Or maybe it’s San Jose, but I did find my way to Santa Fe. Finally made it to the southwest, goodbye humidity, hello heat and that is just fine with me! I camped in the Santa Fe National Forest, a great spot up a mountain. I just happened to be there during the International Folk Arts Festival, a really neat art fest that featured artists from small towns and villages all over the world. I also got a chance to spend a lot of time in Santa Fe and a bit of time in Albuquerque. The natural landscape, the people, the art, and the food made me fall in love with these two little towns. My mouth was on fire basically the whole time I was there due to hot chiles covering every morsel of food, and it was fantastic.

I really enjoyed my time in New Mexico, and a lot of that was due to the people. There is a strong focus on art and also Native American culture and history. I was able to talk to an artist at length about environmental issues that occur in on some of the reservations due mostly to mining companies that only do enough to meet the lowest level of environmental regulations and standards. Interesting to hear about, yet also frustrating.

Oh, and I took a hike up the mountain and assumed I was following the trail. It started getting so steep, I had to essentially bear crawl to make it up. After an exhausting climb, I started heading back down and eventually got to where the trail actually went. Turns out I was on some sort of rogue trail, probably made by more hardcore people than I. Oops.