zimmers in texas

The heat wave has finally broken and this weekend the weather has been below 100 degrees for the the first time since we arrived. It is nice to wear a jumper for a change.
Last weekend we went to the Alamo Drafthouse which is a movie theatre where you sit in wide rows and the you can order food and drinks and there are no babies allowed. We went to see Point Break but the difference was that there were 3 comedians who talked over the movie and made smart comments about the show. It was very funny and there was even a guy in the audience who was an extra from the original movie so we all had to cheer when his part came up. They really do have interesting entertainment here in Austin. Last weekend was the Annual Bat Festival where they block of the bridge into the city and have stall etc all along the road and at night everyone watches the bats fly out from under the bridge to feed. Unfortunately for us we missed the festival as we flew out to New Mexico.
There is the choice of 3 long term carparks Austin airport. One is under cover parking, one is walking distance and the third is with shuttle bus to the airport from the carpark. We chose the 3rd option and then had to catch the shuttle to the airport. Since the London security scare the queue to book in luggage has doubled and the kerbside check in was quicker so we just left our luggage at the kerb for them to handle. With South West airlines ( which is what we flew) you can book in over the internet but you dont get a seat allocated. What happens is you get allocated a boarding group which determines when you can board the plane. When you get to your gate you then queue behind your letter (A, B or C) and if you are first in A group you get to choose any seat you like except they let people with babies and/or disabilities on first. Apparently the real advantage of getting in the A group is that there will be enough overhead space for your carry on luggage. The staff are quite casual and the uniform is shorts and runners which seems very sensible to me. Much easier for the hosties to walk down the aisle to deliver our drinks.
We had a short stop over in El Paso but were not able to get off the plane. Of course Glenn had to sing El Paso by Marty Robbins.
We arrived at Albuqurque and then had to catch a shuttle to the Hire Car bookings it was so far away. We drove to the Old Town and parked in the cutest little parking lot. It cost $2 for the day but the parking meter consisted of a row of little boxes with coin slots which you had to put your money in. If you only had notes they had a "stuffer" to stuff the notes down into the box.
Old Town is full of craft shops selling mostly Indian or Mexican goods and foods. New Mexico is famous for its Hatch chilli and the big question is "red or green" which refers to the colour of the chilli you want. My preference would be neither but when in Rome......so we managed to burn out mouths a bit. We had a great Mexican lunch, much nicer than TexMex and looked at lots and lots of adobe houses.
After lunch we drove out on Route 66 to the Acoma Pueblo which is the village of the Acoma Inidians. They still live here and as luck would have it we stumbled upon a religious ceremony. The Acoma Pueblo is the highest pueblo in the USA and it is built on the top of a mesa We walked to the top as the shuttle had hour long queues. Because of the festival it was very crowded and they had heaps and heaps of stalls selling turquoise and silver jewellery, acoma pottery and roasted lamb and corn stalks. The smell of roast lamb pervaded the whole area and it reminded me of the good old Aussie lamb roast. Each of the Indian tribes have their own distinctive style of pottery and the Acoma has a black and white geometeric design so of course we had to buy a small sample.
That afternoon we took a cable car ride up to the top of Mt Sandi which is 11,000 feet above sea level and 34 degrees (Farenheit that is) at the top. It is the longest aerial tramway in the world and took 14 minutes to get up to the top.
We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast on Sat night and had a great breakfast before heading off to Santa Fe which is about 60 miles north.
The trip didn't take very long at all as we drove on the Interstate at 75mph all the way. There was a big Indian market day in the Plaza when we arrived so we visited more interesting little stalls selling jewellery and pottery. We took a tour of the town and the guide told us that the stalls are only available to genuine Indian traders and they must be certified before they can sell. This all sounded very interesting until we came across a stall selling Aboriginal diggeredoos and CDs of the music.
I was fascinated by all the adobe houses but Glenn thought they were boring. Apparently there are only two styles that can be built in Santa Fe and the buildings can be painted any one of the 40 shades of brown allowed. The new houses are called Santa Fake as they are built from plywood coated stucco to give the adobe look and all the rich Californians are buying up big and pushing the prices up. The desert looks a bit like the area around Alice Springs, all reddy brown with green tussocks dotted over the landscape. The big difference though is the mountains and the mesas.
We visited a couple of museums during the weekend and learnt a lot about Spaniards, Mexicans and Indians. We spent Sunday night in Santa Fe and headed back to Albuqurque on Monday morning. We pulled of the I25 at a small town and noticed they were advertised a new Hyatt. I will be very interested to see what this looks like as it will be brown and flat. All along the highway are dotted Indian reservations and because of some law that says no tax has to be paid on revenue on the reservations there are huge casinos built on them. It looks weird because there is nothing around for miles and then you will see these huge casinos out in the middle of nowhere.
We reversed the process with all the shuttle buses and planes at Albuqurque and arrived safely back to a much cooler Austin. The more we pack to go away the more disorganised we become so this time we forgot the camera. Don't worry we bought a disposable and the photos are on disc so Glenn will add them next time we write.
I started my Spanish lessons tonight and after about 10 minutes into the class the teacher said OK no more English so we just had to speak Spanish for the next 2hours and 50 minutes. It is fun and the teacher is lovely but I still can't do it. Oh well ony 12 more hours to go. Until next time - hooroo