Martinez Town

Today is cinco de mayo, so we were hoping to experience some local culture today. Elisa found a cinco de mayo folk art festival not far so we thought we could check that out.

As we didn't get to do the train yesterday we were going to take the train today. The road runner train looked nice and modern. Luckily Elisa checked the schedule before we walked half a mile to the closest station, as it only ran every 5 hours or so. 5 hours... no wonder no one takes the train. Its not convenient and based off a conversation with a local, it's expensive and not affordable.

So, off we went to the festival by car. The festival was more like a small art market, which had very little food and was not as big as advertised. Everyone was very nice and the solar lamps were interesting, along with bottle cap artwork. There was some nice jewelry and metal work. There was a older lady who saw Josh pushing the empty pram/stroller, as Elisa was holding Inara, and was so excited to see a baby. She came up to Inara and touched her cheeks and hugged Elisa and Inara both, a few times.

After the market we headed into old town Albuquerque. It was very cute and what we actually thought Santa Fe would be like. The old town had a plaza, place for celebration and community across from the St Felipe church. The whole area was in the pueblos style houses and stores in the earth tone brown. There was gallery's and tourists shops, along with restaurants and little public squares in amongst the buildings. The squares were decorated with benches, water fountains, cactus and flowers. Over the day, it seemed each square has some musician playing in it.

We sat down after our quesadilla lunch and listened to a 4 piece guitar ensemble. They played Spanish music and Inara and Brandon did some grooving to them. We don't know if this is a normal weekend occurrence or if it was because of Cinco de mayo.

In the first store we went to, a retail store selling different onyx items, the seller gave Inara and Brandon a necklace each and seemed to love Australians. He was very funny and seemed to be a friendly person.

The plaza was not celebrating Cinco de mayo, but lemonade day. There was at least a dozen primary school kids with their own lemonade stands, selling different types of lemonade and snacks. Prices ranged from 50 cents to $3 for a lemonade glass. The amount of time and effort the kids (or parents) put into the advertising, banners and tables /stands was impressive. Brandon got a very thirst quenching home made lemonade.

While walking around we also found a nice playground with slides, monkey bars, and everything that a kid could want, attached to a nice green park. There where a few family get togethers for the holiday.

We made it back to the camp, had a lovely swim in the pool, did another load of laundry (as it was $2.50 total for a wash and dry, and has been the cheapest yet) and had a nice pasta dinner.

We were situated right next to the playground so it was a great way for Brandon to meet other kids. That night Brandon became friends with Thor (real name Travis) a 4 year old from Durango, Colorado and Luke, a 3yr old from a town not too far in New Mexico. They all had a great time together at the playground, or scootering/ riding bikes together. It was lovely talking to the parents and learning about their lives. We had a few drinks with Jason, Thor' s dad and the highlight was glow in the dark bocce ball.

Everyone was so friendly at the KOA. We even met an older couple from Farmington who at the end of our conversation hugged Elisa and told her that if we need anything, they are in that cabin. The KOA was packed over the weekend as many locals were camping for sport. We knew that families have camped for a track meet, lacrosse, baseball, and basketball.

We had a lovely time on New Mexico. Santa Fe was was a bit disappointing but Meow Wolf was a good surprise. Albuquerque was pleasant and relaxing, but the best of this stop was the people.Read more