Today was another rest and refit day for the first half of the day. We enjoyed a big (for us) pancake breakfast, after which I found a place to look at the AC leak in the van. I was too late in the morning for them to look at it today, so Vicki and I decided to get the van looked at early tomorrow morning before we leave for Oklahoma. While Joy and Eli read and relaxed, Vicki and I sorted, washed and dried three loads of laundry – the fourth time we’ve done laundry this trip.
The campsite here is dusty and beautiful. At night, we can see the dusty streak of the Milky Way before the waning but still strong moon rises over the trees. Vicki has been reading about the town of Santa Fe, home to 60,000, which perches on the 7000 foot high foothills of the Rockies, and which claims to be the oldest capitol city in the country (ca. 1610). After we finished the laundry, our books (and Joy and Eli complete a photo and video montage), and lunch, we piled into the van for a trip to Old Town.
Don Pedro Peralta, the Governor-General, surveyed the site and named the city “La Villa Real de Santa Fe de St. Francisco de Assis" which means "the royal city of the holy faith of St. Francis of Assisi” as Spain's new capitol of Nuevo Mexico. The Spanish called the original inhabitants (who had lived in the area since 1000) Pueblo, which means “town” or “town dweller”. To this day, the architecture of much of the city apes the tan masonry dwellings used by the “Pueblo” natives centuries before Spain claimed the area. Even parking garages.
The oldest part of the city is the Plaza, a park ringed by shops, outdoor musicians and vendors, and churches. We spent some time in two of the churches, St. Francis Cathedral and Loretto Chapel. St. Francis dates from 1610, though the present building (the sixth on the site, was begun in 1870). The interior reminded me a lot of St. Hedwig’s in Wilmington – a colorful journey back to a European, 19th century faith experience. We saw a rare 15th station of the cross in the nave (the one celebrating the resurrection), and a “Conquistadora Chapel” where we saw statues of Jesus that bore a Spanish influence and banks of prayer candles.
On our way to the Loretto Chapel (Our Lady of Light), we met a sculptor from West Africa who showed us his handiwork. The Loretto Chapel was built by the same laborers who constructed the final version of the St. Francis Cathedral, in the late-1800’s, for the Sisters of Loretto, whom the Bishop had invited from Kentucky to start a school for girls (which they ran for over a century, until 1968). The chapel is most famous for is miraculous spiral staircase to the choir loft, which makes two 360 turns without a center support, and dates from 1880, when a mysterious carpenter built it in 6 months and disappeared. Later, another carpenter added a handrail (I couldn’t imagine climbing it without one). We had heard about the staircase. It was definitely a thought-provoking structure (and a bargain at $3 a person!). The Loretto Chapel, unlike the St. Francis Cathedral, was deconsecrated and is under private management.
We wondered out of the chapel and through the Plaza, passing a politically incorrect monument denouncing southerners as “Rebels” (and natives “Savages” until a vandal defaced it in 1973). A bronze plaque in front of the late 1800’s obelisk attempts an apology/explanation. A band was tuning up, but we went to a Five & Dime to get water, ice cream, post cards, and chili pepper lights for the trailer (the usual). Sufficiently fortified, we returned to the Plaza and found a spot to enjoy the outdoor concert by the “Pleasure Pilots”, a jazz/swing troupe that got nearly everybody dancing before they finished. A woman near us judged that we had saved the best for last when she learned about our itinerary. After enjoying the outdoor concert in the picturesque town, she may have been right.
We returned to the van and immediately got on our cell phones (Vicki with Ruthann, me with my Dad, Joy with Abbey, and Eli with an imaginary friend) and the din was so loud we could barely keep up with the conversations. We drove to Harry’s Roadhouse and enjoyed another wonderful meal, before returning to the trailer to string up our new chili pepper lights (they look marvelous – Joy arranged a stirring red-green-yellow-red pattern) and get ready for bed.
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