… to a jewelry making class …

… taught by Bob Hazeltine, legendary Master Bench Jeweler, and the former Department Director for the Gemological Institute of America's Jewelry Manufacturing Arts. Bob teaches silver- and gold-smithing, as well as classes on casting, wax carving, enameling, soldering and fabrication, stone setting methods, repousse, engraving and mold making. He works with both beginning and advanced students, and has recently mastered blowing glass.  He teaches at the Santa Fe Jewelers Supply store, after giving up the Hazeltine School of Fine Jewelry to concentrate on glass-blowing.

Frank and I took jewelry making classes from several different silversmiths back in the 80s. We started in an evening program through Montgomery County Public Schools, and moved along to two or three other instructors. After acquiring all the basic equipment needed to pursue silversmithing as a hobby, we began having children. It was incredibly exciting to get back to the basics with a teacher as patient and interesting as Bob, especially after the sensory overload of silver jewelry that is Santa Fe.

Between 9:30 and 4:00, with an hour and a half off for lunch, we each completed one ring, using a small butane torch. We learned so many techniques and tricks from Bob that our work will never be the same. Bob is a stickler for details, and carried the finishing touches far beyond anything anyone else had ever shown us.

  

 

Good father that he is, Frank’s ring (bottom) is for Mia.

We returned to the hotel to pack and get ready to leave beautiful Santa Fe. It has been an adventure to remember!

One of the memorable details is chile (the local spelling). Chile is served in every restaurant in the Santa Fe area. The customary question is, “Green or red? Or Christmas?” (A mix of green and red.) Our response is usually, “Which is hotter?” And surprisingly, the answer varies. But it is all hot by East Coast standards.

Almost every supermarket parking lot sports large propane tanks hooked to what looks like large barbecues or smokers. We were lucky one day to see what turned out to be a chile roaster in action. This is the prime season for chile roasting. People buy large burlap bags full of red, green or mixed chile peppers, then carry them out to the parking lot for roasting. The roaster dumps the bag into the cage, latches the door, and turns on the flame. It takes about 5 minutes to roast a batch, with the peppers popping and spitting seeds, while softening and browning. The roaster periodically spritzes the peppers with water during the roasting. (Some people are better roasters than others.) The roasted peppers are dumped into a plastic bag, and returned to the customer.

  

A customer filled us in on what happens next. He “sweats” the peppers by leaving them in the sealed plastic bag for a few hours. Then he drains any liquid, peels the outside skins, and places the peppers in batches in plastic bags in the freezer. The trick is to roast enough peppers to last until the next summer. Most people don’t make it, running out in January or March. It was local flavor we loved.

… to do everything …

… we haven’t had time to do so far. That meant mainly things in Santa Fe. For starters, we hadn’t yet seen the museum in the Palace of the Governors, or made it to Packard’s, the flagship high-end jewelry store which is going out of business after 75 years.

So we took the hotel shuttle to the Plaza, and headed immediately for the Native American vendors who sell their wares under the Palace of the Governors portal (the shaded porch in front of the building). It was fun looking and talking, and making a few purchases. The great-grandson of Maria Martinez, the world-famous potter from San Ildefonso Pueblo, sells his pottery there. Only the highest-quality authentic crafts are permitted.

  

  

Browsing done, we went inside to check out the historical exhibits in the Palace and the adjoining New Mexico History Museum. The Palace of the Governors, built in 1610 as the local seat of government for Spain, is the oldest government building in the US. And Santa Fe is the oldest capital city. We now know more about New Mexico’s history than anyone outside the state should know. My favorite was an exhibit on Karl May, a German who wrote the most popular novels about the American West – without ever having been further west than Buffalo, NY. He was a petty thief, who during one stint in the “Workhouse” was made administrator of the library, giving him an opportunity to read travel books. He quickly made a list of the books he planned to write, and did indeed later write some of them. The worldwide popularity of his works was astounding! No photos were allowed.

By this time we were famished, so we walked to Tia Sophia’s, a Santa Fe breakfast and lunch institution. Lunch was authentically New Mexican, complete with red and green chile.

  

  

We checked out a few shops after lunch, then made our way to “Packard’s on the Plaza.” Packard’s is renowned for both traditional and contemporary Native American jewelry, pottery and textiles. Many display cases were already empty as a result of their going out of business sale. It was sad to see the end of an era.

We wandered back to the hotel, and decided not to brave the crowds for the burning of Zozobra, or Old Man Gloom. A big Santa Fe event each fall, a large effigy is burned at dusk to celebrate the end of all of the bad things from the previous year. We watched the celebration on TV.

… to Taos Pueblo…

… after revisiting a morado in Abiquiu for more photos. Morados are churches built by the Penitentes, a secretive order of the Catholic church which believes in self-punishment, including flagellation. Because of their extreme beliefs, the Church attempted to suppress the order. Morados are quite common throughout New Mexico and, for some reason, they’re usually picturesque!

We were on our way to the Taos Pueblo, closed earlier in the week for special tribal coming-of-age ceremonies. Taos Pueblo is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the US. The pueblo sits in a high mountain desert oasis, close to the city of Taos.

Taos Pueblo flourished mostly because there is a river running through it (actually, more of a creek), bringing clean water for drinking, irrigation, and even pottery making. The water flows from a sacred source in the mountains, known only as “Blue Lake.”

The river flows between the “North House” and the “South House,” two multistory structures over 1000 years old. They are individual homes built side-by-side and in layers, with no connecting doorways.

  

The pueblo today looks much as it did centuries ago, except for the addition of doors. Like Acoma, access used to be via ladders through roof openings. The rooftop access provided light, and served as a defense against intruders; ladders could be withdrawn, making access impossible. The village also has drying racks for making jerky, drying beans and other vegetables, and tanning hides. Many homes also use hornos. Some are storefronts to sell native products like pottery, leather goods, textiles, and many different kinds of food, including fry bread. 

  

  

The pueblo buildings are adobe: earth, straw and water molded into bricks, stacked and fastened together with more adobe. The interiors are white-washed, and the roofs supported by large beams. We were fortunate to step inside a house, and found it to be surprisingly spacious, light and well-furnished.

  

  

There is no electricity or running water, and the interior rooms depend on skylights for light. Many houses use the original fireplaces for cooking, although some use wood stoves. The exteriors are plastered each year with fresh adobe.

The pueblo has a pretty church, San Geronimo; built in 1850, it’s one of the newest buildings in the village and a National Historic Landmark.

  

After a quick lunch at a Blake’s LotaBurger (Frank had the Lota Burger, while I opted for the smaller Itsa Burger), we went from old buildings to new, with a tour of the Earthships we saw earlier in our trip. Up close, these houses are even more fantastic. The pictures speak for themselves.

  

  

Next stop: the Millicent Rogers Museum, a collection of southwestern jewelry, paintings, pottery and religious artifacts. Millicent owned enough bracelets to outfit an army! She also dressed in traditional Navajo clothes – whipped up for her by her favorite New York designers! She was quite a character. The museum’s gift shop is a treat in itself, filled with museum-quality southwestern jewelry.

  

We had a nice New Mexican dinner at JoAnn’s Ranch O Casadas Restaurant in Espanola. Wonder where we will get sopaipillas when we get home ….

… to Sky City …

… Acoma Pueblo, 370 feet above the desert floor, high on top of a mesa. The mesa has been home for almost 2000 years, dating back to 1100 AD. When Coronado’s army approached the mesa in 1540, he was impressed by the pueblo’s strong defensive position, and reportedly said, “The ascent was so difficult that we repented climbing to the top.” The mesa sits on a plain surrounded by awesome rock formations.

  

We stopped at the beautiful new Sky City Cultural Center to get tickets, which included a pueblo tour, camera permit, and museum admission. After a quick lunch at the restaurant, we hopped on a shuttle bus for the ride to the top of the mesa.

  

The Acoma Pueblo produces beautiful, thin-walled pottery, painted with intricate patterns and lines; many potters sell their wares on the street. They were so eager to discuss their work that it was hard not to buy something from each of them! 

  

Very few people live full-time in Sky City because it has no electricity or running water; each house has a porta-potty. Ancestral houses are owned by families, who gather in Sky City for holidays and feast days. The pueblo celebrated a Fiesta the day before we visited, so many people were still there.

Some of the interesting sights were a mica window in one house; ladders everywhere; beehive-shaped outdoor ovens called hornos, used to bake bread and meat; and a large double ladder leading up the the kiva, the native place of worship. In the distance is the beautiful Enchanted Mesa, where the Acoma inhabitants believe their ancestors lived first.

  

  

  

Houses originally had no doors; access required climbing a ladder to the roof, then entering through a hole in the roof. The view from the top of the mesa was impressive. At the end of the tour, our guide said we could walk down from the top of the mesa to the bottom, a very steep descent; we passed. Here are the steps leading down. My fear of heights wouldn’t let me get any closer!

  

Back in the Cultural Center we visited the excellent museum, and watched a film about the history of the Pueblo. 

We drove back to Santa Fe for dinner at The Shed, checking out some of the nearby stores while we waited for a table. I’m beginning to think there is an infinite number of jewelry shops in Santa Fe! We had a delicious New Mexican meal to end the day.