I Don't Need No Stinkin' Map!!

We started our day at the Flying Star in Bernalillo -- we ran out of coffee at home so it was an emergency. We stopped at the local grocery store -- a nice Albertsons -- on the way home and picked up some provisions.

We had a short list of errands and a few stops we needed to make but our plan was to go to the Old Town Plaza for lunch and walk around and then spend some time at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Our first stop, though, was in Corrales because I wanted Donna to see the old San Ysidro church and the restored hacienda across the street. We got there and the hacienda was closed....of course...and there would not be any tours until 1:30. The old church was recently damaged in the huge rain storm that hit the area the night before we got to town. Some of the mud stucco was sloughed off the exterior and laying in a pile on the ground. They will need a mud party of locals to get it re-mudded. We were greeted by two women on horseback who were very chatty and would have talked for a long time if we would have been willing to stay there for a few hours. They are both archaeologists and the one offers free horseback riding lessons to adults. They were very informative about the hacienda and the church and some of the Corrales traditions.

Our next stop was at an antique mall --- I was thinking that I needed a small table for the bedroom. I didn't find one but I did find a rug that I like and think would be great for my house.  I'm still thinking about it and might go back and pick it up.

I had to stop by my builder/agent's office and drop off some paper work. She called me to say she was too sick to meet with me....she sounded really bad...I hope she gets better soon.

We were now free to head to the Old Town plaza. I drove to the general area but kept missing the street. We drove by the same museum three times but couldn't find the right street to get into Old town. Donna was getting "worked up" about my driving and navigation skills when I suddenly found the right place and...ta-da...there we were.

We walked around looking in a few shops. They have some very nice Indian jewelry and some great Mexican rugs if you want to spend the money.   We ate lunch at La Placita Dining Rooms, which was probably a mistake. They are not getting any better and I was hoping for an improvement. We regretted our lunch -- mainly because it was too much food and not that good, anyway. They have a very obvious sewer problem that takes away some of the ambiance of an early 1700s building. (Note to self: find another place to eat in Old Town.)

We walked (more like waddled) over to the oldest church in Albuquerque...San Felipe de Neri, which dates to 1793. It was renovated several times and restored to it's appearance back in the 1800s. This church was not the first one in town. Earlier churches were destroyed and this one was relocated and built from some of the remains of the previous church.  We went into the small gift shop next door and looked at some hand carved saints and retablos. I found a couple saints that might look good in the nichos that I have on my fireplace.

We stopped off at the de Colores Galleria shop just off the plaza and looked at some of the santos and retablos made by Roberto Gonzales. He is a Santero, or a saint maker, and his shop is full of icons and images of various saints. If you are into saints, this is the place to come.  I got a small picture of San Pasquale, the patron saint of the kitchen, offering your choice of red or green chiles.

We finally made it to the Hispanic Cultural Center and toured the art gallery. They had a special exhibit of resistance needlework from Chile that dated to the days of the overthrow of Salvadore Allende and the dictatorship of Pinochet. The needlework (Arpilleras) tell stories of resistance and memorialize the people who were abducted and tortured or who just disappeared.

We got back home and decided to just sit and watch the colors change on the Sandia Mountains. Sandia is Spanish for watermelon and the mountain glows red at sunset. There were a few clouds spilling over the top of the mountain.  There seems to be a show like this every evening.

We were also entertained by the birds at the feeder and the hummingbirds zooming around the yard.  The rabbits were coming around and we had a squirrel and quail earlier in the day.