Taos and Taos Pueblo

We arrived really late to a campground in between Santa Fe and Taos, and since they didn't take reservations all we could do was hope that there was a spot for our van somewhere. Since we were really tired from the long drive and all the adventures of the day it didn't help that the first thing we see when we turn into the campground is a sign that says "CAMPGROUND FULL". Just great! But we still decided to have a drive around the campground to make sure the sign was telling the truth. And good thing we did because there was a big space left and the campground host assured us it was free. Since it was already pitch black outside, and a million bugs flying around the place, it took us a while to set up the bed and go to sleep. The next morning our neighbors in the campsite, a group of six people in their 40's to 60's all living in huge motorhomes, invited us for coffee and breakfast. They were a really nice and funny bunch of people and they asked us lots of questions about our trip. We stayed for probably 3 hours before we said we had to head off since we had a long drive that day. I really regret not taking any pictures of these people though!

On our way to Taos we first took a short drive to a nearby lake where people were swimming and fishing. On the road we met a crazy guy holding on to the front of a Jeep and a big blow-up mattress tight in his grip. We thought it was weird that he didn't hold on to the back of the Jeep instead, since he could easily fall under it if he fell off. Oh well, let idiots be idiots, right? Arriving in Taos, and after finding a parking space (would prove to be very difficult), we had a little stroll around the city. It is very similar to Santa Fe but smaller and some houses are newer (but still old). After a while we decided to head to Taos pueblo, another Indian reservation, just a short drive from downtown Taos (or so we thought). We punched in the name in our GPS and started driving. After a while it told us to turn into a small dirt road. We got a bit suspicious but thought that maybe it's just a short-cut and it won't be a dirt road for long. It got worse. The road did get bigger though, but the dirt road got even dirtier and bumpier, and civilization seemed to be miles away. There where beer cans lying by the side of the road and we thought it was only a matter of time before we reached a hillbilly town and couldn't get out of there. After a while though the GPS told us we had reached our destination on the right, and looking to our right all we could see was grass and trees. We looked at the GPS again to make sure we actually punched in the right place. And it turned out we hadn't. There were two options of Taos Pueblo on the GPS and we punched in the one that was apparently the center of a town (not much of a center however), and not the tourist destination. So we punched in the tourist destination and the GPS told us it was just a couple of minutes further up the road, so it turned out we were heading in the right direction but we just took a longer route. A lot longer. Anyhow, at least we reached our destination. This village was similar to the Acoma Pueblo that we had seen a couple of days before and it was just as amazing. There were lots of stray dogs walking around the place and it was really windy, which meant we were covered in sand by the time we left. The rest of the day was spent driving for six hours before we checked in at a hotel in Farmington, on our way towards the second to last state - Arizona.