Where I Live - Taos, New Mexico, USA : Paula Claycomb

Taos Pueblo, photographer unknown, sent to me by Robert Cohen, he of the “sky” photo fame!

My husband, Mark Jackson, and I are happily settled in Taos, New Mexico. The town of Taos has 8,000 residents, the county of Taos about 30,000 (Map: Taos County, New Mexico, USA) and the entire state about 2.1 million. We chose it for a few reasons:  

Walking Rain, a phenomenon with a descriptive name given
 by the Native Americans to clouds with rain moving along the desert

First, we love the natural beauty of the place, though you have to like, and physically tolerate, desert, dry air, mountains and high altitude. The town is at 2,124 metres above sea level and has the magnificent Sangre de Cristo range to its East, where the tallest peak is Wheeler Peak at 4,013 metres. About 30 minutes away, Taos Ski Valley starts at 2,841 metres and is world renowned for its steep runs. Unfortunately, like ski areas everywhere, the warming climate means less snow (with terrible consequences for our riversheds and agriculture) and a shorter ski season.

Taos Ski Valley map

Pueblo dancers blessing a new hotel at the Taos Ski Valley

After many years of living abroad, we also embraced the vision of living in a multi-cultural community in a rural area. In reality, the Anglo, Hispanic and Indian (the Tiwa Pueblo people) do not mix as much as we had imagined. The handful of African American and Asian residents keep a low profile and sometimes express fear for their personal safety.

Plaza lit up at night (Credit: Bud Branch)

My neighbor, from a “heritage” Hispanic family in the northern New Mexico region

Third, we wanted somewhere small and remote, though we realized early on that the 2-1/2 hour drive to and from the Albuquerque airport for international travel, was no fun. Our families are both from the western part of the US so even though visits can still involve a 17-hour drive, they are closer than we were for much of my UNICEF career.

Finally, this is a very “blue” (Democrat) part of the state and our progressive attitudes are shared by many in the community.

Paula and a local donkey in 2016 (Clinton vs Trump)

Mules and donkeys were critical to moving goods and people a couple centuries ago.
At the Hacienda Martinez, a museum 2 km from our home,
this sign shows a humourous side of Taos.

Taos is known for the pueblo, the oldest continuously lived-in community in the US. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the pueblo is home to about 4,500 people of the Tiwa Pueblan tribe. Taos Pueblo is made entirely of adobe—earth mixed with water and straw then poured into forms or molded into bricks and allowed to sundry. The roofs of each of the five stories are supported by vigas, which are large timbers hauled down from the mountains. On top of the vigas, smaller pieces of wood—pine or aspen latillas—are placed side by side, and the whole roof is covered with packed dirt.

Taos Pueblo with Rio Pueblo

The outside surfaces of the Pueblo and many other buildings including the 18th Century San Francisco de Asis Catholic Church are continuously maintained by replastering with thin layers of mud. The beautiful San Francisco de Asis Church has been painted and photographed hundreds of thousands of times over 150 years, I am sure.

San Francisco de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos

Talk about using locally available materials for construction! Many homes in the area are made with adobe bricks, including ours. We will soon have to re-stucco our house for routine maintenance.

The use of adobe reminds me often of Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries. We have plenty of hollyhock flowers around town, also reminiscent of Kabul.

Our house

Our interior gate painted by a local artist

Hollyhocks outside our latilla fence

Art and iconic images

For at least a century, Taos has been home to artists who, traveling westward, decided to stay on. Many came specifically to live and work. From the late 1800’s onwards, Taos has been home to such artists as Ernest Blumenschein, Bert Phillips, RC Gorman (the Navajo painter of fame), and Georgia O’Keeffe (who spent most her time at Ghost Ranch near Abiquiu, about 90 minutes from Taos). See Taos_Society_of_Artists for more about the early Anglo artists. Many petroglyphs from the original settlers of the land are scattered throughout New Mexico, including Mesa Prieta. (It is gratifying that these days, many public meetings begin with an acknowledgement that we are on land stolen from the Pueblo – or other – Native Americans.)

The mural at Taos Plaza was painted by our neighbour, George Chacon, before we arrived to live here.

Mural at Taos Plaza

The Rio Grande River is important for agriculture and for river rafting. The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge is a stomach-churning 650 feet above the river, about 15 minutes from home. I have never been able to walk out to the middle of the bridge! River rafting is done by professionals, but plenty of locals do shorter jaunts on inner tubes, including my family.

Rio Grande River Gorge Bridge looking north (Credit: Bud Branch)

Claycombs on inner tubes

The Rio Pueblo meeting the Rio Grande,
a nice hike down from the rim, about 20 minutes from our house.

The Greater World Earthship Community is just beyond the Gorge Bridge. See https://www.earthshipglobal.com/; it was founded in the early 1970s. The houses, built only with natural and repurposed materials, are completely “off-grid”. They generate their own electricity, heat and water catchment systems. I imagine they will survive the worst effects of climate change, including drought and wildfires in this part of the world.

Earthship community, show house for the public

Balloon festivals

Although Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, Albuquerque is the largest city. It is home to one of the US’s largest balloon festivals. Hundreds of balloonists gather annually in Autumn for three days. Taos has a much smaller, but still spectacular, festival in the last quarter of the year, with a dozen or so balloons. The photo below is from Albuquerque.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Wildlife

The wildlife in this area is still abundant, though increasingly fragile. From deer and bighorn sheep to birds of breathtaking beauty (including the red-tailed hawk and hummingbirds) and from black widow spiders to tarantulas, the desert and mountains are home to an amazing variety of mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians and birds. Unfortunately, over the past few years, we are seeing fewer bees, birds, wild horses and other wildlife.

Redtail hawk (Credit: Bud Branch)

Mountain jay (aka robber jays)

Bighorn sheep

Tarantulas (Credit: Bud Branch)

On the domesticated side, we have peacocks as neighbours, kept by the Hanuman Hindu Temple next door. And several weavers keep llamas and alpaca for their wool.

Peacocks on our back deck

Llamas at Taos Wool Festival

A Few Drawbacks

Perhaps one of the greatest downsides to New Mexico is its low outcomes on many indicators of well-being, including early childhood care, education, adolescent pregnancies and substance abuse. It continuously ranks low on per capita income, driving while under the influence and economic opportunities.

While Taos has solid health care for most health-related issues, we, like everyone else, travel to Santa Fe or Albuquerque or even to neighbouring states like Colorado or Arizona for specialized treatment.

In addition, as mentioned, the largest airport is over 2 hours away in Albuquerque. We have a small airport used mostly by well-to-do tourists to the ski valley or for summer hiking and river rafting.

Still, we have had a few UNICEF visitors and with her permission, I am mentioning Nora Godwin and her husband John O’Leary. She said to tell you that “when the hordes descend upon you, say that we got there first”.

I will close with a recent photo of a snowy day and of a sunset in early January. Thank you for reading through this short sketch of this lovely little corner of the world.

Winter Snow

Sunset in Taos

If you are interested in any of the photos, particularly those by a friend and local photographer, Bud Branch, let me know. Take a look at other of Bud’s magnificent photos at: https://budbranch.smugmug.com/USSouthwest/Taos-NM/ There’s a link for purchasing them on the top right.