Shopping Santa Fe Style

With one last day left in New Mexico we needed to do a little shopping. My number one agenda was obtaining some Hatch chilies to take home. It is near the end of the season, but just about every town has a roaster going full tilt. A couple more weeks and the roasters will all be gone until next year.

That is my bushel going round. Yes, we brought an entire bushel of roasted peppers back in our suit case. When we got home at 10:30 they were still toasty warm. When the roasters start up in early September the peppers are very crisp and have a sharp taste. They are all green,  however these from the late part of the season have a deeper flavor of the chili. Many red ones are in the batch and most are kissed with a blush of color. They are not all truly green chilies. I bagged them up into six per bag holding the red ones separate. I horde those for myself. On top of the bushel of roasted Hatch chilies, we also bought a dozen quarts of red chili sauce. One cannot have enough chilies!

Once the green chilies were taken care of we headed to Jackalope. They have just about anything to decorate your house and a lot more. There are items from all over the world for sale here. Beth loves to come to Jackalope to shop. Myself, I like to walk around and look through my camera. There is a lot to look at. I won't comment, I will let you make your own observations.

Beth and I wanted one last walk before we left my favorite State so we headed over to La Cieneguilla Petroglyph site. If you want to see petroglyphs, come here. It is far better than Petroglyph National Monument outside Albuquerque. We stopped there before we went to Bob's Burgers our first day here.

The site contains thousands of petroglyphs and a large pueblo complex that still lies buried. Two years ago I visited this site and posted dozens of the 500+ photos I took of the petroglyphs there. I won't bore you with more of the same, but this tree needs a re visit. It looks like some hippie artist type started hanging bottles and cans but it actually goes much deeper. The bottles and cans are to give a home to the spirits of the ancestor who were here when the pueblo still stood here. Think of them as a FEMA trailer for the spirits of the ancestors.

I did my part by adding a new can and re hanging some of those that had fallen down. Ironically, the tree died this past year. It died at the same time the site was begun to be improved. No real re development has taken place, just new trails have been laid out and marked. There is also a new fence and a giant sign telling you to do the things you should already know, like being respectful.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my vacation to my favorite state. I have had the great fortune to have visited all of the lower 48, and hands down, New Mexico is the one I am the fondest of. If you have not been to New Mexico, I high suggest you go there. You might not be as enchanted as I am, but I promise, you will love it.