ah yes, new mexico, after college merlin had the chance to move to Sapello just north of Las Vegas just an hour east of Santa Fe, in the mountains with a mix of green and upper/lower plains where the desert meets the mountains. and was given the chance to stay, and turned it down for the lack of funds and the range wars that were heating up between the local mexicans and the hippies. saw more than one pickup full of locals each caring a rifle driving by the place.
the house was rustic and gorgeous, only one room had wood floors with a big cooking stove in the middle for heat and food. there were small windows in each wall with drippy glass. the other rooms were used for storage as they had dirt floors. there was no electric so we burned kerosene lanterns on the porch in the evenings. the out house was behind this ancient adobe house with walls built up about three feet, so one would have a view of the whole valley while on the throne in the cold with snow comming down sometimes in the winter.
new mexico was extremely poor and i would have had to have gone on welfare to stay and knew very few people and didn't have a lover at the time. so merlin moved on. later when visiting an X in Santa Fe, merlin got to a clearer view of the local poverty and the disjointed wealthy part time imigrants from Texas and the celebrity-hood of California. most of my friends were working three part-time full time jobs just to make ends meet. it is a hard life for the locals and everywhere people would be walking in the heat to get somewhere for lack of transport.
when tourists ignore the local poverty it's a great place to visit. when you see the lack of education that comes with the poverty and see the life styles of the locals its both ancient beautiful and very difficult. the tourists help the economy very much, they also help with the economic rivalry between them for land to live on. there is no feeling that anyone is going hungry, just living very hard lives.
in love,
merlin