Land of Entrapment

Albuquerque - the "Land of Enchantment."

Also known as the "Land of Entrapment."  Everyone I seemed to meet here was trapped by whatever fairy dust was keeping them all either pinned on their butts or coming back consistently like a 3-year old after you give him candy.  I met people from the east coast, the south, people who had lived in Tunisia and France...but they all said that they couldn't stay away from Albuquerque once they had been there and experienced it.

Most people I spoke to couldn't believe why I was going to Albuquerque and not Santa Fe.  It turns out that Albuquerque was more than a boring, run-down city like I thought it would be...I'm sorry to any of you that I met in Albuquerque that I thought this (I did warn you, though)!  I had two fabulous hosts, Alex and Muni, that showed me so much to do that by the end I was exhausted but wished I was actually staying longer.  If you're an outdoorsy person then you'd love Albuquerque.  The city itself may not be the most exciting place but the surrounding areas are filled with great hikes that range in difficulty so even if you aren't feeling up for a 4-hour hike you can still do a 2-hour one with equally fantastic views of the haunting landscape that is New Mexico.

The most significant part of my stay besides staying with Alex and Muni and meeting all of their friends (seemingly the entire city's worth of young people), was going on a hike at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.  To make a long story short, they're just funny shaped rocks in a mini-valley and you hike to the top of this valley/canyon to look down in them.  When you start, you are promptly greeted with this staring you in the face:

I made it through the easy part and then got to wiggle my way through these awesome rocks (if you read National Geographic then you'll recognize this place!):

How did that enormous rock get there??

Once you finally reach the top - which was an interesting trip for me since I'm not used to the elevation - you get views of the tops of the tent rocks like this:

This second one more clearly shows where they got their name.

After arriving back to the apartment in the "student ghetto", I showered, realized I was sunburnt, and then got ready for an evening of barbecuing hot dogs on sticks and seeing Alex's boyfriend, Muni, and his friends play in their band.  They, Le Chat Lunatique, play gypsy-jazz-folk music and are DEFINITELY worth checking out: http://lechatlunatique.com/.  Muni gave me one of their CDs and it may just be worn out by the time I finish this road trip.

I hung out with Alex and her friends while they played so here are some random pictures of them:

Le Chat Lunatique

Darryl, Colleen, Gaylin, Alex

Hannah & Steve

John, Muni, & Alex (my host)

Well, that's Albuquerque for ya.  Throw in some red and green chilies ("Christmas" if you want both) on all of your food and a lot of local Marble Brewery beer and you're good to go.  Here are some random, fun pictures I thought I'd share so you can get a better idea of what I've been seeing while driving lately.

I see a whole LOT of this for most of the trip. Even the bugs.

Stands like this every couple miles.

So far I have a picture of myself passing each "You are now entering..." signs. This was the first New Mexico sign I found that didn't have bullet holes in it.  When I told this to my host, Alex, she said, "Oh yeah...figures."  I didn't ask why.

Chapel in old town when I got a little lost.

Most of Albuquerque looked like this.

That's all, folks!  Today I made the 8.5-hour trek to Oklahoma City for just a quick, overnight stop.  I have some humorous and surprising photos to share tomorrow...