It's been awhile since I posted in this blog, I been back home since June 22, but haven't paid attention to this site. So here I go, this photo was snapped on the way to Santa Fe on August 17th, 2013. It was a beautiful morning and we left Dulce about seven thirty, this was about eight thirty or so. Usually, there has been a gatekeeper at the entrance charging a fee but he was no where in sight this year. I love the blue of the sky, god, it just inspires my sense of wonder. so I was happy we stopped in at this rest stop, the area around here is part of our aboriginal homeland and Abiquii, about eleven miles to the southeast was where they had the first Gogiiya ceremony back in the 1800's. Gogiiya translates as Knife Edge. So after we left this place we headed to Santa Fe, we stopped at Bode's Store in Abiquii and had tamales for a snack. We arrived in Santa Fe about ten in the morning and immediately went to the DeVargas Mall where we had breakfast at Atrisco Bar and Grill inside the mall.

After breakfast my friend Reynard Faber asked one of the people in the restaurant if he could change into his Indian outfit so he went and retrieved his suitcase and dressed in the bathroom. We left and I drove to the north side of the mall where we parked across from Domino's Pizza, we were careful not to park in any of their designated spots so we wouldn't get towed. We boarded the city bus and it was free for Indian Market weekend. We arrived near the plaza and proceeded to Dominic Arquero's booth space where my friend Reynard was asked to take pictures by the tourists from all over the world, he asked for a donation from those wanting to take pictures with him, anywhere from a dollar to five dollars. As the day wore on, we knew we were tired and I wanted to leave before it got dark, I was stopped by a tribal patrol officer and said my license place light was out, so I wanted to get back to Dulce before the sun went down. So we left around five thirty and headed home.

 

We were on the outskirts of Tierra Amarilla when I heard this funny sound, it was a thumping kind of sound and we knew that we were having a flat tire. We made it as far the Chevron station in Tierra Amarilla and proceeded to change the tire. Only thing was that the donut tire was low. I walked over to the trailer next to the station and asked the person if they had a pump. The man I spoke to said he had a cigarette lighter pump and went to get it. We changed the tire and waited for him, he came a few minutes later and we plugged it into the lighter. We thought it would air up fast but it wasn't and my friend notices that there was a tear in the valve stem. So we knew we had to leave it there overnight, we asked the man if he could give us a ride to Chama and Reynard would call his nephew to come pick us up. We told the older Hispanic man we would give him money for taking us. He went next door and soon they returned, I loaded my ruined tire and rim into the back of his suburban and headed for Chama. He waited with us at the Chama Grill while his nephew drove to get us. After his nephew came the elderly gentleman and his wife left us there. We had dinner at the grill and headed to Dulce.

Echo Canyon in the morning on the way to Santa Fe Indian Market.