Santa Fe is a beautiful town at nearly 7000 feet in altitude. The town is pretty because of the colorful adobe architecture and its location between mountains.
With the Drapers, we drove about 30 miles North of Santa Fe to watch the Deer Dance of the Santa Clara Pueblo Indians - we were unable to take photos due to tribal policy, but I found something on the web that shows their outfits. About 50 people, mostly men but a few women, were fully dressed with deer antlers, feathers, painted black faces, bells, and other elaborate costumes. They danced accompanied by drummers who sang. These dances and songs reminded us of the South American traditional dances that we saw in Peru and Bolivia.
We realized that Los Alamos National Laboratory was nearby, so we headed off to visit the site. Unable to tour the research facilities, we went to the Bradbury Science Museum in the town of Los Alamos. I was intrigued to hear that they are conducting neuroscience research at the facilities, but we were disappointed to find that they would not even hint at the research conducted on site. Bummer! Of note, the entire museum was devoted to the development of nuclear weapons, but there was a small corner set aside for a public forum with anti-nuclear power posters and a sign-in book - interesting.
In Santa Fe, we visited the Georgia O'Keefe Museum - short but sweet. They had pieces there that we have never seen before. We then wandered around the downtown and we were shocked to find so many upscale galleries with Native American jewelry, pottery, rugs, and woven baskets. For a town of only 65,000, it seemed hard to believe that all these high end shops could be supported. According to Lucy, most locals are not shopping downtown, so it seems that they are being solely supported by tourism - skiiers, hikers, LosAlamos-goers, etc.
After such a relaxing day, we will be heading out, westward bound, tomorrow. Maybe we will try to make it to LA? We'll see...
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2 comments:
Santa Fe totally weird that way. It always kind of freak out at all the galleries and fancy shops- ick. There are lots of rich types that live there - you hear stories, rumors of how they take personal jets to work in Los Angeles. But yeah, most people are just reg'lar folks who can't afford that kind of stuff! My cousin and her husband live there- both artists and she also teaches photography at the community college (I think, I get a bit sketchy).
Glad you got to see some Pueblo dances!!! Cool, huh?
The research is secret? What do you think they're doing? Figuring out new and more effective ways to control our thoughts? Using nuclear energy? I'm going to go put another layer of tin foil on my head.
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