Yesterday Dearth, Dave, and I (Dan) had our first field trip out into the wild. We spent a few hours in the town of La Cienega. a short drive south of Santa Fe proper. This is a far cry from the relative urbanity of Santa Fe. Much of La Cienega and its surrounding area is undisturbed wilderness.
The main attraction of La Cienega to non-residents is El Rancho de las Golondrinas, which is spanish for Ranch of the Swallows. This was once the last stop for traders en route to Santa Fe from Mexico D.F. (Mexico City for you gringos) along the route known as El Camino Real. Today, this area has been designated as a "living museum" and during tourist season it is open to the public, with tour guides dressing in clothes from the 1800s and baking their own tortillas.
It is not currently tourist season, and as such we shouldn't have been able to get a tour. Fortunately for us JP was able to give us the VIP Tour. The highlight of our trip was the acequia, which is on the register of historic places. If you have been following our project, you know that one of our Mini-IQPs is concerning the acequia system of New Mexico.
Also on the ranch were a few root cellars, two places of worship, one of which holds a statue of San Isidro Labrador. There was a working mill, an authentic adobe horno, and of course some sheep.
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