Santa Fe (nickname: "City Different") is an enchanting tourist destination and a friendly place to live. Here is some information that will make your sojourn there more pleasant.

Geography

Santa Fe is located in the center of Northern New Mexico , in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which are a southern extension of the Rockies. The elevation is 2100 m (7000 ft), which takes a couple of days to get used to if you're coming from sea level. Water boils at this elevation at a tepid 93C (200F), so adjust your cooking times up by a little!

The climate in Santa Fe is basically high desert. There is very little humidity and the nights are fairly cool. Highs in the summer reach 38C (100F), and lows in the winter drop to around -10C (15F). There is some snow from December through April, and the monsoon season brings heavy rains in July and August, if it brings them at all. Droughts are common; it is a desert. Remember to drink lots of water, as it is very easy to dehydrate!

Santa Fe, and in fact, all of Northern New Mexico and the whole Four Corners ¹ area in general, is wonderful to look at. Sunsets occupy the entire sky and can include every color from turquoise to copper to lavender to brown. The Sangre de Cristo mountains are lovely in any season, and if you drive up Hyde Park Road to the Santa Fe Ski Basin in the beginning of October, you can see the aspen changing colors. Wow. Nice Sunday drives out of the city on county roads abound. Highway 14 down to Cerrillos and Madrid is a popular favorite.

About an hour's drive to the north is Taos, to the Southwest Albuquerque, and to the Northeast Las Vegas (no, not that Las Vegas ).

History

The area around Santa Fe was inhabited by Pueblo Indians for a long time. Then the Spaniards arrived, bringing Catholicism, disease, and firewater, in short: Civilization. Don Francisco Vasques de Coronado claimed "The Kingdom of New Mexico" in the name of Spain (1540). Don Pedro de Peralta was governor of New Mexico and set up his capitol at Santa Fe, which he called " La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis ²" (1610). This is still the official name of the city, but nobody uses it. The Pueblo Indians didn't like being subjugated, so they drove the Spaniards out (1680), but the Spaniards, under Don Diego de Vargas, drove back in (1692), and things settled down for a while.

Eventually (1821), Mexico won its independence from Spain, and then the USA acquired the Southwest from Mexico (1848). Santa Fe was part of the "wild west" when there was such a place. For some reason, there was a Civil War battle over Santa Fe ("Glorietta, the Gettysburg of the West," an ironic name at best). Later (1880), the railroads arrived, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line terminated there, grandfather of all the boxcars with the words "Santa Fe" painted on them that you can still see rolling around.

New Mexico became a state in the last century (1912), and Santa Fe remained its capitol , but a lot of people on the east coast remain unaware of this development, and consider "New Mexico" an international destination. Those who have actually travelled to Santa Fe are frequently delighted at how quaint and old-fashioned looking it is, so there are laws to keep it that way. Thus, Santa Fe is still made of small adobe buildings, and tourists journey there to walk around in cowboy hats and leather jackets with "fringe."

People

Santa Fe's population consists of three parts: White people with money, Hispanic people without money, and Native Americans without money. The rich whites are largely a funny sort of artsy, New-agey, crystal gazing vegans, and the poor folk are like poor folk everywhere, but fairly relaxed (it's hard not to be relaxed in Santa Fe; there's lithium in the drinking water). For the hitchhiker, this means some nice art on the east side of town (Canyon Road galleries), and some good, inexpensive New Mexican food on southside and westside. If you like people-watching, you can find a very good supply of freaks in Santa Fe.

A warning about driving in Santa Fe: be careful! If it is not a majority of drivers that are drunk, high, or schizophrenic, it's very close. Four-way stop signs operate in Santa Fe according to a set of rules that defies codification (summary: If it seems safe, shut your eyes and GO!). Turn signal use is the exception rather than the rule, and the roads are difficult to navigate. Parallels behave in a way that would make Lobachevsky weep. Maps don't help much. Santa Fe was "planned" according to the system of throwing a bunch of concrete into the air and putting random road signs where it landed (well, ok, they just paved the horse trails, but the result is the same). Every major street in the town but one changes names as you drive along it. Highlights include: the street with 9 names (the best known of which is Paseo de Peralta), the intersection of Camino Entrada and Camino Entrada (same street), and the stretch of Osage where it crosses four other streets named Osage (all different). Remember, Don't Panic!

There are City Buses, which run every day but Sunday, and often on time.

Culture

Oh, there's The Santa Fe Rodeo , The Georgia O'Keefe Museum, various other museums, The Historic Plaza downtown with Indians selling jewelry on blankets, "Fiesta" in August/September, which celebrates the Spanish reconquest, and so on and so forth.

Education

There are the usual Elementary, Middle and Secondary Schools, and a couple colleges of interest. St. John's College is an interesting Liberal Arts school where rich white kids read classic works of western thought written by dead white men. The College of Santa Fe is a more artsy Liberal Arts school where you can go to study Theater, Film, Photography, Visual Arts, and not Mathematics. In addition, there is the International Institute of Chinese Medicine, which is exactly what it claims to be, and the Santa Fe Institute, a think tank where people who can construct and solve systems of partial differential equations in their sleep use powerful computers to model ant colonies, stock markets, the evolution of biological life, and other things that God never intended for man to understand.

Attractions

Several are listed under "Culture" above. In addition, there are many attractions for outdoorsy types. The Santa Fe Ski Basin usually gets a decent amount of snow and you can downhill ski and snowboard there. There's a lot of great hiking, for example the 9km (5.5mi) trail up Mount Atalaya, which begins on the campus of St. John's College. Mountain biking is a popular option. Not far from town are Native American Pueblos , which you can tour on a bus which will pick you up and drop you off in downtown Santa Fe. A little bit of driving can get you to Jemez Hot Springs, Diablo Canyon, or Bandelier National Monument .

Food/Lodging

Finally!

Restaurants

Governor Gary Johnson recently vetoed a bill which would have made "Red or Green?" the Official State Question. "A waste of paper," he called it. The question refers to the chile, which is served on everything from pancakes to cheese steaks. It is most highly recommended, however, on the actual New Mexican food. Nicer places include Tomasita's on Guadalupe, Maria's on Cordova, and The Blue Corn Cafe, with two locations, on Rodeo Road and downtown. Drink Margaritas at Maria's (they have a list of about 150), and at the Blue Corn, try their own brew, or else the Tequilla Diablo = Long Island Iced Tea + too much Tequilla + something that makes it bright pink. Have a couple. Cheers. Did you notice that the altitude lowers your tolerance. Mind covering my tab, too?

The very best green chile in town can be had at the Horseman's Haven, way down Cerrillos road. It can variously be described as a "dive," a "hole in the wall," a "greasy spoon," and "the best food for your money in town." Have a green chile cheeseburger, or the carne adovada, or a breakfast burrito, and love it. No alcohol, but you can still smoke inside because it's out of the city limits.

Other genres of food and recommended places to eat them (assuming you're not rich, in which case, I don't know, ask your rich friends, and hey, can I borrow about half a grand?):

• Italian: Il Vicino's on W. San Francisco
• Chinese: Yin Yang in the Design Center on Cerrillos
• Mediterranean: Cleopatra's Cafe, also in the Design Center
• Vietnamese: Siagon Cafe on Cordova
• Old Mexican: The Old Mexico Grill or The Guadalajara Grill, both on Cerrillos
• Sandwiches, Soups and Salads: The Back Street Bistro, on Marquez off Cordova.

Bars

• Best Sports Bar: The Green Onion on St. Michael's
• Best (only) topless bar: Cheek's on Cerrillos
• Best place to shoot pool: downstairs at Evangelo's downtown, plus you can catch a blues band upstairs
• A place to pick up on young humans and see bands: The Paramount on Sandoval
• Places this researcher is afraid of: Rodeo Nights on Cerillos, and Club Alegria on Agua Fria
• Not actually in Santa Fe but great: the Mine Shaftin Madrid down Hwy 14.

Here's a website with reviews of Santa Fe Breweries .

Lodging

After all that, you'll need to crash somewhere. There are plenty of motels and they're fine, I'm sure. The El Rey Inn on Cerrillos Road, for one, is a great, clean, moderately priced motel. Hitchhikers, however, would do well to check out the accommodation for young people on Cerrrillos Road, called Santa Fe International Hostel, where you can stay for under $15, or could a couple of years ago. Anyone with less money than that can obtain free room and board at the Santa Fe County Jail, run by Cornell Corrections . This is NOT recommended by this researcher, h2g2, or any of its affiliates; the food, although free, is gross, and a criminal record is not the best souvenir to bring from this beautiful town. You'll find better free lodging at the St. Vincent De Paul Shelter, but they won't give you a bed if you seem very drunk.

Well, enjoy your stay, and happy hitchhiking!