I woke up with plans to go visit Toas, an Indian town an hours ride northeast of here. By the time I got up, dressed and had written yesterdays blog it was 11am. I got on the bike, rode for about a mile and decided to turn back and have a day off. This was supposed to be a days break from riding and the heat was also very uncomfortable. I wanted to spend the day in Santa Fe and see what its all about.
Santa Fe (Holy Faith in Spanish) has a population of about 75,000, just under half of the town are Hispanic or Latinos. There were a lot of mobster types hanging around both last night and during the day. Some were trying to look cool in there long cars which had hydraulics bumping up the front and back screaming for people to look at them as they crawled through town.
There were a lot of Indian jewellery and souvenir shops. As much as this is interesting I could find myself any reason to buy anything. Do I really need a quiver of arrows or a machete ?
I stopped for some Mexican food which was really good despite the soggy looking picture. I asked for it mild chilli which still almost blew my mouth out. These guys have chilli on everything, brutal.
I didn't see much in the way of celebrations for July 4th. In fact I saw nothing that would tell me it was today. Maybe a town of such Hispanic background doesn't feel the need to celebrate. In Santa Fe and I believe in most of New Mexico fireworks are banned due to the drought and risk of fire. Most celebrations I was told happen at home with family. Its not the party night I had expected.
I grabbed a few beers later and met an ex Mexican pro boxer who had been lined up to fight Ricky Hatton at some point. He was one of the local mobsters so I don't want to mention any names and said I should stick with him for a few beers, I would be safe around him. We headed over to an underground bar. He was a nice guy, family man and a few years younger than me. He knew everyone. As he gap between his drunkenness and my soberness increased he repeated I was ok with him in this town. He told me that if there was any girl in here I wanted he would drop the boyfriend for me. Hahaha I had my own mobster boss as a bodyguard. I told him I wasn't into causing any aggro but he insisted I could use him if needed. There were some big lumps in this underground bar but I strangely felt safe.
I did speak to one girl who slammed her money down on the bar looking for a drink. She was upset that she had just had her car hit. Well, after she almost fell of the stool she admitted she was drunk, stoned and had just tried parallel parking and hit someone else's car. !! what a concoction.
Drink driving in this part of the world seems to be the norm. It made me think of all the other nights I had met people and everyone lived out of town which meant someone had to be driving but all had been drinking heavily. There's not a huge amount of traffic around or police so I guess its just acceptable over here.
I headed home about 1am ready to leave this small town in the morning.
I stopped for some Mexican food which was really good despite the soggy looking picture. I asked for it mild chilli which still almost blew my mouth out. These guys have chilli on everything, brutal.
I didn't see much in the way of celebrations for July 4th. In fact I saw nothing that would tell me it was today. Maybe a town of such Hispanic background doesn't feel the need to celebrate. In Santa Fe and I believe in most of New Mexico fireworks are banned due to the drought and risk of fire. Most celebrations I was told happen at home with family. Its not the party night I had expected.
I grabbed a few beers later and met an ex Mexican pro boxer who had been lined up to fight Ricky Hatton at some point. He was one of the local mobsters so I don't want to mention any names and said I should stick with him for a few beers, I would be safe around him. We headed over to an underground bar. He was a nice guy, family man and a few years younger than me. He knew everyone. As he gap between his drunkenness and my soberness increased he repeated I was ok with him in this town. He told me that if there was any girl in here I wanted he would drop the boyfriend for me. Hahaha I had my own mobster boss as a bodyguard. I told him I wasn't into causing any aggro but he insisted I could use him if needed. There were some big lumps in this underground bar but I strangely felt safe.
I did speak to one girl who slammed her money down on the bar looking for a drink. She was upset that she had just had her car hit. Well, after she almost fell of the stool she admitted she was drunk, stoned and had just tried parallel parking and hit someone else's car. !! what a concoction.
Drink driving in this part of the world seems to be the norm. It made me think of all the other nights I had met people and everyone lived out of town which meant someone had to be driving but all had been drinking heavily. There's not a huge amount of traffic around or police so I guess its just acceptable over here.
I headed home about 1am ready to leave this small town in the morning.
