Lowlow’s chile, Theresa’s gallery, and Teo’s castanet tent

When the opportunity presented itself in the form of a groupon (given, that we are both students and live on modest salaries) to take a trip with my novia to northern New Mexico I didn’t have to think twice. Over spring break, my girlfriend and I made a trip to a little bed and breakfast in Chimayó called ‘Casa Escondita’ (it was a great little place, I recommend it highly). We had a couple of things planned, but what happened was pretty special...

Our stay in Chimayó started out with a visit to Santuario where we walked through the chapel, brushed up on our history of the site, and strolled through the gift shops. Before returning to our cozy room at the bed and breakfast, we purchased some chile from lowlow - a man who owns a lowrider shop and deals in fine art and chile grown from his garden - who warned us that we should only use a “pinch” as the chile was sure to have a bite. Marie, mi amor, mentioned later that she thought lowlow was her relative, possibly an uncle, for she had seen him before at family reunions and almost had not recognized him as it had been years since they saw one another. 

Our next stop was at an art gallery on highway 76 at Theresa’s Art Gallery. Theresa and her family are traditional new mexican artists specializing in retablo work. We stumbled into the gallery (which was also her house) and began talking with Theresa, and soon enough we were invited to return that evening to Theresa’s house for dinner. We had a wonderful dinner and talked for hours with Theresa and her family over carne adovada, tortillas y fanta. About 50 people came to eat at Theresa’s that evening, most of them Theresa’s neighbors, who happened also to be family members. It was a great evening as we left with our bellies full, some plates to go, and some great memories of Theresa and her hospitality...

The next day we woke up super early and made our way out of Chimayó and headed to Taos, where we had a meeting at 9am with Teo Morca, a famous flamenco dancer and important icon in the New Mexico flamenco community. After discussing some important noticias del flamenco con el maestro we headed to Teo’s house. Mi novia was purchasing some castañuelas (percussion instruments for the hands) and Teo makes them by hand in a tent in his front yard. Anyway, we hung out with Teodoro for a bit, danced as well, and left with a handful of his books on flamenco technique and arte. 

Dang, what an experience! It was pretty surreal. But that is New Mexico, a surreal place at times, and the north is definitely a special place where these types of occurrences can happen. I’m not sure why, there is a charm and allure about the small towns of northern New Mexico that I have experienced nowhere else. Pretty cool! Next time you head up north, look up Lowlow or Theresa in Chimayó, or maybe you want to learn some flamenco from Teo in Taos!