Day 4 "Walk this Way" or "Look at the Tourists in the Dorky Hats"

Today is Walking Tour Day. Since I knew that we would be spending 2+ hours walking I actually wore shoes and socks. My feet were a little confused. We are at a higher altitude and I have to watch the heat and sun so yes, we wore dorky hats that scream "We are tourists!" We also used sunschreen.

Do you see what I mean? Tourists.

It took us about 20 minutes to walk to the square, not too bad. We met at the La Fonda Hotel on the square. Since we did not know how long it would take us to get there we left pretty early. We had time to sit around befor Tomas met us for the tour. He asked if I had ever been here before. I said that I first came when I was 13. He said that it had been a while since I had been here. No, I have been back several times. We get out on the sidewalk and I realize that I do not have my sunglasses. OH NO!! Tomas tells me to go back to the lobby, they would wait for me. I checked but nothing in the two places I sat. OK, good thing that I have my dorky tourist hat. It is a little hazy but the sun is still fairly bright. This is some original adobe. You can actually see bits of straw in the surrounding mudding.

We took a walking tour when we were here in 2008 and it was mainly the history of Santa Fe. This is a lot of the history of Santa Fe along with the culture of the area and why things were built the way that they were. He seemed to know everyone as we went along. We stopped at jewelry stands and saw different cafes. We went through the oldest house in the United States. Wow, it was cozy.

Across the street from it was the oldest continuous church, The San Miguel Mission. He said that if the caretaker was in we would be able to go in. The door was closed so we were out of luck. He had us lift an adobe brick. Those things are heavy, each one weighs 35 lb. This is a photo of the bricks.

We all took turns hefty a brick and suddenl the door opens. Franco will allow us in. We sit down in the pews to get the history. Tomas asks if anyone sings. I raised my hand, then realized that no one else had. Oh no, what did I get myself into? He wants me to come up to the front to sing something. He said that I could sing anything, "Ave Maria" if I wanted to. OK, I do not have an accompaniest or the music so "Ave Maria" is a no go. I have all of these people watching me and I am trying to figure out what I can sing and not sound terrible since there is no warm up. I was thinking "Amazing Grace" but blanked on the words so I sing the Doxology. I could sing it and remember all of the words. Tomas wanted people to hear the accoustics in the church. I make it through and no one threw anything. I will say that by the end I could tell that the high altitude was getting to my breath control. I wanted to get a photo of the handcarved wood trim around the ceiling but it did not show up. It was beautiful and was from the early 1700's. The altar piece is from the 1800's "so not that old" according to Tomas. We each got a turn ringing the bell. If you ring the bell you will return to Santa Fe. The little siver items are from people who came there to pray for a miracle. You can see that the bell frame is just covered in it.

We walked past a resort where the room rates go from $900.00 - $4,000.00 per night. We had two kids on the tour so I did not ask if that came with a hooker. I get that it was 3 blocks from the square but really what room is worth that much? We get back to the square and the La Fonda Hotel. YES! the front desk has my sunglasses.

Unfortunately the dry air and taking a blood thinner has gotten to Rob and he has a major nose bleed. He was smart and had a paper towel with him. He tries to get as much as he can out of his clothes. Of course this is the day that he is wearing a yellow shirt and light blue shorts. I say wear black nothing shows on it except powdered sugar, and man does powdered sugar show up on black. Oh yeah, and cat hair, cat hair really shows up on black clothing. We walk back to the condo and the walk back went much faster. Then again we were going down hill for a lot of it. Rob does what he can on the blood stains out of his clothes and we eat lunch. After he rinsed his clothes out he asked where he should put them to dry. I suggested the bench on our porch. At 11% humidity they will dry fast. I can tell that the higher elevation and heat is getting to both of us. We are tired. Oh yeah, I know that a lot of you are saying our age might be part of the tiredness. I am on vacation, I do not need to hear that.

We had our meal for tonight figured out. While I would love to keep eating Mexican/New Mexican food I know that my stomach needs some time off. Smith's Grocery has a special on chicken tenders in the deli. We get some nasal spray for Rob, hopefully this prevents any further nosebleeds. Now that Rob has finished off the sopapillas from Saturday he wants something for dessert for him. He is looking at different things and finds a Marionberry (if you have ever lived in DC you are now laughing) pie that for some reason is marked $2.95 while the rest is marked $4.95. He waits in line at the deli, we do not see the chicken special in the case. Oh, the chicken is in a case near check out #9 and they usually sell out early. ARG! Yup, they are out. We do not have an oven where we are staying. We head for the freezer case and see what we can microwave. Eh, not the worst thing. Tomorrow we head to Taos!