Georgia O’Keeffe has been quoted as saying “If you ever go to New Mexico, it will itch you for the rest of your life.” Artists can be prone to exaggeration, but on this point I tend to agree with the lady. There is a magic at work here, a subtle yet powerful influence that is more than the high desert light.
A friend in Santa Fe says that she “lives to leave.” I’ll never understand that, for my heart sings when I’m in New Mexico in a way that’s hard to talk about without sounding foolish, annoyingly evangelical, or like a lowlander high on altitude. So, in the spirit of full disclosure let me say this: I am not an impartial journalist writing about a New Mexico walking vacation. I’m a twelve-year resident head over my cowgirl boots in love with the big sky, adobe charms and quirky characters of my adopted homeland.
“I had no idea,” says Maria, a well-traveled executive from Chicago, and one of seven vacationers joining this mid-September walk with The Wayfarers. “Of course, I’d heard of Santa Fe, but I’m blown away by the natural beauty, diversity and history of this place.”
I know what she means. The first summer I spent in New Mexico, I felt like I’d landed in a foreign country. The low-slung mud brick architecture, the melodic rhythm of Native and Hispanic languages, mañana mind-set and dramatic landscape were alien to my suburban life back East. Vast and exotic, New Mexico is a land of wild places and ancient cultures teeming with authenticity (not multitudes) where pristine light, towering mountains and a combination of cultures, history and landscape exists unlike anywhere else.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".