This is a story of friendship, the rejuvenation of our body and soul and the exploration of an area of the world with a long and interesting history - Taos, New Mexico.
The tribe gathered for a week long powwow in Taos. Little did
we know how our interactions and experiences with each other and the world
around us would be so magical.
The tribe this week consisted of Flaming Sage, Singing
Willow, Cloud Bear, Red Feather and Laughing River. These names represent each
tribe member’s personality and their place in the tribe as decided by the
other tribe members.
Our tribe formed when we were all living in London. Cloud
Bear is our common denominator. She draws each person in with her pure love and
honesty. She is a good judge of character.
Flaming Sage is quietly elegant, intelligent, so strong,
stunning and an enigma with poise.
Red Feather is daring, kind and confident wherever she is.
She describes things in a more beautiful way and is an enchanting wordsmith.
Singing Willow is engaging and positive. She is beautifying
in her manner and being. She makes things special. She is always happy, often singing and has
an eye for beauty and design.
Laughing River is an unconditional and laughing adventurous
spirit. She is amazingly tenacious and funny.
Cloud Bear is open, loving, transparent and not judgmental. She is pure-love personified. She is the common denominator.
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| The inner courtyard of the Taos Inn (Adobe Bar) |
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| Wine-tasting was a highlight. ;-) |
This week away from the daily routines and 24/7
responsibilities was so needed for each one of us. The list for the home logistics was completed and plans in
place at home to make sure our families could cope without us. We knew it would
be fun to get together again but we didn’t realize how amazing it would be and
how hard to describe the feelings and experiences but I am going to try and do
it justice.
Life is about living it. During the week, I had the rare
moment to reflect on life and I realized that life is about travelling and
intersecting (life and living) on different planes each and every day. Each
moment is an interaction or intersection with something in the world and it is
unique for each of us. But the joy of sharing these experiences is what makes
life fantastic.
My week was all about these interactions:
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Exploration of time and places
·
People experiences
·
Food experiences
·
Body and Soul rejuvenation
·
Friendship with a lot of laughter
·
Taking pictures to capture “it” somehow
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| ABBA Arrival |
It took us many hours to travel to Taos from Houston,
Decatur, London and Sydney. Those first hugs were joyous as we arrived to
Albuquerque airport. Our group circle hug jumping up and down looked like a
team that had just won the World Cup. We hopped in the rental cars and started our
2,5 hour trek to Taos through the mountains up to an altitude of 2,125 meters
and the last part was in darkness which made it all that more exciting. We
arrived to the adobe house of Flaming Sage, our hostess for the week, dropped
off our luggage and headed to the first of many fantastic restaurants called Quechua
Peruvian Restaurant in Taos. Our conversation was catching up on the past few
years but it also felt as if we all still lived in the same neighborhood.
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| The Red Willow people use the Rio Pueblo as their main source of water. |
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| Taos Pueblo- over 1,000 years old |
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| Sacred mountains as seen from Taos Pueblo |
Sunday morning dawned bright and clear. The bluest of blue
skies is in Taos. Breakfast was at
Doc Martin’s Restaurant. Yum Yum. After
the fantastic breakfast, we headed a mile north of Taos to the Taos Pueblo. It
is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Tiwa-speaking Native American tribe of
Puebloan people. This pueblo has been continuously inhabited for over 1,000
years. There is neither electricity nor running water. It was inspiring to
learn about their history and amazing to meet some from the current generation
who carry on these traditions and way of life.
Our next destination was via the Rio Grande River Gorge
Bridge. The bridge is the 2nd highest suspension bridge in the USA.
It has great views. Laughing River is afraid of heights and stood on the edge
of the bridge while the others walked to the middle of the bridge for amazing
pictures.
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| View from the bridge over the Rio Grande river |
It was quite fitting that we needed to cross the Rio Grande
River Gorge Bridge to travel 1,000 years to the present and possibly the future
in regards to modern sustainable housing at the Earthship world community. From their website Earthship.org: “Earthships can be built in any part of the world and still
provide electricity, potable water, contained sewage treatment and sustainable
food production. The Most Versatile and Economical sustainable green building design in
the world.”
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| Greenhouse |
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| Used re-cycled materials to build |
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| Self-sufficient house |
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| Already 70 homes have been built here at Earthship. |
The
contrast of the history, people and the buildings they have created was not
lost on any of us this day. The world seems like a crazy place at times but meeting
individual people and being curious about how and why brings home the point
that we are all humans and we are all amazing in our own way. We just can’t
lose sight of this.
Dinner
on our first full day in Taos was at The Love Apple and we celebrated Cloud
Bear’s milestone birthday and Red Feather’s birthday also. It was amazing food,
amazing service, amazing ambience, amazing Cloud Bear and amazing friendship.
We
checked many things off our list this day that we didn’t even realize were on
the list. Flaming Sage had researched and planned for the entire week with
restaurants and sights. Her meticulous planning made everything flow gently
down the river as we took it all in the presence of natural wonders.
“Always
be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.” –E.B. White
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| Rio Grande Gorge |
Monday dawned earlier for some of us with jetlag and
dehydration from the altitude adjustment; the sky was once again an amazing and
mesmerizing blue.
We left the house in good time to get to the Ojo Caliente
Health Spa for a yoga class before soaking in the pools. Our journey’s route
was over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. As we approached the Bridge the traffic
was stopped both ways. On the bridge were a fire truck, an ambulance and a
crane. They were involved in a body recovery. We were all very sad as we waited
the hour for them to finish on the bridge. A loss of life is always sad. It was
quite distressing as just the day before we had all been on the bridge. A
reminder that we only get one life, we need to live it to the fullest.
So it was quite a somber mood on the rest of the journey to Ojo
Caliente’s secluded oasis. When we arrived the surroundings grabbed us with
their beauty.” Ojo Caliente is deemed sacred by Native Americans of Northern
New Mexico, Ojo's legendary waters have been soothing body, mind and spirit
naturally for thousands of years. Ojo is one of the oldest natural health
resorts in the US and the only hot springs in the world with four different
sulfur-free, healing mineral waters.” (From Ojo’s website)
We arrived, checked in, picked up our robes and went to the
locker rooms to change. The idea of relaxing the body and the soul for our
tribe does not include “whispering.” There are signs everywhere that it is a
whisper zone so that everyone can enjoy the peace and quiet. Talking in a
whisper was the day’s biggest challenge. There was even a male employee walking
around all the pools with a sign “Please whisper” (That actually made me laugh
every time.)
Sitting in each of the hot pools with the different elements
(iron, lithia, zinc, arsenic, soda and even a mud pool) was very relaxing. There was also a dry sauna and a steam
sauna. I had the most fun in the dry sauna at the end of the day because I had an
uncontrollable giggle fit and I got everyone else in there to join in too.
After a long day of whispering, soaking in mineral baths, enjoying another
fabulous lunch and drinking wine- the laughing fit was bound to happen. Just
thinking about it, well it makes me smile.
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| Ojo Caliente |
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| Rejuvenating....... |
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| "What is ABBA?" "It's a famous band." |
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| View from the mud pool |
Late afternoon and we headed back to Taos, back over the
bridge, all of us content in the knowledge that we rested our body and souls.
And of course that meant that dinner and drinks had to be at The Adobe Bar,
which makes the best margaritas in Taos.
We can confirm that it is true. OH MY.
Did you know that almost every establishment closes at 10 pm
in Taos? Well, everything except the Alley Cantina. After a couple of
margaritas, we meandered over to the local’s hot spot to hear some live music.
The Alley Cantina had some live musical acts playing -- I can’t describe the
acts so suffice it to say different but mostly they were good. The locals
noticed us, bought us drinks, challenged us to billiards and chatted us up. I loved those interactions with the
locals. It made my life richer.
Tuesday morning dawned again with light cloud cover. It was
supposed to rain on and off this day but it held off until later afternoon
during our shopping day in Santa Fe. I really loved the architecture and the vibe in Santa Fe. It was a bittersweet day and Cloud Bear
needed to head back home earlier and headed to the airport just after noon. It
was and is always strange when you have to say “bye” from one minute to the
next. We all suck at goodbyes. Cloud Bear headed back and left a hole in our
tribe, but her presence was still felt the rest of the week.
Now we were four and it was time for lunch. Flaming Sage to
the rescue again and takes us to the most delightful place called La Plazuela
in La Fonda. After lunch some more window-shopping and a not to be missed visit
to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
As we came out of the Cathedral it was starting to drizzle
as we walked to where we had parked the car. We were in a little bit of a hurry
as our aim was to make it back to Taos before dark so we weren’t driving
through the mountains in the dark. We piled in the car and made it a few blocks
in the rain before we noticed the note on the windshield that was typical Cloud
Bear and almost caused a catastrophe as we tried to get the note off in the
rain on a busy street. It was rainy and dark for the drive back to Taos but a
soak in the hot tub that night made everything OK.
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| La Plazuela at La Fonda |
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| The sweet note from Cloud Bear |
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| St. Francis of Assisi |
Red Feather reflected, “We were brought together by a common
need of friendship in a foreign country. We enjoy each others personal quirks
and that’s why we remain friends.”
Wednesday and Taos doesn’t disappoint with another beautiful
blue sky. We started our morning at World Cup Cafe. It was a hopping little
coffee shop with all the locals and us standing in line to get some great
coffee before our drive to Abiquiu and Georgia O’Keeffe’s house.
Our drive to
the Abiquiu Inn for lunch before the house tour was again amazing scenery as the
sunlight shining on or reflecting off of the ever changing mountain views. I
can’t really explain it but it is something to see and experience for yourself.
My pictures don’t do the incredible views of nature the justice they deserve.
These mountains need to be experienced in person.
Lunch at the Abiquiu Inn was another successful choice of
restaurant by Flaming Sage. (My mouth is watering thinking about all the good
food we ate every day.)
I can totally understand why Georgia O’Keeffe bought her
house where she did because the views are amazing and inspiring. Georgia
O’Keeffe was a woman ahead of her time, a painter with an amazing eye and friends
with Ansel Adams, (my photography idol) and she must have fallen under the
spell of enchantment in this part of New Mexico.
I can relate to and I am inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe and
her paintings and find the beauty in looking at the actual objects and then how
she painted them. Post-cancer
living the “new normal” makes life so acute in regards to every intersection or
crossroads I come to with each place in time being special and memorable. I
realize that these experiences can’t be recreated but can be remembered (with
photos, lots of photos) and cherished.
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| Inspiration for Abstractions |
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| Panoramic view from her studio. Inspiration. |
Back in Taos that evening it was the Taos Mesa Brewery for
dinner and some live music. Again it was another memorable experience with the
locals, music and food.
Thursday dawns with yet another BLUE BLUE SKY view through
the window. Finally it was a slow start to the morning when we ate
breakfast/lunch at Gamal Restaurant. It was the 4th time past the
place during the week but for November (a slower tourist season in Taos), their
opening hours were 11ish to 3ish. Yes, those are the real hours. Also, this
place was worth the wait. We
walked around the shops in Taos and met many of the locals and helped the
economy. ;-) I realized I had an obsession with Kokopellis.
Our last full day of the powwow was spent at the Taos Ski
Valley. It is located at the southern end of the Rocky Mountains in the Sangre
de Cristo Mountains and is just 18 miles northeast of the town of Taos. The Taos Ski Valley is the highest
municipality in the USA and is located at an elevation of 2,806 m (9,207 feet)
but the village limits reach 3,835m (12,581 feet). Lunch was enjoyed at 192 at
The Blake and after we took a walk up the hillside at just the right pace for
such a high altitude.
“Sunsets are evidence that there can be beauty in goodbyes”
(Thank you @projecthappiness_org)
Our last night was celebrated back at The Adobe Bar
listening to live music and drinking margaritas because they were that good.
What did I learn that night? The Taos Shuffle is very
common.
The Taos Shuffle is when you live in Taos and just to make
ends meet you work 4 jobs. Our waitress worked at two different restaurants,
walks dogs during the day and mucks out stalls in the area.
I am sure this happens in many more places than Taos. :-(
Saturday morning dawned too soon. We packed the car and
drove through the mountains, the valley and next to the Rio Grande back to ABQ
airport meaning that our journeys home in different directions would break the
spell of enchantment that we had been under all week.
The spell was broken but our friendship bonds were stronger.
Cloud Bear so aptly described our tribe: “Honestly, it is
the strength and vulnerability that is amazing about this group.”
The world = earth, sky, air, animals, plants and us humans.
We were looking at beauty from another angle and lens all
week.
Our place in the world, what impact can we have on the world?
What interactions should we seek with the world?
I choose to receive STRENGTH from interaction.
I get INSIGHT from interaction.
How about you?
I would recommend all of the restaurants mentioned.
I would recommend visiting all of the sights we visited.
I would recommend you to find out more about each place by
using the Internet (if you are so inclined) because it is absolutely
fascinating.
I would recommend getting up early and watching the sunrise
and then savoring those amazing sunsets after a day of looking up in amazement
at the blue, blue, blue skies.
(Some of the events that happened in Taos during our powwow will stay there to protect the innocent.;-)
I have many tribes that I belong to; my life is kind of like
a Venn diagram of tribes. Each one is important and essential to my life. None
of these tribe mates in Taos knew me before I got and beat my cancer. I can’t
really believe I’ve only known them 3 years. Lucky me.
My week was all about these interactions:
·
Exploration of time and places: Taos, Taos
Pueblo, Abiquiu, Ojo, Rio Grande Gorge
·
People experiences: shopkeepers, chooky,
waitresses, tour guides, random people
·
Food experiences: I tried new stuff. My favorite
was the fried brussel sprouts. (OMG)
·
Body and Soul rejuvenation: mineral pools, hot
tubs, mud pools, laughing with friends
·
Friendship with a lot of laughter: Flaming Sage,
Cloud Bear, Red Feather and Singing Willow
·
Taking pictures to capture “it” somehow: A
picture is worth a thousand words.
