Magic is All Around

 

Albuquerque – New Mexico's largest city and I'm going to settle in here for a whole week. Pretty unheard of for me. Before I can run wild and do the touristy activities, I need to take care of some RV maintenance issues, laundry and replenishing my wine stash – all very important tasks.

I decided to call a mobile tech instead of waiting weeks to get service at an RV dealer. After consulting Yelp, I contacted Robert at ACE RV repair. Robert is phenomenal. He could diagnose a problem in seconds flat and repair it almost as fast. I was having a water issue where I could not hook up to city water, I could only use my fresh water tank. Robert found a valve that was corroded and replaced that. He also re-taped my roof where a tree had jumped out and scrapped it down to the wood. I was very very pleased. It is amazing how much these things weigh down your mind with worry and it was wonderful to get it taken care of.

I also was able to meet up with a friend that I had met in Albuquerque a few years ago. Renee came over brought lunch and helped me supervise Robert. It was so nice to see her. Another friend, a fellow Rver - Jon, showed up also. He is going to caravan with us through the rest of New Mexico. Who said Rving is a solitary undertaking?

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is the place to discover the history, culture and art of the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico. We lucked out in that we got there just before a tour started. The tour guide was a member of the Zuni Pueblo and really made the museum come alive.

The Franciscan fathers who came as missionaries in the 16th/17th century chose a patron saint for each pueblo and named the pueblo missions after them. Those saints are painted on retablos (wooden panels).  The saints are honored on feast days.

There was also a restaurant in the Cultural Center which serves indigenous cuisine.

Navajo Taco – Ground churro lamb, Pueblo beans, house-made fry bread, green chile, cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion. Fed me for two days.

Santa Fe is only an hour or so north of Albuquerque, so a day trip was planned. There were two reasons to go, firstly to meet a cousin of mine that I hadn't seen in years. It was hard to recognize him because of masks and hats, plus as I said, it had been years.  Secondly was to go to Meow Wolf, an interactive art complex or as they say: The “House of Eternal Return is a mind-bending, explorable art experience”. Currently there are three Meow Wolf locations – Santa Fe, Denver and Las Vegas.

Meow Wolf is located in a 20,000 sq ft facility and contains over 70 different rooms or experiences. They have built a two-story house inside this complex. You enter the house and try to figure out what is going on. Evidently, the house is a portal to other dimensions. For example, in the kitchen, you can open the refrigerator and it is a portal to a whole different area. In the living room, you can crouch down and crawl through the fireplace to another area. You have to try all the doors and objects to see what you might find. Can we say amazing?

This room just made you happy to be in. 
Every wall in this room was vibrant.

Hand sanitizer dispenser

You walked into the ribcage of this giant animal, picked up a mallet and banged on the ribs. 
Each rib rang a different tone.

This is the underwater room, complete with fishes and deep sea divers

There was a room that was made completely from recycled materials. 
It was called the Trash Room.

This is the floor - bottlecaps

There was so much to see, so much to do.  Meow Wolf is truly a magical space.