Old Mesilla

Here are lots of photos of Old Mesilla New Mexico. The first is the center of the plaza that is like a park with lots of small shops up and down the streets that go by the plaza.

I was there in October and of course there were all kinds of Halloween items for sale as well as Day of the Dead items. Day of the Dead is a big celebration in Mexico. It is to honor the people we have known and loved that have died.

I had to laugh when I saw this sign in a window advertising boots and pecans for sale. It seemed an odd combination. Pecans are one of the main crops in this part of New Mexico and cowboy boots are something that every one seems to want.

Most of these stores are the original building built about 150 years ago when Old Mesilla was a stagecoach stop. Many still have the foot wide adobe walls to protect against Apache attaches and wild cowboys on Saturday nights. This book store still showed the roof made of vegas or logs with straw in between. The top that you can not see is probably more like what we would have on a roof today just for safety and to keep out what little rain there is in this part of New Mexico.

We stopped in one gift shop where my sister knew one of the people that worked there.

Prickly pear cactus

The New Mexico state flower, the yucca.

I was fascinated by all the wooden doors, gates, and windows I saw in the Old Mesilla area.

Some of these building show the adobe walls as the looked then and now. Adobe is a brick made out of the New Mexico caliche soil, straw or some sort of grass like plant mixed with just enough water to make it hold together. In time most adobe will almost melt away and needs to be constantly repaired. Adobe is what the Pueblo Indians used (and still use)to make their villages. Making good adobe bricks is almost a lost art.

The mild weather in this part of New Mexico allows for all kinds of beautiful plants. There are big pots with plants, many blooming in and around all the gift shops and places to eat. Apparently this café had customers pouring their unwanted drinks into the plants. I hope this sign put a stop to it.