Fishing, Santa Fe and Zozobra!!

Just to bring you all up-to-date before we get back to work, we have spent the  last six days, resting and relaxing, fishing on the San Juan river, visiting our friends in beautiful Santa Fe and enjoying the sights and sounds of fiesta!

Our R&R began with two fabulous days spent on the San Juan river, in the 'Four Corners' area of the US, just below the Navaho dam. This beautiful stretch of river travels through deep canyons, alongside sloping sandy shores, and provides some of the finest fly fishing available in the US. The river is rich in both Rainbow and the wild Brown trout as well as providing an ideal habit for Blue heron, osprey, beaver, and hundreds of migrating swallows. Tony and I were lucky enough to have a great guide called Don who was a mine of information on the locality and its wildlife, and helped us improve our fly fishing skills no end. We both caught lots of Rainbow and Brown trout, all of which were returned carefully and safely to the river, as the stretch of the river we fished is all "catch & release".  

I was pretty pleased, as my duff knee, stood up to the two long days balancing in the boat pretty well, and I think it is finally on the mend. From the San Juan, we travelled further South to Santa Fe through wilderness land rich in wild flowers such as the lovely yellow Chamisa. 

 The landscape was spectacular, huge flat plains dotted with Desert Sage bushes, with massive backdrops of rich red and volcanic black cliffs.

 We were spending a couple of days with our friend William Prull.  Will is a custom builder whose homes have won numberous awards in Santa Fe, whilst we were there we had the good fortune to be able to see one of the homes he has just completed, which was absolutely stunning. Tony and I always say that if we ever win the lottery we will ask him to build us our dream home.

So, who or what is Zozobra I hear you ask? Well, whilst spending the evening with Will we saw one of the highlights of the Fiesta de Santa Fe which this year is celebrating it's 100 years anniversary. The fiesta marks the "peaceful " reconquest of New Mexico in 1692 by the Spanish! We had been given a brief history on Zozobra " Old Man Gloom", but nothing could have prepared us for the sight that greeted us when we saw the huge 60 ft high marionette of Zozobra.

2011 marks the 86 th burning of Old Man Gloom who, this year, had rust coloured cuffs, a bow tie, purple hair and turquoise eyes!   The local newspaper the New Mexican commented that "with his shoulders hunched, his bottom lip protruding and his long arms drooping nearly to the ground with Goth- like black fingernails, Zozobra looked more depressed than usual"

If I understand  correctly, the Zozobra figure is made and then stuffed full of pieces of paper on which people have written down all their negative thoughts, so that when he is later burned,  all the years gloom will be doomed and destroyed!   25,000 people packed the nearby park and watched as Zozobra was tormented by Fire Dancers and Gloomies whilst fireworks exploded around the park . Then  the giant figure started to moan, it was an incredible spectacle, with the moans getting louder and louder and more tormented!  The announcement was made that Zozobra was to be executed, at which point fire exploded from his mouth, and sparks erupted from his fingers, the moans became more agonised as the giant figure burned. It reminded me of the English tradition of burning an effigy of Guy Falkes on November the 5th, but this was definitely more pagan.  

The event was a great way to complete our brief visit to our favourite town, we were due to move out early next day, to start our 700 mile drive to Las Vegas. But that is another story.

 On the way to Santa Fe