In Madrid…New Mexico that is

I know we told many of you we were going to Santa Fe. We are actually staying in our friends’ Glen and Eliane’s beautiful home near a town called Madrid, which is 20 miles south of Santa Fe. It is pronounced “Maad-drid”. Madrid is an old, defunct coal mining town. I’ve heard some people say it is a town of lesbians and old geezers. Yes they are here, and many more kinds of people too – from those with dreds to California transplants to many artists, dancers, and musicians, like an artist couple, the Johnsons, who met at the Chicago Art Institute and moved here in 1973.

The downtown is one main road which kinda remains me of a version of Half Moon Bay’s Main Street, except with no sidewalks or internet but plenty of cactus, and gravel. Madrid also has many art galleries and shops. People hang out at Java Junction, where they make ice coffees with coffee ice cubes and sell cowboy hats and many variations of hot sauce. The hot bar in town is called, The Mine Shaft where they serve buffalo burgers wrapped in tortillas with Christmas sauce (red and green chili), have live music, and real dollar bill wallpaper.