TRAVELER
New Mexico Putting a Spark in Life
story & photos by Maggie Zeibak
something happens to push us into a sponta- neous whirl of activity. Why, we say, shouldn’t we choose an unvisited State and see what it has to offer? And on a whim, that’s how I found myself toodling around Northern New Mexico in a gutless, bright lemon yellow, con- spicuous to every State Trooper, Chevy Spark.
T
aking life as usual is never a good idea; we grumble along mindlessly, steering ourselves along a road of repetition until
consciously parking my wheels in the gravel courtyard, I was reminded of the old TV ad- vertisement for Gremlin cars where the grizzled attendant comes out and looks at the very- compact car and cackles, “Where’s the rest of your car, toots?” Fortunately, no-one made any derogatory comments and I continued driving along the river, taking care to observe the ever- changing speed limits from Santa Fe to Taos. Eyeing the blueberry-tinged clouds levitat-
ing over the mountains, I missed the person di- recting traffic into the Taos Pueblo Living World Heritage site, the oldest continuously in- habited community in the USA, and found myself almost outside the 1850 San Geron- imo’s Church in the Plaza. Ooops…I could tell by the smirking visitors I’d overshot the park- ing lot and would have to do the turn of shame on the dirt road back to the entrance. Returning on foot, past the food drying
The Spark Passing by a roadside museum of col-
lectibles, I spotted a huge, chubby-cheeked Bob’s Big Boy statue, towering above the old gas pumps, classic cars and memorabilia. Self-
racks and hornos, (outdoor ovens) I could see the Indian work crew busily repairing the adobe structure, made of earth, straw and water. The exteriors are plastered annually and you can imagine the challenges they face as the Pueblo is restricted from electricity and run- ning water.
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The tiny house where D.H. Lawrence lived and wrote his controversial novels. Just as I was absorbing what it meant for
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the Pueblo Indians to guard their sacred native language, Tiwa, which is unrecorded and un- written, the distant rumble of thunder heralded approaching rain. Unwilling to give up the op- portunity to taste authentic Indian Fry Bread (not Fried Bread) I ducked into a small house where the lady cooked on her stove and offered
her bread complete with sugar and cinnamon. Now the rain was coming down in huge
sheets and I sought refuge in my half-portion car to eat my full-portion treat – I wasn’t going to drive in those conditions. At one point I did wonder whether the flooding would sweep me away or perhaps the wind would upend me into the creek, but the storm passed by and my
“You cannot come to Taos without feeling
that here is one of the chosen
spots on earth” - D. H. Lawrence
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