Santa Fe - Day 3

Alright, so today we had another great breakfast then sat around the hotel lobby and read the Sunday paper.

Then we headed south to Albuquerque. First stop was Old Town. We parked in front of the San Felipe de Neri Church, which is a very impressive complex. We then headed over to the Visitor Center for a map and were soon making the rounds to the many shops. What we had hoped to be a fun afternoon of shopping in unique stores quickly became a mundane stroll through shop after shop that sold the same items. Just about every shop carried Native American jewelry and souvenirs with a few food items (salsa, etc...) thrown in. On top of that, most shopkeepers barely acknowledged you and some acted as if they could care less if you shopped there or not. I have been to Old Town San Diego and had hoped this would be an extension of that enjoyable experience but I guess not.

There were three exceptions to the above situations. If you go, I would recommend you stop at these friendly establishments: Yucca Art Gallery, Blue Portal and Red Rock Café. All three of these establishments greeted us warmly and made us feel welcome. Their kindness made us forget about the rest of the shopkeepers' indifference towards customers.

Next we headed over to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. We had planned to just quickly pop in to see what was there. 3 hours later we emerged from a highly enjoyable and educational experience. We got to see traditional Native American Indian dance performances by Zuni Olla Maidens. They have an excellent exhibit of the history, arts, crafts and pottery from the 19 pueblos of New Mexico. And they also have a cafe specializing in Native American/Southwest cuisine. The fry bread was especially enjoyable. Don't expect to find too much here about the government's forced marches to put the Indians on the reservation. This place is all about the celebration of their culture and heritage.

Next we headed back to Santa Fe and the hotel for the evening. Our biggest goal of the day was to go by the Sandia Resort and Casino for a little gambling but we decided to skip that for a nice quiet evening in.