Eating in New Mexico Day 7

Day 7 was a Friday and we left Santa Fe and drove south to Albuquerque and west to the Acoma Pueblo, aka Sky City. We were meeting some families from my mom's list (a listserve that started out as group of women who all were pregnant and due in Sept. of 1997) in Albuquerque for a few days. We weren't checking in to our hotel till later that afternoon and I had mentioned to the moms that we would be going to Acoma beforehand. We got there and got our tickets for the guided tour (you can't self tour there), which we got for free because of our National Trust for Historic Preservation membership. We were about to head into the small museum to look around before the tour started when all of a sudden one of the moms (who we know quite well as we have met many times) runs up to us! They and another family had gotten in to Abq a day or so early and they decided they would like to see the Pueblo also. They knew we were going but it was pure coincidence that we got there at the same time and had tickets for the same bus tour. It was great, the kids (there were 3 girls including Z. her age, and one younger boy) were excited to see each other (they have all met before) and it was more fun doing the tour together.



While touring the Pueblo there are various stops where you can purchase food and/or pottery. At one a woman came out with steaming hot tamales (and they were hot, both temperature and spice as they had chilies inside). Z. and one of the other girls wanted to buy them, which was surprising to us (Z. does not like spicy food and also isn't very adventurous these days with trying new foods and would never have tried these at home) but we said sure, figuring we would eat the rest of it after she took one bite. Well, she took one bite, which had some chile but was mostly the masa and asked for a 2nd bite. That one had a lot more chile but she didn't complain, just politely said she didn't want anymore after that. There were stops that had Indian Fry bread, but they always seemed to be sold out by the time A. and I got there, but Z. managed to mooch plenty of it from the other kids and parents.

The Pueblo is up high on top of a mesa and they drive you up there on small buses (then you get off and walk around the Pueblo). They allow you to walk down the mesa and along the roadways to go back to the Cultural Center. It was very hot and we were pretty tired so A. and I chose to take the bus back. It wasn't the walk down the mesa that seemed so bad, but the long walk on the roadways in the hot sun that didn't appeal. Z. walked down the other kids and parents and A. and I drank root beer in the shade while we waited for them.

It was the San Lorenzo Feast Day in Acomita, a modern town in the Pueblo, and we all decided to stop there on the way back to Albuquerque and check it out. It was pretty much a modern street fair (except for the dances), lots of food and various crafts and things for sale, and a couple of moonbounces for the kids. The church was in the middle and outside they were performing various religious dances and we were able to watch a few. We all nibbled on street food, A. and I shared a fry bread with cheese (grated cheddar semi melted on top), and on the way out we bought some cinnamon bread (huge loaves of white bread with cinnamon sugar on top) and a package of cinnamon sugar cookies (again, similar to the Taos Pueblo these were more bread-like than cookie-like).

We all drove back to Albuquerque to our hotel and A., Z. and I checked in. We stayed at the Clubhouse Inn and Suites on Menual Blvd. Most of the families were staying at the hotel (except for the local family and one family who stayed with family locally). We had booked a meeting room for Friday through Saturday night. It was conveniently located right off the lobby and close to the door to the outdoor pool. The hotel offered free breakfast (an impressive spread which included eggs, breakfast meat, waffles, biscuits, bagels, fruit, cottage cheese, cereal etc.) and had a happy hour most evenings (which included 2 free drinks per adult, free soft drinks, popcorn and some hot hors d'oeuvres which changed periodically).

We all began to meet up as everyone came in. Many of us had met before, at previous F2F's we have had, or when traveling in an area one of the mom's lived in, but some of us had not met before. It's a neat and unusual thing to meet someone for the first time and you feel like you already know them. We all "talk" to each other almost daily through email, most of us for over 10 years. In many ways we're like family.

Some of us were hungry, some of us not so much (like myself), so rather than trying to get all of us out to a restaurant we ordered in. Pizza for the kids and some adults, and New Mexican food (including sopapillas) from Little Anita's for some of the adults. I had a small slice of pizza (and was sorry afterwards as my stomach was not happy from all the fried & white food today). Z. had some pizza and A. had some of the NM food. As the evening progressed I realized that the sniffles and scratchiness that I had been feeling all day was from catching Z. and A.'s cold (I had been hoping it was allergies). Bleh!