21 Feb USA: The Badlands of New Mexico

Definitely, it's official, Christmas is over. At least my neighbour took down the decorations the other day, I guess it's for a reason... So to mitigate the depression that such sad news had caused me, I decided to make one of my exhausting (and not exempt of adventure) lightning trips.

Besides, I had been thinking about the badlands of New Mexico for days. You will see why...

Don't look for them in the guide books, they don't appear, nobody knows about them, there are no roads leading there, no maps, no signs, no programmed visits, it's not near any place, etc, etc. But it didn't matter to me, they had already been in my head for a long time...

and when I get something in my head

Besides, as we say in Portugal (and I'm not from there...): "A sorte protege aos audaces". So I took the road and blanket and went in search of this place. Fortunately, this time there was not much snow and it was not going to prevent me from travelling again.

The local name for the area I was looking for was the Bisti Badlands, and they are an incredible collection of areas scattered throughout the Chaco territory of the ancient Anasazi Culture, and later inhabited by Navajo and Pueblo Indian tribes....

And at this point, I'll leave wikipedia (Martinez is falling asleep...) and show you what I saw.

And as I know that you are wondering how I got there, I will tell you that it was not easy, but I got a map and I know how to interpret them (unlike others that I know, for whom a map is more or less the same as an Etruscan papyrus).

Well, apart from the map, I must admit that I had to ask some Navajo Indians that I met along the way (by the way, it is not true that I speak English like the Indians, none of them understand me...).

The first area I'm going to show you is called De Na Zin, and I hadn't been there five minutes when this herd of wild Mustang horses appeared.

After seeing this, it was worth the trip and I didn't mind going back, I was convinced that I wasn't going to see anything more shocking.

But of course, the mustangs were followed by this, in the Ah Shis Lepah area.

So I decided to continue the journey, lest other wonders like this one turn up.

Incidentally, I then came across another group of Mustangs, whom I managed to approach without them noticing me, taking advantage of my knowledge from when I was a young beaver in the scouts...

By the time I moved to the final area of the Bisti Badlands, I couldn't and wouldn't move from the site, I was completely taken by the beauty of the area, so I lay down on a rock to watch the scenery and wait for the sunset.

And I didn't stay the night because I had booked a room at Norman Bates' motel (the one in Psycho). And if it wasn't his motel, it was the "heirs of Norman Bates" motel, because it was a bit scary...

And now a little bit of culture. What I am putting below is known as "hoodoos", which nobody knows what it means. It seems to be etymologically derived from Spanish. Legend has it that the first to discover it was the Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate, who, when he saw this area, blurted out: "Jóodóo Maño, quééseto" ? and from there the word was derived until it became hoodoo. Don't worry, I'm going to continue documenting myself on the subject.

and you don't know how calm I've been after saying that, so I'm going to keep on posting pictures of the area to see what you think of them.

It reminds me a bit of the Enchanted City of Cuenca, which I visited as a scout, a thousand years ago, when I was a bit more mature...

The truth is that I have no choice but to admit that I declare myself incapable of describing this, it would almost be better for you to see the photos, and for me to shut up once and for all.

Jumping from rock to rock I felt the same as this Mustang galloping, free as the wind, (this cheesy little thing that occurred to me by myself, is so that you can appreciate the poetic vein that entered me in this area, hehe).

Well here are some more pictures. It's so hard for me to be quiet.

And all for nothing, because in the end, when I got home, exhausted from the trip, the first thing I found was that the neighbour had changed the Christmas decorations for Valentine's Day decorations, and everything was full of hearts, teddy bears and cheesy phrases.... Let's see how long they last (I mean, how long the decorations last, not the couple).

Is it or is it not a reason to be desolate?

And here I leave you for today, with some more photos, because you don't know how hard it was for me to decide which one to show you. Until next time, be good