Penned by Alina K. A.

New Mexico is known as the land of enchantment. Nowhere is this more evident than north of Santa Fe, on the road to and beyond Taos.

New Mexico’s geography is both beautiful and puzzling. Sometimes the land looks flat, a plain stretches hundreds of miles into to the horizon, and then seemingly out of nowhere it reveals gorges, mesas, canyons, and all sorts of land opposite of flat.

The massive mountains north east of Taos stand tall over the town. At sunset the peaks color the landscape in pink and violet hues.

This land has been home to Native Americans for thousands of years. Their influence is evident in the architecture and the air. Tan adobe buildings line most of the streets. The seeet scent of burning palo santo warms the air.

The Taos plaza is full of shops, galleries and several places to warm up or cool off. A local favorite is Dr. Martins Restaurant at the Taos Inn, where local New Mexican cuisine is served throughout the day. The extensive margarita menu alone makes the place worthy of a visit, but the inn’s delicious sopapilla brunch and local history also adds to its charm.

Originally, the Inn was the home of Dr. Martin, a physician that came to the area to practice his profession when no one else was up to the task. He mended broken bones, calmed fevers, and did whatever he could to ensure health in the community, even when receiving payment wasn’t possible. His wife was equally legendary in her own right, an artist and a revered hostess. They were one of the most prominent couples in town.

Around the corner from the Inn is a museum dedicated to Kit Carson, probably the most famous resident of Taos. The museum was once his house where he lived with his wife Josefa. Carson was both known as a hero and a villain for his campaigns exploring the frontier and leading the U.S. government in a brutal war on the Navajo people. The Navajo were nearly wiped out by campaigns lead by Carson and eventually sent on a series of gruesome relocation journeys, together called the Long Walk.

Taos is a pretty small town, it’s lovely to visit but beyond it is the real New Mexico magic.

Highway 68 goes straight through town and forks into 64. If you follow it north a few miles and then turn left, you’ll get to the massive Rio Grande Gorge. Like most landscape in New Mexico, you can’t see it coming but when you cross it, its magnitude is overwhelming.

We were enroute to Ojo Caliente, we passed the gorge and  the famous earthships,  eco-friendly homes that look like hobbit made spaceships and are built using natural and recycled materials.

We kept driving and stopped a few times to take in the awesome scenery of the land. It was puzzling because of how little it resembled earth. It was so serene and beautiful, nothing short of enchanting.

As the sun set, the sky turned orange and greenish blue. The landscape continued to change and surprise us with beautiful formations etched by the elements over thousands of years.

Eventually we got to our destination, the sleepy town of Ojo Caliente. We stayed at a spa resort known for its ancient healing hot springs. Before checking out the springs, we enjoyed some wine and spoke with friendly locals at the bar who were very open about the hedonistic history of the resort.

The resort is known for its spas which are filled with mineral waters from a subterranean volcanic aquifer. There are nearly a dozen pools on the property, with several composed of one of the four minerals found in the springs: lithia, soda, iron, and arsenic––yes, arsenic, which apparently has some therapeutic properties. The resort alleges that they are home to the only mineral springs with four types of minerals.

Even in the middle of winter, when it’s so cold that your towel hardens into an icy mat minutes after you use it, the hot springs provided a pleasantly relaxing and, like so much of the surrounding area, enchanting experience. If anything, being surrounded by snowy desert grasses and cliffs only added to the magical scenery.

After spending a night in the magical heart of New Mexico, we headed back to what felt more like the real world: Albuquerque. The only thing that we’d heard about the town were Breaking Bad references. We didn’t get to see much of what the city had to offer, mostly because it didn’t feel like there was much there –– sorry, Albuquerque! –– but we did take in the surrounding scenery from one of the peaks near town. On our way up, we saw a couple buffalo that looked like the mesas that dotted the surrounding terrain. There was a gondola to the very top, but we didn’t take it since the line was kinda long. From our vantage point you could still see the ruggedly peaceful surrounding landscape. Apparently, October is the best time of year to visit this part of New Mexico, when the skies are filled with colorful hot-air balloons floating over the desert.

So you can come to Albuquerque in October for the hot air balloons and the perennial Breaking Bad gimmicks, but if you want some magic, check out Taos and the land of enchantment when it snows.