Santa Fe Indian Market Part 5

Finally, the last post about the Indian Market. I'm including so many posts because we had such a wonderful time.

It's been interesting, talking with locals about the event. Apparently, once again, we lucked out and this year was different from all the others. While probably not great for those selling, there were markedly less people attending, bad for them, good for us. The crowds were in attendance but not to such a degree as to make for a bad experience for those attending (like us!).

The weather was beautiful and it was an exciting introduction to the downtown Plaza of Santa Fe. I took LOTS of pictures, but will only share a few with you.

As with all parts of New Mexico, the skies here are beautiful. I can't seem to keep my camera pointing down, of its own volition it seems to keep pointing up!

We've heard that up until five years ago, if you built in Santa Fe, it HAD to be adobe. While these rules have been relaxed lately, it certainly gives the city a particular charm.Here's a shot heading down the Market towards St Francis Cathedral. This is the site of the original mission that was burnt during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. As you walk down the avenue, it dominates the horizon.


Here's a closer shot of the Cathedral. This was the site of the Mayan dances we posted a few days ago.


The Cathedral is beautiful inside, and while photography is allowed, they are refreshing the interior for an upcoming celebration. There's scaffolding everywhere and lots of work in progress, so I couldn't get a lot of photos.

I did get this shot of some of the hand painted trim. The extends around this huge cathedral and is quite beautiful.


I was also able to get one shot of these stained glass windows. Unfortunately I had to shoot through glass, so the photo isn't quite sharp. That said, I thought the sun coming through the glass was so ethereal, I wanted to include it here. I also liked the shadows of the hanging lamps.


This is a shot that intrigued me. It's one of those old pull down metal staircases attached to the side of a building. I thought the clouds and sky through the slats was so lovely. remember to click on any image for a larger view.


Santa Fe is teeming with public art, it is literally everywhere, I have hopes of shooting more, but it seems and unending task. This is the front of a gallery on the Plaza. The piece stands about eight feet high.



Downtown Santa Fe reminds me of Sausalito or Carmel. That's both a good thing and not so good, but in this climate at this time of year, it's delightful.


The picture above is Burro Alley, usually full of outdoor cafe tables, During Indian Market, there were potters set up in this spot.

The next picture is the entrance to Burro Alley.


And here's a closeup of the "street sign". Again, the public art is everywhere.

As we were walking along, we saw this entrance to an older drug store. This style of old tile work always attracts me. This reminded me of downtown Cheyenne, Wyoming, where so much of this vintage tile work still exists.

Now I want you to take a good look at the pictures above, the beautiful blue skies and the white puffy clouds.

It was a lovely day and suddenly the skies opened up and within ten minutes, it looked like this.


You may not be able to tell in this picture, but these gutters were more than ankle deep. Within a few minutes, it was overflowing onto the sidewalks, causing most of the vendors to close up shop.

It also pretty much cleared out the foot traffic. We stayed for a bit, got completely drenched and finally packed it in.

In New Mexico, they say if you don't like the weather, just wait a while and it will change.

And it does, but we love it!

Life is good, and so was the Indian Market on the Plaza in Santa Fe!