Day Tripping in Santa Fe, Part 3.5
Bob Dylan Takes Us to Taos and Madrid (New Mexico)
My bad! a little confusion here.
I false-startedly posted a long version of Day Tripping in Santa Fe 3.0 a couple of weeks ago, with Bob Dylan taking us from Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu through Madrid (New Mexico) and Taos Pueblo and City - but then, I decided the post was toooooo long, and so before many of you received it, I CUT THE POST IN HALF…
… so that less than half of you got the long post, while more than half of you got the edited version, only visiting Ghost Ranch.
OY!
So… here’s the 2nd half - with Mr. Dylan taking us to Madrid (New Mexico) and Taos. If you’ve already read 3.0, so be it.
But if you haven’t, READ ON……
And if you haven’t been to Ghost Ranch at all, or you want to catch up on Bob Dylan’s backstory, please go to Day Tripping in Santa Fe 3.0, my previous post.
Any which way, enjoy the chaos and confusion; we’ll be back on track soon!!!
Christmas in Madrid
No, not the capital of Spain. But Ma’drid, New Mexico. Accent on the first syllable, not the second. Located on the scenic “Turquoise Trail” between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, Madrid sits high in the mineral-rich Ortiz Mountains, the oldest coal mining region in New Mexico, where there is evidence of primitive mining as early as the mid-1850's.
Beginning in the early 1920s, Madrid miners began to light up the winter sky with 150,000 Christmas lights powered by 500,000 kilowatt hours of electricity provided by the company's own coal-fed generators. The displays were the product of both Madrid and Northern New Mexico artisans and laborers and created a festive “holiday tradition” for the entire Santa Fe region. Unfortunately, during WW2, Madrid’s Christmas celebrations were interrupted, and thereafter, the mines permanently closed in the 1950s.
However, today, Christmas festivities have been fully revived, with Main Street lit up once again, all 276 wildly independent Madrid hippie-artisan locals decked out in full Christmas regalia, craft stores fully cobwebbed and Christmas-balled, with an all-afternoon parade of donkeys (burros), buffalos, and trucks full of local Christmas carolers, overflowing the one-way tourist-filled, only street in town, with Santa (Claus), naturally bringing up the rear.
How do I know? The 3 of us were THERE!
If dogs run free, then why not we
Across the swooping plain?
My ears hear a symphony
Of two mules, trains, and rain
The best is always yet to come
That's what they explain to me
Just do your thing, you'll be king
If dogs run free
If dogs run free, why not me
Across the swamp of time?
My mind weaves a symphony
And tapestry of rhyme
Oh, winds which rush my tale to thee
So it may flow and be
To each his own, it's all unknown
If dogs run free
If dogs run free, then what must be
Must be, and that is all
True love can make a blade of grass
Stand up straight and tall
In harmony with the cosmic sea
True love needs no company
It can cure the soul, it can make it whole
If dogs run free
Both Cassius, our Santa Fe mountain-brown, ridgeback-pitbull,
and Clay, the Dog, his gray wolf-pitbull predecessor, loved that song.
“If dogs run freeeeeeeeee…..”
TAOS AND CHIMAYO
Take the high road.
That’s what everyone says to us. To get to Taos, the most well-known Native American pueblo in America’s Southwest. And the second of New Mexico’s great art meccas. Only an hour and a half from Santa Fe.
But why “the high road”?
Because only about 40 minutes along the spectacularly beautiful road,
…nestled in the Catholic and indigenous village of Chimayo, sits the national historic landmark, El Santuario de Chimayo. Begun in 1810 and completed in 1816, the church sanctuary is world-renowned not only for its unusual creation legend, but probably even more so, as a present-day pilgrimage site. It receives almost 300,000 visitors per year and has been called "no doubt the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the United States.”
It’s frequently called the “Lourdes of America”, specifically for its “magical healing soil”. In the small prayer room next to the sanctuary is a round hole filled with “godly curing dirt”. Thousands of Catholic pilgrims, tourists, and even doubtful agnostics and atheists like “yours Trulesly” come to the sanctuary in pursuit of this blessed soil, hoping to find a cure for their pains, illnesses, doubts, and afflictions.
There must be some kind of way outta here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no reliefBusinessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None will level on the line
Nobody offered his word
Hey, heyNo reason to get excited
The thief, he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us stop talkin' falsely now
The hour's getting lateAll along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants, too
Well, uh, outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl, hey
I’ll let you know about the power of “the dirt”!
Onto Taos pueblo…..
…which is…
a remarkable example of a traditional type of architectural construction from the pre-Hispanic period of the Americas unique to this region and one which, because of the living culture of its community, has successfully retained most of its traditional forms up to the present day.
Taos Pueblo has been continuously inhabited since the 13-14th centuries, and it is the largest of all the indigenous Southwestern Pueblos that still exist. The pueblo, built exclusively with mud and brick adobe, requires regular maintenance through periodic re-plastering, which is undertaken as needed by tribal members using only traditional materials and methods. The tribal community itself maintains controls to protect its traditions, including the prohibition within the walled area of electrical power lines and piped water supply. An increasing number of Pueblo residents have homes outside the walled area; however, the old village still serves as the most important focus for intra-village interaction and cultural activities.
Just a mile from the pueblo is the funky and magical town of Taos itself. Situated in the heart of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, I think it’s truly unique to other Southwest destinations, where both visitors and locals experience an artistic convergence of the rustic and the refined - where the laid-back vibe extends from a rich culture, a unique landscape, and an indigenous history - into art galleries, museums, restaurants, and local events. Where one-of-a-kind outdoor adventures and surrounding scenic vistas are truly one of the town’s high points, including the nearby Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.
Where, of course, Exsel and I get out of the car, and make the stomach-turning trek over the gorge.
Maybe it’s the region’s sublime, otherworldly light that painters fall in love with, or its heaven-reaching, heart-palpitating altitude, or just the dazzlingly-thin line where golden mesa meets endless blue sky. Or maybe it’s just the astounding verticality of the sacred Taos Mountains that has always made Taos a mecca for artists and visionaries alike, but you shouldn’t come to Santa Fe, without seeing the shadows and light of Taos..
Shadows are falling and I've been here all day
It's too hot to sleep, time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I've still got the scars that the sun didn't heal
There's not even room enough to be anywhereIt's not dark yet, but it's getting there
Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there's been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing what was in her mind
I just don't see why I should even careIt's not dark yet but it's getting there
Well, I've been to London and I've been to gay Paree
I've followed the river and I got to the sea
I've been down on the bottom of a world full of lies
Well, I ain't looking for nothing in anyone's eyes
Sometimes my burden seems more than I can bearIt's not dark yet but it's getting there
I was born here and I'll die here against my will
I know it looks like I'm moving but I'm standing still
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don't even hear a murmur of a prayerMmm, it's not dark yet but it's getting there
And that’s where I’m at, here in Santa Fe, babies. Perhaps where we’re all at, though we may not quite want to admit it…….
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.
Might as well do our Day Tripping while we can……………
Best,
Santa Fe and Day Trippin’ Trules
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Thanks so much!!!
An interesting link:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/31/a-unified-field-theory-of-bob-dylan
A Unified Field Theory of Bob Dylan
By David Remnick
He’s in his eighties. How does he keep it fresh?
I love your writing!❤️
Excellent work, as always.