December 31st, 2005
Another Thing To Love About ABQ
So these are the Sandias. Aren’t they amazing? “Sandia” means “watermelon” in Spanish and they’re called that because they turn the most flamboyant shade of pink at sunset. The mountains north of Santa Fe are called “Sangre de Cristos” for the same reason, though I like the idea of watermelon much better, thank you very much. In Tiwa these mountains are called Bien Mur, “big mountain.” In Tewa they’re called Oku Pin, “turtle mountain” (my personal favorite). The Navajo name for the mountains means “revolving (in a horizontal plane) mountains,” according to Albuquerque: A Guide to Its Geology and Culture. I find it totally fascinating to contemplate the way of perceiving the world the Navajo name reflects. I also find the mountains themselves fascinating; the four layers of limestone on top (which look like dark green smudges in this photo, because they support vegetation) are called The Great Unconformity. Isn’t that cool? The Great Unconformity. Just what we should all aspire to be, in my humble opinion. And okay, how about that sky? I totally didn’t retouch this photo at all. It really looks like that. I don’t ever want to take for granted the fact that you can’t go anywhere in this city without a view of these mountains to the east. They’re an omnipresent reminder of the existence of wildness, no matter how much the tarmac and the SUVs might try to make us forget.
