"La Jornada"

Our first day in Albuquerque. We headed first for the Old town, and after getting some information from the Visitor Center, we went to see the old church on the Plaza, San Felipe de Neri. The original church was started in 1706 under the direction of Fray Manuel Moreno, a Franciscan priest who came to Albuquerque with 30 families from Bernalillo in 1704 or 1705. During the very rainy summer of 1792, the old church collapsed. The present-day church was constructed the following year. This church, in the shape of a cross, was constructed of adobe with walls 5 feet thick.

We then moved on to the Museum of Art and History. Around the museum is a wonderful sculpture garden. My blip is a part of the multi-figure La Jornada, depicting the epic journey of the first European settlers in the Southwest. On January 26 1598, Governor Juan de Onate left Santa Barbara in present-day Chihuahua, Mexico, leading an expedition bound for New Mexico. He was accompanied by Mexican Indian allies, Franciscan friars and almost 600 settlers, driving thousands of sheep, pigs, goats, cattle, mules and horses. The Journey lasted 7 months. On July 4 1598, over 75 miles in advance of the wagon train, Onate and 60 horsemen reached San Juan Pueblo. By mid August, the rest of the founding settlers of New Mexico arrived with 61 carretas (wagons). The sculptures were created by two artists, Reynaldo "Sonny" Rivera and Betty Sabo.

Having explored the sculpture garden and most of the interior, we returned to the plaza area for lunch. When we had first arrived in the plaza in the morning we saw that it was full of booths set up for something. We discovered at the Visitor Center it was for the Salsa Fiesta, where many entrants prepare their special recipes for Salsa, and then at 4.30 in the afternoon the public gets a chance to taste them and vote. There was also live music in several venues. So after lunch we returned to the museum to finish that off, then listened to some of the music - a group of Latin American origins - they were really great - and by then it was time to taste the salsa. We only got around about a third of the booths, as by that time, our mouths were so hot with the spices, we couldnt take any more! We went for a nice cold beer then went for a short walk by the Rio Grande.