The land of seemingly endless roads, few but unique landscapes and far from mass tourism
New Mexico is the state at the south-west of the US, where only few people come because they planned to. Mostly they just travel through or not even step on the soil of the state. Even the locals say this is a state with poorly developed tourism, but it's one of the things that make it all the more interesting. And that's why me and grandma went there. For most people we're still an odd couple, but we're well synched and experienced and have made yet another unforgettable and interesting tour of a lesser known land.
First Spanish then English
The magical land to the south-west used to be a Spanish colony, but later Mexico and the US were at war and it became part of the United States which it remains until today. Of all the US states, New Mexico has the second largest concentration of native inhabitants (right after Alaska). The tribes mostly come from the peoples of Navajo and Pueblo, which are both quite well known native communities today. The people generally speak two languages – English and Spanish. It's strange that down south they first talk to you in Spanish and only second in English. They have a unique culture, which is quite different from other states. These are the many native communities. Unfortunately you cannot see and native culture being presented for the needs of tourism. It might be that the tourist underdevelopment is part of this, but the travellers would still want to see what their culture has to offer.
Searching for native culture for the purpose of tourism, I usually spoke to the local people. Unfortunately even those with features, you can clearly mark as native, have accepted the typical American life. It's them you'd recognise, from various wild west movie, as having a certain look to them and the modern life style has over-flooded their society as well. It's also strange to see so many overweight locals as well, although people to the south of the US are said to be slimmer than the ones to the north.
Santa Fe
The capital should be among one of the attractions of New Mexico and due to its unique image it's even places on the UNESCO world heritage list. The whole city is basically the same as all the buildings look extremely similar. They are all made of red sandstone and are made in similar shapes. They have soft shapes, with no sharp or pointy edges. The city was founded in 1607 and has a rich history. It became a capital back in the days of being a Spanish colony. Today it is gaining a cultural status, as many various artists come to visit it. For US it's also one of the oldest cities of the country. In the past few years people started moving into the city, so the prices of real-estate and taxes have started to rise. The differences between rich and poor are getting bigger and you can see it just by a simple tourist visit.
Seemingly endless roads
It's hard to get used to the hours of driving on seemingly endless roads. The state does not offer many attractions, so you have to drive quite far to reach them. There's nothing unusual in driving 5 or more hours a day. The landscape changes very slowly, so you'll be observing the same flat land with a possible distant mountain in the background and roads stretching for as long as the eye can see and well beyond. You're asking all the time, when there will be a bend in the road and when there finally is one, you don't understand why was it even necessary. Except for an occasional group of bikers riding and searching the remains of the Rout 66, the traffic is light. You'll meet a few natives also, with their usually oversized trucks and the most surprising thing to see on US roads – occasional cyclists! Seeing them peddle the seemingly endless straight road I got to wonder how much of a steel will have they got, to undertake such a journey.
Unusual desert
Can you imagine a snow white desert? Somehow that's the biggest attraction of the New Mexico – the white desert. The place of dunes is very much alike most deserts, only this time they are snow white! The white desert is at an elevation of 1100m and stretches over 400 square kilometres. It's origins are connected to events taking place some 100 million years ago, at the time that this area was covered with sea.
Americans say you cannot be over-comfortable, so you can basically drive into each national park by a car. If you're among the lazier people, you can thus take photos from behind the wheel. Hence you can also cross the white desert by car. There's a road leading to the heart of the desert, but it's not easy to follow it with the blinding white light reflecting. Along the way you can stop and admire the white dunes. They are most fascinating around sunset, when they take on shades of pink, but that's a moment that's really hard to capture with a camera. There are also the usual desert plants and animals that inhabit the world among the dunes, but also rare animals which have adapted to the surroundings. Thus you can find the white lizard, which has blended in with the witness of the dunes.
The visitors have started making the visits more interesting and are bringing bob sledges to the dunes, to ride down in them.
A special feature of the dunes – apart from their colour – is that they are moving. The wind is slowly shifting them around. When a new dune reaches its full size it collapses under its own weight and slowly moves forward. There is also a legend, about the fallen Apache warrior, who died in a battle and is buried under the dunes.
Chilly dominating the food
New Mexico has a rich culinary offer with many regionally specific specialities. Three typical ingredients are corn, beans and above all chilly, which is only rarely left out. Food is similar to Mexican, as they often prepare various tortilla from corn dough. Once filled up, you call the tortilla either tacos or quesadillas and it is said there are over 100 ways to prepare them. The influence of the rest of the US is also felt, so there is naturally a lot of fast food. Many restaurants prepare unhealthy and fatty food, which is extremely popular for quite some time. The offer does vary, even with Asian cuisine, but there is always less and less traditional food as the world influence is barging in. More by chance, you can still find a remote shop that offers traditional specialities that originate mostly from the neighbouring Mexico. It's the worms! Not only are they in tequila, but you can buy dried worms and eat them as chips, in various flavours. The most popular are the worms with chilly – naturally.
Traveling tips
It's quite a remote state, not really known to tourists, except for parts of the old route 66 that's crossing it, but it's still really easy to get around with a rented car. Roads are excellent and the main ones also well-marked, which is hard to say for the backroads. There's also a great GPS coverage. There is no specific New Mexico tourist guide, so you'll have to use other examples, that include this state as well. As tourism is still underdeveloped you should know up ahead where you want to go. Just exploring is out of the question as most of the state is very much the same with nothing but endless patches of flat land with just a few spots of vegetation, an occasional red rock and many poisonous snakes. Accommodation is not a problem and the food can be had at any main road and in every settlement.
New Mexico it a special state that really has no mass tourism, but many might find it boring as the roads are endless, the landscape doesn't change. But the attraction that it does offer are really special and make up for the hours on seemingly endless roads it take to get there.
