Georgia O'Keeffe: Cerro Pedrenal

On our way to Santa Fe we called in at Abiquiu, where Georgia O'Keefe lived, hoping we might be able to look round her house. It turned out that this is quite a big deal. We first drove into Abiquiu pueblo and quickly realised it wasn't really appropriate for tourists to roam about in; we confined ourselves to photos of the adobe church.

Down the road found the tour office for Georgia O'Keefe house tours and went in asking if we could make a visit. Well, as anyone knows, you have to book in advance to go on n organised tour, only 12 people at a time, and the next available slot would be the following Wednesday, or something like that, so we didn't.

But in Santa Fe we visited the Georgia O'Keefe museum and greatly enjoyed the exhibition of her landscape and other paintings from the area, including this picture of Cerro Pedrenal which we recognised from the day before.

Santa Fe is a truly extraordinary place. For a start, most of the buildings are built of adobe (sand. clay, water etc); also 90% of businesses are art shops or fashionable restaurants; moreover the main focus of the art is native American, and there are many skilled craftsmen and craftswomen who market their wares in the main square. You can buy direct from the traders the same stuff that you can get in the expensive shops.