Green Chiles and Chimeneas

We had only two things on our wishlist when we came to New Mexico: a big bag of green chiles and a few adobe chimeneas for the yard.  Today was supposed to be the day we got both, instead we got other stuff.  The last time we were in New Mexico we found a place that sold outdoor adobe chimeneas for dirt cheap.  These are the same ones that you see in catalogs for $200.  They were selling for around $50 at a place in New Mexico.  Since we were driving home we bought two and seatbelted them into the back of our car for the 2000 mile drive home.  They made it home in one piece but when we got home we wondered why we didn’t get more.  We had the space so we swore the next time we were driving from New Mexico we would buy more.  This was one of the reasons we decided to drive home on this trip rather than fly.  We also love green chile.  Whenever we come to New Mexico we eat as much of it as we can.  Knowing that it was green chile harvesting season our plan was to buy a 50 or so pound bag of them to bring to everyone.  We would be heroes back home.  Everyone would want to see us.  Today was to be the day we got our green chiles and our chimeneas.
Before we got our chiles and chimeneas we first visited Old Mesilla, NM. Old Mesilla is a small town just outside of Las Cruces.  We had been there on just about every trip we have made to New Mexico and El Paso because it is a nice small little town with nice shops and restaurants.  We came back today because it was only about 5 minutes from where we had stayed last night in Las Cruces. Today, being a Tuesday, the place was very quiet.  Usually we go in the evenings or on the weekends when it is much more crowded so practically having the place to ourselves was a nice change.  We browsed some of the shops and ended up tasting some wine.  Once again we bought more than one bottle.  We figure we are driving home so why let all that space in the car go to waste when we can fill it with wine.  

After leaving Old Mesilla we were getting hungry and there were what sounded like really good restaurants around so we went for Mexican food in downtown Las Cruces.  We went to a place called Nopalito which served up some really good green chile salsa along with excellent Mexican food and Horchata.  We were given two different green chile salsas, one of which was much hotter than the other. 

Two different kinds of green chile salsa

After a really good lunch we were ready to head to Hatch, NM, which is the green chile capital of the state, to buy our bag of chiles.  The drive to Hatch was about 35 minutes north on the interstate.  We arrived and were greeted by numerous stores and farm stands selling all kinds of chiles.  The smell in the air was that of roasting chiles and it was truly amazing.  We were going to buy a 50 pound bag to take home but we found out that they would never last 2 weeks.  Our best option would have been to freeze them or eat them fresh within 3 days.  So instead we took some pictures and picked up a brochure which gave us instructions on how to have them shipped to us.   One of the places we took a picture of has a roof covered in red chiles, we thought that was pretty cool.

After leaving Hatch we drove southwest towards Deming, NM.  We were headed out that way to go to a tacky souvenir store we had once stopped at along I-10.  We weren’t going for the souvenirs but instead for some inexpensive Mexican blankets called falsa blankets that we saw the last time we were passing through.  They pretty much sell these all over the place down here but we wanted to take the drive so we came to this place.  We bought several blankets and again hit the road.  

Our next stop was our chimenea guy in El Paso.  Chris had researched the place before we went and learned that they closed at 6 PM.  It was only about 4 and we had less than an hour to drive to get there.  We would have plenty of time to browse and pick up some stuff.  We got there around 5 and after driving around for a little bit because we could not remember exactly where the place was, we found it.  Unfortunately the place was closed.  Not only was it closed, it was out of business.  The large outdoor yard where all of the chimeneas and pottery stuff was kept was empty, gated and locked.  We saw a sign on the fence that teased us:  70% off.  To say we were disappointed was an understatement.  We started driving towards the hotel feeling sorry for ourselves and wondering if we would be able to find another place that sold these things.  About two blocks away we had our answer!  Another place had sprung up just down the road and they were open.  We stopped in, browsed around a little bit, but we were disappointed by the prices.  The lady who apparently owns the place followed us around and she kept telling us that she would make us a deal.  She said the other guy closed because his product was of poor quality while hers was superior.  We didn’t think that justified her prices.  If we wanted to pay over $100 for those things we would buy them back home.  So we left. 

We drove towards the main part of El Paso where we would be staying for the night.  This drive is kind of neat because the interstate passes within about 100 yards of Mexico.  Between the Interstate and Mexico is another highway which we had never taken, probably because we never really knew it was there, plus the interstate is much faster.  Today we took that road and were surprised to see that it came pretty close to Mexico, actually close enough that you could stop and reach through the fence to the other side if you wanted to.  We didn’t stop but we did get a picture of the fence and a second picture of Mexico from a small pull off just down the road.  While the Rio Grande does separate Mexico and the US along this portion of the border, the river does not exactly live up to its name.  It is not grand at all, in fact most times we have come to El Paso it has been shallow and narrow enough that you could walk across almost without getting your feet wet.  We can only assume that the large fence was built along the border at a spot where the river was especially narrow while just down the road the fence was only about 8 feet high with barbed wire running along the top.  The river is probably slightly wider at that spot, or maybe even deeper.  Either way, it was kind of cool being so close to Mexico.  The border here is much more patrolled and protected than it is up north in Canada where we have freely walked across the border without a border patrol agent in sight.  We even visited a library in Vermont that was built ON the border with Canada.  The library has two doors, one which exits into the USA and one which exits into Canada.  Down here there would be no such thing.  You can’t even drive 100 miles away without seeing numerous border patrol vehicles.

Houses on the hill are in Mexico

That's Mexico in the distance.

 After saying good-bye to Mexico we proceeded east on I-10 for a few more miles to our hotel.   The highway here is probably 5 or 6 lanes in each direction and was bumper to bumper packed with cars.  This was a big difference from the open spaces of New Mexico of yesterday.  In fact El Paso and Ciudad Juarez (Mexican city across river from El Paso) have a combined population of over 1.6 million people, which make this quite a busy place.  As we were sitting in traffic Jackie noticed off to the side a place selling outdoor pottery and possibly chimeneas!  We quickly pulled the car off of the next exit, made a U-turn and got off one exit back so we could check this place out.  The owner was locking the gate as we arrived but he let us in to look.  Not only did they have chimeneas, but they had them cheap!  Of course we did not buy any yet because as we were sitting there we wondered to ourselves why the heck we wanted chimeneas.   While Jackie browsed, Chris practiced his Spanish with the owner.  For now we ended up buying a really nice painted sink that will become Chris’s top item on the honey do list.  We will probably return to this guy later in the week for something, we just don’t know what yet.

The sink we bought.

We made two more stops, one at Walmart to get some bubble wrap for our new ceramic sink and also to buy some supplies for the next week.  We also made a quick stop at a Payless shoe store so Chris could get a pair of shoes which we forgot at home. Then we were finally made it to the hotel just after 8.

Today's route