New Mexico Search

First of all, it's New Mexico and it's not a part of Mexico, it's a part of the good ole' USA since January 6, 1912 (47th state). It belonged to Mexico once upon a time, the time of the Conquistadores, before the Alamo. After that it was part of Texas for awhile, and there are Texans who insist it's really still part of Texas. The contemporary haunt of Texans visiting their once-provence of NM is Red River, a North Central ski town catering to big Texas appetites.

Orginially, though, NM belonged to its Native inhabitants, more recently to the Navajos and the Pueblo Cultures, and in times past it was home to the fabled Anazazi for whom ruins abound, the most notable being Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. We have anthropologists (Sandia Man's bones were found here) and archeologists galore. So what you have now is an ecelctic blend of Anglos, Spainards, and Native Americans (New and Old Mexico types) all of whom peacefully co-exist in this truly enchanting place. And a lot of them visit the beautiful casinos on Pueblo lands (the Navajos refuse to have gambling on their reservation) that feature prime stage acts regularly.

Everyone's heard of Santa Fe and Billy the Kid, probably the best known of NM's features although Albuquerque is the true commerce center of the state and "The Kid" lived long ago during the Lincoln County wars. Appreciated world-wide and visited from everywhere is the Taos Pueblo, still inhabited and lying not far from its tiny name sake town full of artists and over a hundred galleries and, still, Hippies making love not war. Even more well known but only open once a year is the Trinity Site where the first atom bomb was exploded on this earth (regrettably) in 1945, created by the scientific community of Los Alamos, still part of the NM "Research Corridor" which runs North and South in the center of the state. One of Hollywood's favorite locations lies in the middle of the White Sands Proving Grounds at the Southern end of the corridor and not far from the Trinity site: spectacular White Sands National Monument, 60 miles of gypsum sand dunes.

So, employment in this state is very interesting, from making adobe bricks, growing chilis or grapes and distilling dry wines, or being an extra in a movie to the making (and un-making which is currently going on) of hydrogen bombs. That's in addition to the regular stuff that goes on everywhere: construction, service industries, fast food, government jobs, military presence (two Bases in Albuquerque alone and Holloman AFB near Alamogordo which is home to the Stealth Bombers), restaurants, and so forth. Oh and we musn't forget the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) effort at the VLA (Very Large Arrray of radio telescopes featured in the movie "Contact") which of course brings up Roswell NM and its UFO conventions. Something for everyone.