New Mexico Day 2 - Bandelier

 Today we rectified the rental car situation. I seem to recall the rental process being more - involved in the before times. Today, the guy glanced at my license and sort of threw a set of keys at me. In the middle, my bank started messaging me to let me know that they declined the transaction because, does anyone really travel any more? I never signed anything, and I'm not entirely sure that I've actually paid for the car. We'll see what happens when I drop it off, as planned, at a location different from where I rented!

We decided to head out to Bandelier to take stock of whether or not we want to do the Stone Lions hike later in the week. The drive from Santa Fe to Bandelier is stunning! In addition to the amazing scenery, we drove past one of the Los Alamos giant telescopes/satellite dishes (They must get AAAAAAALLLLL the movies!) We arrived at the park and discovered that our pre-purchased pass doesn't really start until tomorrow. Fortunately, the ranger was good about it and let us in without too much fuss. I was surprised that the parking lot wasn't slammed and we were able quickly find a parking spot. We stopped into the park office and looked at the trails, walked briefly through the small museum, and stopped into the park shop for a few essentials (Bandelier trail map, lip balm with sunscreen - no idea where the 47 other ones I own are...) and some fun stuff (National park passport stamp and a few laptop stickers anyone?).

From there, we headed in the opposite direction of most of the throngs and started up the west canyon rim to the Frijolitos trail. Since we got a pretty late start, we really only want to check out the ascent and the terrain to understand what we are getting ourselves into, especially being flatlanders. While the climb was steady, it wasn't terrible. And having the right gear (A spiffy new birthday day pack thanks to my dad and a sun shirt that actually blocks the sun, but lets the breezes pour through for me. For Kris, sun shirt, long pants, and new trekking poles) makes a big difference. Once we topped the canyon, we were treated to spectacular views of of the ancient dwellings in the opposite canyon wall as well as the mountain ranges in the near distance.

Frijoles Canyon

Dwellings carved into the tuff

We hiked along the rim and debated heading out into the high desert to the next canyon, less than a mile away. However, it was already 11am and we weren't really prepared. As we were having the discussion, Kris' phone seemed to have a heat related freak out (If he phantom texted or called you, sorry!) We ultimately decided to head back down and leave the rest of the trail for later in the week when we can get a much earlier start. We encountered several mule deer; one was no more than 10 feet away from us. I also finally got a picture of one of the 'New Mexico squirrels' we keep hearing skittering through the brush as though they are much larger creatures. I think their lizards are much cuter than our squirrels even though they make the same amount of noise.

Lizard!

Dinner tonight was at Sazon which was probably a bit more high-concept than excellent execution. The cocktails were fantastic and the mains were - fine. The starters knocked it out of the park though. One dish was huitlacoche which is corn truffle or corn smut. I've heard of it, but had never tried it before. It was absolutely delicious! 

The other dish was chapulines tacos. Chapulines are baby grasshoppers that in this instances were poached in olive oil. They had a distinct but mild flavor. They mostly seemed to take on the flavor of the seasonings around them. 

A friend of mine shared some time ago that chapulin is slang for someone who often says exactly the wrong thing or mixes up their words. Additionally, it seems that many cultures have a tradition that if you eat a thing, you are imbued with its essence. Here's hoping I don't pick up any (more) foot-in-mouth tendencies from tonight's dinner!