Deep in the soul of Taos

Taos, N.M.

Bolts of lightning etched burning zigzags in the sky, followed by a few muffled claps of thunder. A lone eagle circled low. Harold Cordova, a Tiwa from the Taos Pueblo, was driving us around his buffalo ranch in a red pickup when the late afternoon cloud cover suddenly burst and an otherworldly brightness spilled over the Three Peaks Mountains, flooding the lush prairie grass, the milky green sagebrush and the parasol-shaped juniper trees with light. The buffalo raised their noses. So did we, nostrils twitching from the strong scent of sage.

That’s when Taos went to our heads, leaving us giddy for the rest of our five-day stay. The world looks different at 6,965 feet above sea level with all the superfluities filtered out.

My family -- wife Claudie, 13-year-old daughter Aurelie and 8-year-old son Jacques -- were celebrating a belated birthday (my 50th) and a wedding anniversary (our 15th) when we visited on Father’s Day. We were badly in need of rejuvenation, and Taos was just what the doctor ordered. How funny -- and fitting -- that a frazzled family of high-rise apartment dwellers from New York City should find psychic renewal amid the original high-rise apartment dwellers of New Mexico. Of course, the Tuahtah Daeena (People of Taos) have been at it longer -- 1,000 years and counting.

Our first glimpse earlier that morning of San Geronimo de Taos Pueblo struck us as deja vu. It was as if we had been there before, and in a way we had. Taos Pueblo, called Place of the Red Willows by the Tiwas, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and U.S. Interior Department national historic site familiar from countless photos and paintings.

The pueblo sits at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, about 130 miles northeast of Albuquerque. North Village and South Village are each five stories, traditional adobe structures with connecting rooms for multiple dwellers. The thick adobe walls provide natural insulation. Built as a fortress to withstand the attacks of hostile tribes, the pueblo originally had no windows or doors. A round opening in the roof was the only entrance or exit.

The pueblo, inhabited for 1,000 years, has no electricity or indoor plumbing. Fewer than 50 members of the community live here today. Yet it remains the spiritual home to the 2,700 Red Willow People, many of whom have more modern houses nearby. The locals tend to be wary of outsiders, having weathered the onslaught of invaders, the coercion of missionaries and the prying eyes of curiosity seekers. Our Tiwa tour guide rattled off her spiel at lightning speed, insulating herself from overexposure with a parasol and a poker face.

We would have left the pueblo profoundly impressed by its beauty but largely untouched by its spirit had it not been for an encounter with Harold Cordova, a big-shouldered buffalo of a man, in his crafts store, Morning Talk Indian Shop. He burst out laughing at my son’s extemporaneous definition of a buffalo as “a bull with a beard.”

“Ever seen a buffalo up close?” he asked. Proudly showing off his herd that afternoon, he told us stories, including one about the time he found a newborn buffalo calf wobbling alone by the side of the road and took it home to nurture. Awakened near dawn by a rumbling round the house, he looked out to see buffaloes stampeding in circles. Rasta, a hefty 20-year-old king bull, bellowed and butted his horns against the gate. “I knew what he wanted,” Cordova said. “I whispered a prayer and walked out with the calf in my arms. ‘This is yours. Take care of your own kind.’ ” Harold turned to me. “You got to respect your elders -- even buffaloes.”

That night we had rib-eye buffalo steaks and fresh corn on the cob from Cid’s Market, a vast organic emporium in town. I did the honors in the kitchen of our rented 200-year-old restored casita. But having access to a kitchen didn’t keep us from sampling the fiery fare that Taos is famous for -- chimichangas and enchiladas -- in restaurants plain and fancy all over town. The region is noted for one of America’s most distinctive cuisines, a blend of old Spanish, Mexican and Native American cooking with a New World twist.

Perils of the past

THroughout its history, Taos, a frontier town that sprouted south of the pueblo, has attracted and cultivated its share of characters. In 1826, a mountaineer and Army scout named Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson came to town and made his mark on history. His old house downtown is a museum.

Another historic site, the Hacienda de los Martinez, two miles west of Taos Plaza, vividly re-creates Spanish colonial life. Its display of the tribulations of frontier travel, including buffalo stampedes and snakebites, put the easy pleasures of our trip in perspective. We were stunned to learn from another display of the 19th century barter of Native American slaves at the Taos Trade Fair. Among the commodities they were traded for was “Taos Lightning,” a rotgut distilled of wheat and corn liquor flavored with chili, tobacco and gunpowder. I asked for it at a couple of the bars in town but came up dry.

Although mountain men and Spanish colonials helped shape old-time Taos, artists and writers left a distinctive stamp on the town’s modern identity as a center of creativity. Today’s Taos is bursting with art. It crowds display windows and spills onto the street outside the cluster of shops comprising Taos Plaza, the town’s historic center, where gunfighters once met for shootouts.

Coffee bars now outnumber saloons. The old jail (the fictional lock-up of Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson in the 1969 cult classic “Easy Rider”) was reborn some years ago as the Navajo Gallery.

The artists who descended on Taos in the early years of the 20th century were followed by free spirits from the East, including socialite Mabel Dodge Luhan who specialized in collecting people. Her illustrious guest list included painter Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Ansel Adams. Thanks to their dramatic depictions, the San Francisco de Asis Church in Rancho de Taos leapt out at us like an old friend the moment we saw it.

The next morning I tracked down the memorial to Luhan’s most famous catch, D.H. Lawrence. His ashes are enshrined in a white chapel his wife, Frieda, had built at their ranch on Lobo Mountain, 20 miles north of town. A dirt road off State Route 522 leads to it. As I hiked up the zigzagging flagstone path, I remembered the erotic tingle of my first secret reading of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”

The sweeping high desert vista on State Route 522 brought to mind road scenes from “Easy Rider,” whose co-star and director, Hopper, stuck around when Taos was a hippie haven.

I gazed wistfully as I drove by the old Buffalo Commune, once a back-to-the-land hippie stronghold, now an upscale bed-and-breakfast. I never made it there way back when. Although most of the hippies have moved on, vestiges of their congenial, eco-friendly lifestyle survives.

One erstwhile commune dweller and native New Mexican, Cisco Guevara, still lives off the land, or rather the water. Los Rios River Runners, his white-water rafting concern, will waft you down the peaceful Rio Chama or churn you through the raging rapids of the Rio Grande. “You do get wet,” Cisco acknowledged. Tempted as I was, the family had once capsized on a raft ride in France, so we decided to forgo the experience.

There were other activities we had to skip too. The Father’s Day weekend was hardly the moment to take advantage of Taos Ski Valley, founded in 1954 by Ernie Blake. The world-class slopes open for business, weather permitting, on Nov. 22. Local old-timers predict a powdery season.

But any time of year is good for looking at a new hotel, El Monte Sagrado, where environmentalist-entrepreneur Tom Worrell promotes eco-friendly living. “You don’t have to sacrifice lifestyle or comfort to live in a way that takes care of the Earth,” Worrell said. The hotel’s “biolarium” is a natural water purification system that also is green space and garden.

Feeling environmentally primed and craving creature comfort, we indulged in a leisurely soak the next day at Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs, a no-frills facility about 40 miles west. The springs have been designated a “quiet zone,” with no children younger than 15 allowed, so the kids hiked to nearby Native American ruins with a young woman kind enough to keep tabs. Meanwhile, my wife and I were slipping into liquid bliss outdoors beneath overhanging cliffs dappled with flowering cactuses.

The drive back along State Route 64 took us across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. From its dizzying height, you can gaze 650 feet down to the river below. We parked the car and strolled its span, its Erector-set-like framework vibrating beneath us every time a truck barreled across.

The next morning we left Taos behind, following State Route 68 south along the meandering bed of the Rio Grande, before turning off onto State Route 502 to visit the site of a centuries-old experiment in Earth-friendly living, Bandelier National Monument.

Hiking the Main Loop Trail into Frijoles Canyon, past ruins of Tyuonyi Pueblo, a 600-year-old circular walled village at river level, we climbed ladders to the remains of cliff dwellings once inhabited by the ancestors of today’s pueblo peoples.

That night we stayed in Santa Fe. Dreading our imminent return to Tyuonyi’s modern-day counterpart in Manhattan, Claudie and I stretched the pleasures of our New Mexico sojourn over strong agave margaritas. They weren’t Taos Lightning, but who needs gunpowder to get a kick?

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Experiencing a taste of Taos

GETTING THERE:

From LAX, nonstop service to Albuquerque is available on Southwest and connecting service (change of plane) on America West, Delta, United, American, Frontier and Northwest. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $224.

WHERE TO STAY:

El Monte Sagrado, 317 Kit Carson Road, Taos, NM 87571; (800) 828-8267, fax (505) 751-4449, www.elmontesagrado.com, offers luxury lodgings. Handcrafted details; every unit is unique. Doubles from $395 per night. The parent company, Dharma Properties, also rents out restored adobe casitas in town, from $150 for a studio to $800 for a three-bedroom unit.

The Fechin Inn, 227 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM 87571; (800) 811-2933, fax (505) 751-7338 www.fechin-inn.com, is a secluded hideaway in the heart of town inspired by the work of Taos artist Nicolai Fechin. Doubles from $114 per night.

The Historic Taos Inn, 125 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM 87571; (888) 519-8267, fax (505) 758-5776; www.taosinn.com, is a vintage favorite in the heart of town. Doubles $85-165.

WHERE TO EAT:

De la Tierra, at El Monte Sagrado, (505) 737-9855, has drawn raves since its opening July 1. Its organic steaks are tasty. Try the yak chile at the bar. Entrees start at $24.

Doc Martin’s, in the Historic Taos Inn, (505) 758-1977, is a refined Taos favorite in a rustic, log-ceilinged dining room. My peppery potato parsley soup, succulent grilled pork tenderloin with calypso bean ragout and capirotada, a rich Southwestern bread pudding, came to $21. Three-course prix fixe $22.50-$23.

Ogilvies, 103 E. Plaza, Suite I, Taos, (505) 758-8866, specializes in New Mexican cuisine. It is known for its pork chimichanga, $9.50, and stacked blue corn enchiladas, $9.75, with the requisite dabs of green and red chile (Christmas style) on the side.

WHAT TO DO:

Taos Pueblo, (505) 758-1028, www.taospueblo.com. The pueblo usually is open to visitors 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. but closes during tribal rituals. Call first to make sure it’s open. Adults $10 per person, students $5, children younger than 13 free. Charge per still camera $5.

Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs, 50 Los Banos Drive, Ojo Caliente, NM 87549; (800) 222-9162, www.ojocalientespa.com. Hot springs and other activities. Open 8 a.m.- 10 p.m. daily. Admission to pools $16 Monday-Thursday, $20 Friday-Sunday.

Bandelier National Monument, HCR 1, Box 1, Suite 15, Los Alamos, NM 87544; (505) 672-0343, www.nps.gov/band. Monument open daily dawn to dusk; visitor center open 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

TO LEARN MORE:

Taos County Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center, (800) 732-8267, www.taoschamber.com.

New Mexico Department of Tourism, 491 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501; (800) 733-6396, fax (505) 827-7402, www.newmexico.org.

-- Peter Wortsman