New Mexico Road Trip- Day 3 Arroyo Seco & Ojo Caliente

In the Morning I had a chance to visit with Anna Ruth, a lovely Guatemalan woman of about my age who had provided refuge for us on the second night. Maka had met Anna Ruth a few years back and was drawn into friendship when she discovered that Simon, Anna Ruth's young son, was learning about beekeeping. Anna Ruth is a strong woman, a single mother, and an artist. She avoids crowds and loves to hike with her dogs.

After a leisurely morning it was off to check on the honeybees in Arroyo Seco, a little artist colony off-shoot of Taos. I still cannot get too much of the coral hues and rounded corners of the adobe buildings and walls that abound around each and every corner. Hollyhocks, chicory and Russian sage bloom from every patch of earth and blue silled windows keep watch over the activities in the street. At Moyra's house Maka's top bar bee hive was bustling with activity and bursting with fresh honey. We were able to harvest about 5 combs of honey, slicing them off the the bars into a 5 gallon bucket. I helped Moyra move two of her hives off tall stands that were not working out as they were too high to access the combs to check on the bees. Then after visiting a bit and jumping on the trampoline with Ruby and Ellie Mae (Moyra's hound dogs) we were ready to continue our adventure.

Serendipitously another friend of Maka's, Gail, was headed for Ojo Caliente, famed mineral hot springs south west of Taos in the parched desert near Three Peaks. Three Peaks is a funky off-grid community with apparently no planning ordinances to nuisance the rugged folk who make their homes there. Upon hearing from Gail we turned right around and headed to the springs ourselves. Maka shared with me the story of how the springs land was won from from the local native people in poker game by one of the great grandfathers of yet another friend, MJ. Eventually the interests in the place had been sold off by divided relatives and MJ was maneuvered out of her inheritance. The place was refurbished into a chique spa vacation spot for the rich to play.

Today there are 4 different mineral baths, each with different temperature and mineral content, a cooler swimming pool, a mud bath and private mineral bath-pools that can be rented by the the folks with silver lined pockets. Spa services such as massage and facials are available. And Just in case you were not getting overheated enough with the regular fair, there are sauna and steam rooms. A gift shop, posh restaurant, and room rentals complete the extravagant amenities available. At each pool a sign indicated the minerals most abundant and their health benefits. I noticed that no sign was indicated by the mud pool. At the mud pool there was a large cement bowl of slippery mud that you would slop onto your body. A sign disappointed guests with the instructions to not climb into the bowl of mud which was large enough for an adult to sit cross-legged in. The instructions were to slather up with mud, bake yourself in the sun, brush off the dry mud and wash in the muddy pool, then after another rinse in the nearby outdoor showers you could continue to enjoy the other mineral pools. I decided that increased merriment was the primary benefit of the mud bath. There was much laughter and interaction of strangers as we helped each other muddy up and then laughed at how silly we all looked.  Apologies we did not bring our cameras in with us.

That does sounds like a full enough day does it not?  But there is more...  We journeyed on to Santa Fe destroying my illusions that it was a quaint artist's colony.  Santa Fe has turned into a big city (yuck).   I did a tuck and roll at the Whole Foods Market while Maka hurried over to a meeting regarding an event she had been invited to volunteer at.  I ate some yucky food from their hot bar and used the WIFI.   Then it was off to Green Tara practice at a little Tibetan Buddhist studio.  We turned out to be the only two who showed up and the nun was new to leading this particular practice so we sort of hacked our way through it.  To me the best part was when the nun chanted a piece in Tibetan.  It had been a long day and I was cranky to get going but Maka wanted to visit with the nun, I got squirmy and went outside to lay on a picnic table and commune with the trees.  Finally we were off to Madrid. (pronounced Mad-rid), where finally we could sleep.