A Taos Experience: Part 1

Last night I dreamed about plaster.

Why? Could it be because the last four days have been spent mixing plaster, pouring plaster, slapping plaster on walls, floating the plaster to give it a nice texture, getting plaster up our nostrils, in our hair, on our face, all over our shoes, on our pants and shirts and hats?

I think so! There was a lot of plaster involved in our Taos Habitat for Humanity experience, and a lot of fun too.

We left San Diego around 7 in the morning on the first day of spring break, and arrvied in Albuquerque, New Mexico, around 10:30 that night. Yes, it was a very long road trip indeed. But, for those of you who have dreamed of road-tripping through the United States, after reading On the Road or watching those movies where the cars drive down long, straight desert roads with lonely gas stations on the side, you would have loved this. Except for the fact that there were a lot more cars and buildings than you see in the movies, it was pretty picture perfect. (Think O Brother, Where Art Thou?).

We were told that Taos, our final destination, was high desert, so of course we packed for the desert, not taking much note of the "high" part... Ooops! It was FREEZING. I mean, I wore a singlet, a thermal, a long-sleeved top and two t-shirts and I was still cold outside. It even snowed on our last day, right after we finished work. A miracle and like something out of movie. If it had been any sooner I don't know how we would have handled washing tools and mixing plaster outside; it was cold enough as it was.

But Taos was perhaps the most beautiful small town I've ever been to in my life - Mangatoroto, you have nothing on this!

** See "A Taos Experience: Part 2" for the rest of the story. ** (Go to the "blog" page then click on the dates bar I think?)