Touring New Mexico

When Mom came down for Thanksgiving, we visited Abo. It's one of three Salinas Pueblo Missions in central New Mexico. The ruins date back to the 1300s. Fray Francisco Fonte building a small church at Abo in about 1622. In 1629, Francisco de Acevedo enlarged the missionto reflect its importance as the headquaters church of the Salinas district. This church was completed in 1659 and employes buttresses on the 40-foot high walls. It is one of the few remaining examples of medieval architecture in the United States. At Abo, kivas were built in the patios of the conventors. The presence of both Christian and Pueblo sacred buildings and symbols indicates that both belief systems were maintained at the sites.

New Mexico is twice the size of Washington State but has only one-third the number of people. There are lots of wide opens spaces. The documented history here goes back much further
back. The northern part of the state was conquered by the Spanish and people there still feel that the land grants they received from the King of Spain should still be honored.