Albuquerque Travel
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center , at 2401 12th St NW, one block north of I-40 (daily 9am5.30pm; $4; tel 505/843-7270 or 1-800/766-4405, www.indianpueblo.org ), is a stunning museum and crafts market owned and run as a cooperative venture by the diverse Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Its horseshoe-shaped design deliberately echoes the architecture of the Ancestral Puebloan city of Pueblo Bonito, in Chaco Canyon, and the central courtyard is the venue for free Pueblo dances, every Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 2pm.
This is New Mexico's one major museum about Native Americans curated by Native Americans, and the displays downstairs have a clear and distinct point of view. The shared Ancestral Puebloan heritage at the root of Pueblo culture is explained in detail, as is the impact of the Spanish conquistadors. Describing the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 as the "first civil war," it states that by allowing the defeated Spaniards to leave unharmed, the Pueblo peoples "showed them more mercy than they showed us." There's also as good an explanation as you're ever likely to get of a topic Pueblo Indians rarely discuss with outsiders: how indigenous Pueblo religion has managed to coexist with imported Catholicism. Videos illustrate modern Pueblo life, and the stores upstairs sell outstanding pottery and jewelry. A good-quality caf serves assorted Pueblo specialties.
Albuquerque
Sprawling at the heart of New Mexico, where the main eastwest road and rail routes cross both the Rio Grande and the old road south to Mexico, ALBUQUERQUE is, with half a million people, the state's only major metropolis. Though many tourists dash straight from the airport up to Santa Fe, without a thought for Albuquerque, the " Duke City " has a good deal going for it. Like Phoenix, it's grown a bit too fast for comfort in the last fifty years, but the original Hispanic settlement is still discernible at its core, and its diverse, cosmopolitan population gives it a rare cultural vibrancy. Even if its architecture is often uninspired, the setting is magnificent, sandwiched between the Rio Grande lined by stately cottonwoods and the dramatic, glowing Sandia Mountains . Specific highlights for visitors include the intact Spanish plaza , the neon-lit Route 66 frontage of Central Avenue and the excellent Indian Pueblo Cultural Center ; while every October Albuquerque hosts the nation's largest hot-air balloon rally, attracting upward of 100,000 people to its mass ascensions.
Sandia Crest
The forested 10,500ft peaks of the Sandia Crest tower over Albuquerque to the east, affording particularly beautiful views from the top at and after sunset, when the city lights sparkle below. In summer it's a good 25F cooler up here than in the valley, and in winter you can go downhill or cross-country skiing (lift tickets $34 per day; tel 505/242-9133). If you don't want to drive the scenic but twisting twenty-mile route from Albuquerque, take the Sandia Peak Tramway (daily: summer 9am10pm; rest of year shorter hours; $15), the world's longest single-span tramway at 2.7 miles; it leaves from the end of Tramway Road at the city's northeast edge.