Hey hey USA - 21st October - evening in Albuquerque

 


It was to be our last evening together and so we went down to the heart of old Albuquerque to explore. We started at the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church, the oldest in the city, it was rebuilt in 1793, probably because it is made from adobe.





The church is right next to the Plaza Vieja where there was a prom event going on and lots of photography of the girls in their finery. Albuquerque is also home to a number of hot rod cars that perform in the streets and attract attention.


There are lots of little shops which looked very good in the mellow evening light.








As the sun was going down we went to see the sculptures outside Albuquerque Museum of Art. They are known as La Jornado and depict Don Juan de Oñate leading the first group of Spanish colonists into New Mexico in 1598. This is obviously a controversial exhibit as Oñate was known to have used cruelty against the native Americans and was actually removed from his office of governor of the area and sent back to Mexico City where he was tried for misuse of power and abuse of the Pueblo Indians.
The memorial was produced in 1998 by a cooperative of artists, Nora Naranjo-Morse, Betty Cabo and Reynaldo "Sonny" Rivera. Cabo and Rivera created La Jornado and Naranjo-Morse, who is Native American an earth sculpture, Numbe Whageh. It was hoped that by juxtaposing the two sculptures that history would be reconciled.






Finally here are a couple of pictures of the house we stayed in in Albuquerque.













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