 Adobe buildings / Chilli peppers |
In Santa Fe even the parking stations are built with adobe in the Spanish colonial style.
 In this least American of cities stands the Palace of the Governors, whose metre-thick walls, long galleries, small rooms and secure courtyard mirror its original purpose as the seat of government on a remote frontier.
Once a drain on the Spanish treasury, Santa Fe has become so prosperous that its cost of living deters ordinary New Mexicans. Oozing affluence, holidaying professionals - garbed for their Southwest experience in tasselled leather jackets, freshly-minted, broad-brimmed stetsons, ankle-length coats - promenade around the Plaza, window-shopping for outrageously expensive fashions, arts and crafts.
The visitors parade slowly past the Indian vendors, shrouded in blankets and parkas and nestling under the verandah of the Governors’ Palace, where a tradition of trading under the portal has lasted for centuries. Impassive, copper-brown faces preside over blankets spread with creations in wool and earthenware; belts, buckles, brooches and bracelets.
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