Book Review: Seven Cities of Mud

As we have traveled New Mexico we have made friends with writers who live in and write about New Mexico. From time to time, we’ll offer you a review and our impressions of their stories. And we’ll encourage you to explore New Mexico through its many authors who bring their own images of our Land of Enchantment to life.

Seven Cities of Mud

By Florence B. Weinberg

Published 2008 by Twilight Times Books

ISBN: 1-933353-46-5

Strong-willed Franciscan Fray Augustin organizes an entrada from Mexico into New Mexico a half century after Coronado, intent of converting Native Americans to Christianity. He recruits two other friars and eight soldiers. The entourage, with servants and livestock, embarks on a journey that carries them as far north as Taos and into the complexities of reconciling European culture with that of the Puebloans. Meanwhile, Poli, a pueblo woman whose husband suspiciously falls to his death soon after their marriage, is confronted by the arrogant, powerful, and cruel Makta, whose only desire is to possess her. Needless to say, the soldiers are there for treasure and complicate the situation. Priests, warriors, and Puebloans are in conflict the moment they are joined. Weinburg weaves a fascinating tale, integrating the history of Spanish conquest in a satisfying, nonintrusive way. Not only did I read a marvelous tale, I learned a bit more about my adopted home state.

Seven Cities of Mud is one of a series of historical novels set in the American Southwest and was a 2008 finalist for the New Mexico Book Awards.

- Book review by Bud Russo

Visit To San Ildefonso Pueblo

We're at San Ildefonso Pueblo at 9:30 in the morning. It's early and still. No one'sa about. Before we left, we learned many of the women had been rehearsing late the evening before for a ceremonial dance and probably had slept in.

When we think "pueblo," many of us picture Taos with its three and four stories of adobe buildings accessed by ladders. Here there are groupings of modest adobe houses, many of which have wooden sheds with metal roofs. Around the plaza are larger adobe homes -- connected like townhouses. Instead of ladders to the second story, there's a broad staircase. In the plaza there's a large ceremonial kiva. It too has a stairway leading to the roof. Entry into the kiva is by ladder from the roof.

The pueblo sits on a rise of land less than a mile from the Rio Grande. Photos from 1889 show no trees, so the thick bosque of cottonwoods along the river is only a century old -- pretty old for any of us -- and the trees are lofty and wide. Cheryl thought she heard the river babbling but it was only the wind in the dancing leaves of the cottonwood.

The pueblo's church is a replica of the original built in 1620 and destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt 40 years later. The ruin was demolished by a 1910 earthquake. The present church was completed in 1968.

We stopped by the government building where there's a museum featuring the black-on- pottery Maria Martinez made famous. We alswo visited several of the artists in their pottery shops. I was particularly lured toward Adelphia Martinez's shop both by the "Open" sign and the fragrance of bacon her daughter was cooking for the grandkids. Almost everyone we met was gracious and welcoming. But they must sometimes chaff at being the focus of tourists who may not realize this is their home and not some exhibit in a museum.

We met a couple from Japan making a three-week tour of the Southwest. After telling us where they'd been and where they're going, Cheryl mused they'd been more places she has.

Perhaps the highlight of the tour was our visit to the Cottonwood Trading Post, which was a gallery showing pottery, jewelry, paintings, and fiber art of Puebloans, though concentrating on those from San Ildefonso. The artwork is exquisite and I wanted one of each for my home. Too bad for my it's far beyond my budget.

We thought we'd spend maybe an hour but lingered and absorbed the culture of San Ildefonso for three hours.

Posted by Bud Russo

We've arrived in Santa Fe!

We've arrived in Santa Fe and are settled into our condo. Tomorrow we'll begin exploring in earnest, by heading out to see several pueblos near Espanola, the chapel at Chimayo, and Abiquiu. Bud wants to go to Rinconada because he read that an adobe house there - 80 years ago - was adorned with two capstans from Mississippi river boats. If we find them, we'll take a picture and then tell you how Mississippi river boats ended up in northern New Mexico!

At Nambe Pueblo, we hope to see a cascading waterfall. At San Ildefonso, the home of famed potter Maria Martinez, we'll tour the pueblo and see the museum that displays the pottery of Martinez and others. Ohkay Owingeh was the home of Popay, who led the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, and today they have a herd of buffalo at the bison park. But truly, what we want to get a feel for is the uniqueness of each pueblo, the people and the artisans who call them home. We'll be able to tell you more after we've spent time at each tomorrow.

Abiquiu promises a museum of anthropology as well as a museum of paleontology and the Ghost Ranch Piedra Lumbre Education and Visitor Center. South of Abiquiu is the Pashouinge Ruins with vistas of the Chama River Valley.

So, a full day is planned for tomorrow! We'll keep you posted each day on our travels, so keep checking back.

Posted by Cheryl Fallstead
Explore! New Mexico

Thomas' Book Fascinating Look at Southwestern Indian Detours

If you’re as much history buff as I am, you’ll find The Southwestern Indian Detours, a book written by Diane Thomas and published in 1978, a historical treat. Ms. Thomas, a member of the Albuquerque Press Women with a long career writing books and magazine articles before she died in 2008, recounts the history of the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railroad in providing road tours between Las Vegas, NM, and Albuquerque in the late 1920s. The idea was to entice people to leave the trains running to and from Chicago and California to tour the mountains, canyons, pueblos, and Indian ruins in the southern Sangre de Cristo mountains. Tours took patrons to Santa Fe, Taos, and other pueblos. There were also tours based out of Winslow, AZ, to the Grand Canyon and Painted Desert. The book details what life was like for the women tour guides, called Couriers, and the drivers. It looks at the luxurious accommodations and meal services as well as the various cars and buses used. Of course, the Great Depression has its impact, but what ended the Indian Detours, as they were called, was the rise of the family automobile and improvement of highways across the country. The Indian Detours continued after World War II but had faded from their exciting first decades. Ms. Thomas’ book is truly a fascinating read, showing how people in the early part of the last century discovered and thrilled at their Southwestern experiences.

Posted by Bud Russo

Explore! New Mexico