Fiesta!

My sister Susan and I attended Santa Fe, New Mexico's annual fiesta this past weekend, which took place in and around that city's famous plaza. This fiesta's origins go back to September of 1712, mandated by proclamation to take place every year to celebrate the reconquest by the Spanish of New Mexico from the Pueblo people, after the Pueblo Revolt of 1690. As you can imagine, there has been controversy surrounding the reasons for holding this fiesta over the years, but last weekend everyone just wanted to have fun and enjoy the festivities. Because Susan has had trouble walking as of late, Sunday morning, after breakfast at The Pantry Rio, we traversed the short distance to the Santa Fe Plaza, sat on a bench, did a lot of people-watching, and just enjoyed the pleasant weather while waiting for the annual parade to begin. And that is exactly what the locals were doing, too, many bringing their own chairs, visiting with friends and family members. The parade began around 1:00, led by mounted police and quickly followed by those conquistadors, who evidently still exist and hang out in Santa Fe these days, as seen in the photograph above. In the background, by the way, is the Palace of the Governors, which was built in 1610, no less. Now THAT is old, at least here in the U.S. I know there are a lot of places much older in Europe, of course. The UK even has pubs that old or older, many still populated by the original patrons, as far as I could tell when visiting there years ago. No doubt some sort of miracle.