2 comments about Sabino's Map: Life in Chimayo's Old Plaza.

1. Before reading Sabino's Map: Life in Chimayo's Old Plaza (1995), one should first read Benigna's Chimayo: Cuentos From The Old Plaza (2001), both by Don J Usner. Reading the newer book first will allow for a better understanding and appreciation of the older book.

   Don is an extraordinary writer who is an 8th generation Chimayoso, even though he was not actually raised full time in Chimayo. He brings to his writing a humanity informed and formed through family, place and the cuentos of his grandmother, Benigna, and others.

   This story of the Chimayo Plaza, the oldest Hispanic plaza in the U.S., is the story of Sabino's Map and about the houses and families of the Plaza noted on that map. It is the story of their histories, religions, natural history and the cultural/social history of northern New Mexico over 300 plus years.

   The writer is connected in many ways to his topics in these two books and those connections come through loud and clear by way of excellent writing, which is not very common, and careful scholarship. Don has objectivity with both passion for the subjects and compassion for the people, many to whom he is related, sometimes through more than one branch of the family.

   In the end one has the cuentos of Benigna, the history of the Plaza, the smells of the chiles and old plaza rooms, the feel of the weavings and the living and loving histories of families.

   Did I like these books and will I purchase other books by Don J Usner? You bet.




2. Don J. Usner's love of Chimayo and it's history comes through loud and clear in this book. Through interviews, historical documents preserved by families of Chimayo, stories of residents, and pictures Don Usner is able to tell the history of this interesting plaza.

   I feel that the stories and information in this book serve as an example of each plaza in New Mexico. I believe that many of the plazas and towns are similar to Chimayo. The difference is that Chimayo has preserved it's history through being off the beaten path and not much of a tourist attraction (except for those who are interested in history!)

   I was able to hear Mr. Usner talk to a group of teachers about the writing of this book and his other book. He has gone through a lot of trails to publish this book and preserve the history of Chimayo. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Usner.

   I would buy more books by this author. He able to take a subject that many authors would make dry and uninteresting and make it come alive. Very good.

1 comments about Fodor's Cancun, Cozumel, Yucatan Peninsula 16th ed..

1. Just back from three weeks exploring the Yucatan (I had a Blast!). I took this book and the Lonely Planent guide. Overall I found LP the more usefull of the two, mainly because it had more info on the ruin sites and the little out of the way places. This is not to say Fodors was not helpful, I did like its hotel grading system and the maps. The biggest problem with this guide is it is getting dateed (pub in 2002) and things can change fast in Mexico. If you can get an updated edition I would recomend this guide, in addition to LP's.
   
   Also recommended: iNCICDENTS OF TRAVEL IN YUCATAN

No comments about FODOR-N.MEXICO'91 (Fodor's New Mexico).

No comments about A little journey to New Mexico and Arizona: Strange places and peoples in our southwestern land.

No comments about Neighborhood frontiers: desert country, Puget Sound country, Yucatan Peninsula, Yaqui River, barranca country.

2 comments about My Year of Skiing Dangerously: Taos, New Mexico.

1. If you ski Taos often like I do, you'll recognize the people, the places, the runs he mentions. If not, it's an introduction to the place, you might even consider it a bit of a warning that Taos is a challenging place to ski and a lesson or two isn't out of place once you get there.
   
   Robert Westbrook's short starts slow but then gets into what it is like skiing in Taos, and does so accurately. For 49 cents you get much more than just your money's worth.



2. I know Westbrook from his many mystery tales, and this continues his long tradition of fine writing. In this and his other essays, he adds a sense of humor that is refreshing. Fun read! He shows us the real side of life at a real ski area, Taos Ski Valley. I ski at this big mountain/small resort every week from November into April, and Westbrook captures its essence.

No comments about Only in Santa Fe.

No comments about Baja & Mexico's Pacific Coast's Resorts: Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Manzanillo (Fodor's Baja and Mexico's Pacific Coast Resorts).

No comments about Living In Mexico (Living in).

1 comments about The Road to Mexico (Southwest Center Series).

1. From El Planeta Platica Lawrence Taylor and Maeve Hickey's The Road to Mexico (University of Arizona Press, 1997) offers a delicious narrative and evocative photos on the blue highways stretching from Tucson, Arizona to Magdalena de Kino, Sonora. "The Old Nogales Highway is a road, like the fabled Route 66, shares in an American romance different from that of that of the interstate. Here, the up-to-date sits awkwardly, unstylishly cheek by jowl with the embarrassingly eccentric and the downright ugly." (p. 58) Proving that travel is best enjoyed when it's not rushed, the authors take time to talk to the people who live in the Sonoran Desert. Anthropologist Taylor quotes a wide range of people from American Automobile Association clerks "Lots of cars get stolen down there" to muralists to cattle ranchers. The book finds its voice in this regional chorus and turns its focus on picturesque characters, such as the U.S.-borne mariachi who won't cross the borderline: "Fernando was not about to risk the Mexico of his imagination, of his mariachi, by penetrating that border. He would consider flying over it, landing in the center of the nation, in the Guadalajara of Mariachi Vargas, but Fernando Sanchez was not going to take the road to Mexico." (p. 9)