Santa Fe trip..

New Mexico, the state that lies to the south of Colorado. I've been eyeing it for quite sometime now. Finally got a chance to make a trip down there.. My cousin and her family were making a trip down there and I decided to join them. It was a very short trip.. considering that we left only on Friday evening and we were back on Sunday night. The drive was about 450 miles and would have normally been a 7 hour drive atleast (one way). But, thanks to some expert speed driving for half the distance by one Mr. M (ahem! Me!), we got there in a little over 5 and a half hours. (This inspite of having to make a pit stop for dinner and about 2 ten minute pit stops for my 9 month old niece when she started getting restless in her car seat).
Destination Santa Fe!

The landscape in New Mexico was very similar to the south west Colorado region which I had seen in my trip to Durango & Cortez, just a couple of weeks back. The ground was made mostly of very soft Sand Stone. I guess the same kind of soil must exist in the northern part of Arizona (the adjoining state). Probably why the Colorado River must be able to erode so much to form the Grand Canyons.

The downtown section of Santa Fe has very different achitectural buildings. There is a very strong mix of Mexican/Native Indian/Spanish influence on the architecture. Very earthern colours.. very earthern architecture. Here are some pics from the trip..

Pictures of the downtown area. A lot of the architecture involves clay and sand.
For some reason, red pepper (chilli to us Indians) is very famous here.. It is displayed all over the place.. Huge garlands of shocking red pepper! Probably one of the staple crop in this part of the country?
Hot sauce may be one of NM's speciality.. But still, calling it Pure Poison??	This one's even funnier.. Professor Payne Indeass's Butt Blazin' Recipe #3 Wimp Retardant X-Hot Sauce. LOL!
Santa Fe had the best Mexican food I've tasted so far. New Mexico in general is supposed to have authentic Mexican food, and in proportionate quantities.. (unlike their Americanized versions). This particular corn soup is THE best soup I've ever tasted in my life.