoted to the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Detailing the history of the labs and the city, the Bradbury Science Museum has 8,500 feet of exhibit space devoted to interpreting the role of the laboratory to the lay public. To envisage an authentic picture of the time period, no one should miss the 20-minute video, The Town That Never Was.

Located next to the Bradbury, Otowi Station Science Museum Shop & Bookstore has the best selection of books on Los Alamos, the region, and New Mexico in general. In addition, they stock tee shirts, educational toys, stuffed animals, etc. Of course our grandson had to have an atomic bomb tee to impress his buddies back in New Jersey. Maybe I should dig out that old film clip.

The Los Alamos Historical Museum, housed in the former Ranch School infirmary, is a personal favorite. Here, more than anywhere else, you get an idea of the flow of time and events. Exhibits deal with area geology and prehistory, homesteading, the Ranch School, and the Manhattan Project. A small bookstore is in one wing of the building.

Los Alamos has two restaurants of note, The Blue Window Bistro for fine dining, and The Hill for solid diner food. As we pulled into the Hill parking lot, we noticed a great many customers leaving with Styrofoam containers. This should have told us something. The portions are huge! My chicken fried chicken with mashed and glazed carrots would have fed three normal hungers. Their special, banana cream pie, almost defies description. We shared three pieces among five people, and even our grandson with his teenage appetite couldn’t finish his portion. We left Los Alamos totally surfeited with food, returning to Albuquerque via the highways rather than the byways.


The Bradbury Science Museum, Central Avenue and 15th St, Los Alamos, 87544. (505) 667-4444. www.lanl.gov/museum

The Hill Diner, 1315 Trinity, Los Alamos, 87544. (505) 662-9745. http://www.hilldiner.com/

Los Alamos Historical Museum, 1921 Juniper Street, Los Alamos, 87544. (505) 662-4493. http://www.losalamoshistory.org/

Albuquerque Aquarium & Rio Grande Botanical Gardens

Spring was definitely showing her slip on a recent visit to Albuquerque’s Botanical Park. Delicate snowdrops dipped their heads to the breeze, and saffron and purple crocuses showed their true colors.

Although it was very early for garden tours, children of all ages were out enjoying the early March warmth. Toddlers staggered through the Children’s Fantasy Garden, whizzed down the tree trunk slide, watched the G-scale model railroad threading its route through miniature landscapes, and in general attempted escape from parental control. Ducks and geese made a noisy confusion at pond edge. Older couples walked arm and arm, checking out plant varieties and wondering when the flowering trees would pop.

Activity at the Heritage Farm was just beginning. A lazy Jersey heifer and a couple of somnolent sheep stretched out in the weak sun. The vegetable garden had been plowed, and the vineyard looked ready to leaf out. A single white Peking duck nibbled new green shoots, and in the chicken coop a few hens tentatively tested the weather. Lazy pigs, too exhausted to move from the barnyard door, made small moan.

In addition to the Gardens, the Farm and the Japanese garden (which we shall cover in another visit), the Park is the site of Albuquerque’s Aquarium. Don’t expect another Atlanta extravaganza. The floor plan is considerably more modest, but it takes visitors on a journey down the Rio Grande from Albuquerque to the river’s mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. Special highlights include an eel tunnel, luminous jellies, and a 285,000 gallon ocean tank where sharks swim alongside reef fish, sea turtles, and open ocean species. On the day of our visit we saw several new-born black tip shark pups.

A perfect end to our visit was lunch at the Shark Reef Café with its multiple aquarium windows and broad wall backing on the Aquarium’s shark tank. Children love this place, and it was packed with kids, parents, and grandparents, all taking in the constantly moving panorama swimming by. We found the food excellent, well above the usual burgers and fries. My Shark Reef Breakfast plate was a mélange of home fries, sausage, bacon and ham topped with cheese, chile and an egg. The half serving ordered was enough for two! My husband’s guacamole burger was tasty, well presented, and served with a crisp green salad. Breakfast is served all day.

Those with shorter time frames can view much of the Biopark, which includes the Zoo, by hopping aboard the narrow guage ¾ scale Thunderbird Express which travels between the Zoo and Aquarium/Botanic Garden with a stop at Tingley Beach. The Biopark is handicap accessible, and both stroller rentals and wheelchairs are available.

Albuquerque Biopark
2601 Central Ave. NW
Albuquerque 87104
(505) 848-6200
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Saturday & Sunday (June-August only) 9:00 AM through 6:00 PM
http://www.biopark@cabq.gov/

The Reef Café, (505) 646-7182
Hours: 9:00 AM to 6 PM Saturday and Sunday in summer: 9:00 to 5:00 rest of the year.
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Natural Albuquerque: Our Open Spaces

A duet of high-altitude clacking drew my eyes upward as a pair of sandhill cranes negotiated two mammoth cottonwoods and gracefully landed on the cornfield in back of Albuquerque’s Open Space Visitor Center. A kettle of their stately compatriots were making short work of the recently cut agricultural field specially planted for their delectation.

The late winter day was in the 30s, and I knew we were fortunate to see the cranes before they undertook their yearly spring migration to Nebraska’s Platte River. Wintering along the Rio Grande Valley from Albuquerque to Bosque del Apache and south, they are one of the delights of our region.

It was my first visit to the Center and I was impressed by the facility, which had opened in 2006. Perhaps I hadn’t visited before because it was so darn accessible, a short distance off Coors Boulevard on the West Side where I live. I’d brushed it off thinking it probably was some uninspiring shack on the bosque. I was so wrong.

The center sits on 55 acres, half of which is harvestable cropland planted in sorghum for the wildlife, and half contains the unexcavated site of Piedras Marcadas, prehistoric pueblo ruins. The building was originally the private residence of Mr. and Mrs. Coda Roberson. Little evidence of the home remains since the structure has been transformed into a multi-use facility with an art gallery, meeting rooms, kitchen, exhibit space interpreting the natural and cultural resources Open Space protects, and lots and lots of big windows opening out to one of the most beautiful views in Albuquerque. The Center hosts special art exhibits and educational programs throughout the year.

Albuquerque’s Open Space program is one of the most ambitious in the Southwest. Since 1969 the city has acquired more than 24,000 acres of open space land, and it manages another 4,000 acres. To name a few plots, this includes Elena Gallegos/Albert G. Simms Park at the base of the Sandias; Rio Grande State Park including Alameda/Rio Grande wetlands; Rio Grande Nature Center; Los Poblanos Fields; and in Petroglyph National Monument a number of areas of cultural and geologic importance like Piedras Marcadas Canyon, Boca Negra Canyon, and Rinconada Canyon.

To support the city’s program, the Open Space Alliance (OSA) is a group of volunteers working with the town to preserve, maintain, and improve our natural, historical, and cultural resources. Funded solely through membership dues, the OSA provides a tax-exempt means for citizens, organizations, and corporations to donate to the city’s Open Space Division.

The cranes will soon be gone on their unending journey between nesting and wintering grounds. They will be missed as we trace their journey by the faint sounds of their passing. As the seasons transform the unparalleled views of bosque and mountains, visitors in the know will stop at this quiet place for hiking the river trail, nature study, and contemplation.

City of Albuquerque Open Space Visitor Center
6500 Coors Blvd NW
Between Montano Blvd. and Paseo del Norte at the end of Bosque Meadows Rd.
Albuquerque, NM
(505) 897-9931
www.cabq.gov/openspace/visitorcenter.htm
Open Space Alliance
P.O. Box 91265
Albuquerque, NM 87199
(505) 452-5200
www.openspacealliance.org

Pueblo Women Artists

On a hot, humid summer day in the upper Susquehanna River Valley, I discovered a passion. Always a hound for hand-thrown pottery, I went on a day trip to visit my favorite Pennsylvania craftsman, Bill Lynch of Penns Creek Pottery. After a sojourn with Bill and lemonade and cookies with his wife and family, I decided to continue on to Mifflinburg, a tiny town known mainly as the site of a buggy museum and a store selling Amish quilts.

Strolling down the quiet streets I came upon an old white Georgian home advertising antiques. It looked deserted but a jangle on the bell brought the stooped, grey-haired proprietor to the door.

“Wha’ cha’ lookin for,” he queried without much grace. “Old Indian stuff,” I replied. I’d visited the Southwest recently and admired the Pueblo pottery. “Well, I got some arrow heads,” he said. When I shook my head, he reached under the counter and brought up a pot. “Had this ugly black thing for 30 years, and I’d like to ride myself of it. You can have it for $25.” I almost fainted. He had a 1920 Santa Clara wedding vase. Of course, I paid the ridiculously low price, grabbed the vase, and ran out the door like a thief in the night.

Eventually I moved to New Mexico, the genesis of my treasured pot. Luckily Albuquerque and Santa Fe are rife with museums highlighting Native American art. Currently, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in collaboration with the Adobe Gallery of Santa Fe is presenting “Timeless Beauty: Pueblo Women Artists of the 20th Century.”

Represented artists include Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso; Lucy Lewis, Acoma; Pablita Velarde, Santa Clara; Helen Hardin, Santa Clara; Margaret Tafoya, Santa Clara; Helen Cordero, Cochiti; Tonita Pena, San Ildefonso/Cochiti; and Blue Corn, San Ildefonso.

Not all are potters. Paintings include Pabilta Velarde’s watercolor of Mimbres Turtles and Helen Hardin’s geometric abstracts like “Medicine Woman.” If you’re attracted to pottery, you won’t want to miss Blue Corn’s eggshell polychrome pot or Helen Cordero’s storytellers, which she described as coming “out of my heart. They’re singing. Can’t you hear them? I talk to them. They’re my little people. Not just pretty things I make for money.”

Leaving the exhibit room I walked over to a single display attributed only to an early Santa Clara potter. Before signing became the norm, potters did not dignify their work this way. The huge black storage pot had a true timeless quality and lent a baseline for the remarkable pottery which came after. Its rag and stone polished surface mirrored the finish of my old wedding vase, and I wondered once again at the skill, talent, and patience which created such timeless beauty.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St. NW, Albuquerque 87104; (866) 855-7902. www.indianpueblo.org. Timeless Beauty runs through June 14.

Two Albuquerque Mysteries

Two Albuquerque businesses sitting side by side on Lomas have deceptive names. Monroe’s is a restaurant serving New Mexican food, and The Palms is a store selling Native American jewelry, Pueblo pots, and other assorted hand-crafted goods.

My first trip to Albuquerque in the 1980’s introduced me to Monroe’s. Asking around for good local food in a non-pretentious atmosphere, I was steered to the small restaurant. I have been returning ever since for its enchiladas, huevos rancheros, excellent green chile cheeseburgers, and sweet potato fries.

My curiosity was piqued on the history of the non-Hispanic name, and I discovered Monroe’s originally was owned by Monroe Sorensen, a Scandinavian who had a little chile parlor on the corner of Rio Grande and Mountain. When Sorensen retired, Miguel Diaz, a native of Puerto Rico, purchased the eatery in 1979 and moved it to a refurbished gas station on Lomas, retaining the name and customer base. A second Monroe’s is located on Osuna, and although the menu is the same, the decor is the more typical adobe style. You can’t go wrong eating at either location. For my dollar, Monroe’s fresh ingredients and consistency rate it among Albuquerque’s best little gems.

The Palms was a discovery made one day after lunch at Monroe’s. Somewhat off the beaten path for a trading company, the selection and prices make The Palms a must-stop for any visiting friends and family wanting to purchase Native American art.

Guy Berger, the owner, worked at the trading post during summer vacations as a young man, and now has over 20 years experience in the business. Berger says the unusual name came from the original owners, the Del Frate brothers, who opened a beer garden at the corner of Rio Grande and Central in 1941. Searching for a name, they glanced at a cut-out ad featuring a group of palm trees and decided The Palms would fit their purpose nicely.

The beer garden location, which thrived on weekends, needed cash flow during the week so a small food market was instituted using The Palms name. In 1967 the market moved to a larger location on Lomas and 15th NW. Popular among local residents and many Indians from Albuquerque’s surrounding pueblos, The Palms often accepted trade goods in lieu of payment for groceries.

In 1968 the market acquired so much jewelry that Angelo Del Frate decided to open the back room to collectors, and the Palms Trading Company was born. Currently, the 5,000 square foot showroom contains one of the most complete inventories of Pueblo pottery and Indian jewelry in the industry.

The entry room is chock-a-block full of silver from concha belts to bracelets, and the side room displays pots, storytellers, rain gods, kachinas, antique pottery and more. There’s a small selection of Navajo rugs. You won’t go wrong purchasing a piece from The Palms, and you might be treated to the sight of a potter from Acoma or Jemez auditioning their wares for Berger or one of his knowledgeable staff.

Monroe’s New Mexican Food, 1520 Lomas Blvd. NW, 87104; (505) 242-1111 or 6051 Osuna Road NE, 87109; (505) 881-4224. www.monroeschile.com

The Palms Trading Company, 1504 Lomas Blvd. NW, 87104. (505) 247-8504. www.palmstrading.com
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