Albuquerque might not be one of the first choices when people plan to travel in the US, but it has plenty of activities, attractions and curiosities that would keep a tourist busy for several days (even the less architecture-interested). Here are some pictures of what I have seen this far…

Dogwood, iris, waterlilies, butterflies at ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden: one and a half miles of paths through formal and whimsical gardens. The Zoo offers close encounters with exotic and native animals, which have been rescued in large part.

Saturday mornings at farmers’ market. A part from the organic food (veggies, fruits, honeys, …) that comes from the farms surrounding the city, has affordable prices and is chemicals-free, the relaxed atmosphere of the place is what struck me most: a country band normally plays at one corner of the park and many families or early morning people come prepared with  sheet to enjoy the pleasant time outside.

I spent an afternoon at Farm & Table, a kind of the italian agriturismo in the North Valley. The organization owns a lush 10 acre farm right in front of the restaurant tables, where many kinds of vegetables, greens and flowers are grown during the whole year, in greenhouses or not. The farm has supplied the restaurant more than 100 tons of food last year to create by scratch their seasonal dishes, while the rest was sold at farmers’ markets in the town. Americans have begun to value food culture?

The Tibetan Lamas of the Drepung Loseling Monastery played traditional Tibetan instruments by the University of New Mexico campus next week, while performing ancient temple music and dance, believed to generate energies conducive to world healing. The monks also created a mandala sand painting, a tool for re-consecrating the Earth and its inhabitants. For a mandala sand painting, millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks. Most sand mandalas are taken apart shortly after their completion, which acts as a metaphor for the impermanence of life. 

Also, three easy mandalas were prepared for the public and the free experience of sand painting, with both its spirituality and painfulness, was something unique. It is up to each one to consider it a touristic attraction or not.

Historic neon signs still glow on old Route 66 through Albuquerque, which is now Central Avenue. Route 66 was first commissioned in 1926, picking up as many bits and pieces of existing road as possible. The first route alignment of 1926-1937 ran north-south through Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Lunas and several Indian reservations: 506 miles of mostly unpaved road. Albuquerque boosters began pushing for a straighter route, and by 1937, the entire route from Chicago to Santa Monica was paved. The new road carried thousands of GI's longing for a better look at America. Today I-40 runs over much of the original roadbed.