I hope you don’t mind a little history of Taos, New Mexico. Taos was one of the very first establishment of New Spain in the northern part of this area in 1615, long before the first pilgrims arrived in Plymouth Rock. The Village of Fernandez de Taos was a tranquil place until the great Pueblo Rebellion of 1680 that lasted 12 years. Then there was peace between the Indians and the settlers until the mid-1800 when there was much turmoil between the Indians, Mexico and the US. The railroad missed the village but mining changed the town again, then the artist discover the peaceful valley lined by towering mountains.
We opted to do some sight seeing today rather than hiking. Our first stop was at Pueblo Taos. The Pueblo claims to have been here for thousands of years, it was definitely here when the Coronado expedition came through over 400 years ago. The Taos Indians built these 3-5 story structures as apartments as well as for protection from invading tribes. The church was built in 1850 and is the newest addition in the Pueblo. 150 Indians still live here with no electricity and no water other than what they can carry from the river. They worship in the mission church but still maintain their traditional ceremonies in their Kivas. Many of the residents were selling their hand crafted jewelry, pottery, and baked goods. The baked goods are cooked in an outdoor adobe oven heated with wood.
We then drove up to Taos Ski Resort but were very disappointed with what we saw as they are totally remodeling the whole village. A new owner/investor has taken over the resort and is revamping almost everything. We did find our way up the road past the resort to the Bavarian Restaurant where we had a delightful German lunch of sausages, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.
As we were coming down the mountain huge rain clouds started collecting over Taos with lightning and high winds so we headed back to the RV to make sure everything was ok. It was. I then decided that I should go back to Santa Fe to the R.E.I. and exchange my boots for a pair that fit better. Four hours later I was back with some proper fitting hiking boots and we had dinner at 5 Star Burgers - very good!
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