We have travelled to New Mexico many times. We love visiting favorite places like Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos but on this trip we discovered new less populated areas and in these less commercial places you can find the old New Mexico.

LOS CERRILLOS Even though we have visited this little town several times it never ceases to amaze me how instantly one is transported back in time. It is one of those small towns that still have the ambience of days gone by. Cerrillos means little hills. In the 1600s Spanish cattle ranchers settled in the area. Sadly, the Spaniards forced the Native American Indians to work the Mina del Tiro Mine for silver until the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Miners followed in the 1800s finding gold, silver, lead, zinc, and turquoise from the soil. The town grew rapidly with the railroad’s arrival in 1880. The town was laid out by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1880, and the same year, a post office was established. Seeing this abandoned ghost town now, it is hard to believe that this once bustling town was considered to be the capital of New Mexico. Around 3,000 prospectors , 21 saloons, five brothels, four hotels, and several newspapers in the city.

Today, you can still see many buildings from older times. Dirt roads and a few remaining buildings on Front Street resemble Old Western movie sets. In fact, they have been used for many movies like The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca, Young Guns, Young Guns II, and Vampires were made there, as well as John Wayne’s 1972 movie, The Cowboys, filmed just north of the town. You can still buy turquoise mined in Cerrillos at the Casa Grande Trading Post and Mining museum which host a wide array of curiosities. There is even a little petting zoo. The Saint Joseph Church, built in 1922, still holds mass every Sunday.

For more information see: https://www.cerrillosnewmexico.com/cerrillos-historical-society

MADRID: Found along the “Turquoise Trail” Rt. 14. A very short distance from Albuquerque but so different from it’s commercial neighbor. Once a company coal mining town until 1955 when the mine shut down never to re-open. Madrid became another ghost town. In the 1970’s, poor artists started to come to the area and have certainly left their bohemian creative mark. Shopping is a great pastime in Madrid as there are many different kinds of shops that will please the masses.

I have never eaten in the the Mine Shaft Tavern, which serves typical bar food or the Hollar preferring the little coffee shop, The Java Junction to grab a sandwich croissant and coffee. I recently learned there is a famous chocolate shop in the Gypsy Plaza called Shugarman’s Little Chocolate Shop. https://www.shugarmanschocolate.com/our-story I can’t believe I didn’t sniff out the chocolate before but I won’t miss it next time. I understand even the late, great chef Anthony Bourdain visited there.

VILLENUEVA is a new place for us. We stayed at Villanueva State Park. Such a lovely place to stay. It is situated right on the Pecos River.

While there we visited the town. In the center of town is The Villanueva General Store tagged “New Mexico’s Biggest Small Store” The owner is Danny Torez. We enjoyed talking with him and listening to his many stories of travel. Such an interesting and well traveled man.

“Villanueva, an old Spanish colonial village located along the Pecos river in New Mexico’s San Miguel County, was originally called La Cuesta (Spanish for hill or slope) because the village sits on top of a steeply sloping hill or cuesta in the Pecos Valley. Soon after the Spanish Government approved the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant in 1794, settlements were established along the banks of the Pecos River, such as Bernal, El Pueblo, Entrnosa, Guzano, La Cuesta, Las Mulas, Puertecito, San Jose, San Miguel. In 1890, the community was renamed to Villanueva, for a prominent local family.”

I highly recommend camping at this sweet little park. We only paid $10 per night. We put out our solar panels and had access to electricity charging our Jazztek, which is a lithium battery. I managed to get one little study in wish we could have stayed a longer.