or....I drove to Taos to sleep.
Interspersed with treasure hunting these adobe chapels, I pull off onto scenic pullouts to........view, yes. But, I can't seem to keep my eyes open, so I also climb in the back of the truck and crawl into my sleeping bag.....just for a few minutes. Or maybe an hour and a half. More driving. And then a few more hours. Not sure why so tired. By the time I pull in to Taos, my immediate goal is to park and sleep again. Clearly not the day I was planning on, but my body seems to need the rest. I let go of agenda. And by the time I check into the Abominable Snowmansion Ski Lodge and Hostel, I've also let go of the reason I chose this specific Monday to come: the once a month poetry open mic.
Luckily for me, this Monday is between seasons, no skiing is happening yet here in Ski Valley, so I have the female dorm hostel room to myself. Actually, I think I'm the only person booked in the whole place for tonight. I settle in, and yes, sleep some more. Somewhere later in the evening, I awaken, drenched in sweat. Drat!
Black Rock on the Rio Grande
After about eight minutes, the shower water heats up and for the first time since I drove away from Santa Fe, I remove all my clothing. With the body chill and slight fever of yesterday, it made no sense to strip down and change into other clothes. The pile of blankets in the dorm room were all mine, and I piled up a bunch of them on top of me. Once the fever broke, and the nausea diminished, I wanted clean and fresh. A new start to the day. A new start to Taos.
I had bookmarked two area hot springs, but my Taos list of activities has also diminished now. Some items on the list would need to go. Over my morning cup of hot chamomile tea (no food yet, please), the young check-in woman thought about my question, What are your favorite things to do around Taos?
“Hmmm. Definitely the Rio Grande. Yeah, you can see it from the Gorge Bridge—looking down. But, I always like to get down to the river itself. There are some hot springs not far from here. I hike to Black Rock a lot, maybe a mile round trip from where you park.”
“Black Rock? Wait….” I find my bookmark on my device, and there it is. Maybe ten miles from here. If the hike was longer, I’d think twice. But, one easy mile round trip? This is where I’ll start the day—loving my body at the edge of the Rio Grande.
An easy drive, even down the dirt road towards the river. Even over the one lane John Dunn Bridge during a Tuesday morning quiet. One fisherman casting the Rio from near the bridge. And a white pick up slowly working down the dirt road from the other side. I can see one other vehicle parked uphill at a switchback.
I wait for the white pick up to finish its descent, and get out to pack up some things to take with me on the trail—a towel, drinking water.
The driver’s window rolls down, and a forest ranger asks if I’m planning to fish—most likely really asking if I have a permit to fish.
“Me? No. I heard there was a hot spring near here.”
“There is. Up there where that car is parked. The trail goes down from there. Are you planning on skinny dipping?”
“Well, “ I smile. “It would be the easiest, now, wouldn’t it?”
“Well, yeah, but I hope you have a warm coat when you get out. Burrr.”
“I’ll be fine,” I say as he and his passenger drive on.
After I park at the switchback, and begin my descent to the river, I pass only one person on his way out.
“Tuesday morning is the best time,” he tells me. “No one else down there.”
And once there, the two small pools steam. I strip and sit myself into the hotter one— for maybe an hour or so. Birds stop to visit me on the volcanic rocks cascading down the slope to the river flowing by. The cold air keeps me from overheating, and my body softens into the minerals stewing in the water. Ahhhh.
Once I hike back up to the parking area, another car has arrived, and I pass the solitude baton onto him. I imagine, at busier times, many people at one end trying to squeeze into the pools. But, on this Tuesday morning, I’ve had the gift of hot spring meditation.
Starting as a way to self-build cheaply using recycled materials and trash, houses were built for autonomy, hence “Earthship”. Empty beer cans, and discarded tires filled with dirt, along with straw bales, washing machine metal panels, and cut glass bottles formed a good part of the walls and structure of the homes. As many as 1000 tires can be re-purposed for one house alone.
The Earthship philosophy: There are six needs for life and once attained, “home” is self-sustaining on this planet.
Needs:
1. Building with natural and recycled materials
2. Water harvesting
3. Food production
4. Solar/wind electricity
5. Thermal/ solar heating
6. Contained sewage treatment
It’s as if one walks onto a fantasy movie set—the turrets decorated with glass bottles, the sheet metal sculptures moving wind into power, the filled tires holding the earth in place. I’ve seen photos before, online, and like with straw bale construction, the photos hold a gloss level that doesn’t always ring true. When I decided to build my own home with straw, I pawed through the pages of books and magazines. Then, a local straw bale contractor took me on a local tour of a couple of buildings he was involved with. Cement stucco, although tinted, was rough and coarse. But, the structural, sculptural, nature of these buildings charmed me. Of course, this was what I wanted—to live in a structure that hugged me, rather than boxed me in. I wanted to feel the nature of it in my hands—hoisting bale after bale into walls that would protect me, warm me, keep me cool. I wanted to take a waste product out of the fields, and re-purpose it. Twenty two years later, my house has become, not unlike these earthships, a work of heart and art.
Unlike the earthships, my house is not fully self-sustaining. I am on the grid, pump water up through ledge, and buy some produce from stores when not home to garden something for food consumption. Even the early earthships weren’t perfect, according to the visitor center guide. Some had wood stoves to help with heating during the northern New Mexico chilly night temperatures. Other processes needed tweaking too.
I used trash in my house as well….stress skin foam panels, sided with chipboard and sheetrock, rescued from the manufacturing facility nearby. House kits went out to the public, and door and window openings left behind a variety of sizes of panel pieces. I signed a release form, hauled them off for free. Put them in my ceiling as insulation, used them for foundation cement pour forms. I collected rocks from stream beds for my shower walls. Sympatico with earthships. They’ve gone further in their dedication to take trash out of our communities. I celebrate them.
More info? Check their website:
earthshipglobal.com
Taos Plaza
Season's Greetings
May everyone enjoy the season, whatever holidays are celebrated, and the changeover to a new calendar year. May we all attract upcoming nourishment and fulfillment in 2019.