Earthships, Earth dwellings, 21st Century Taos

Taos is a place that's hard to wrap your mind around. We stayed right in town at the beautiful bed & breakfast inn called the Posada de Taos, with people from as far as Argentina, and as close as Albuquerque. A peaceful, quiet spot, a base to explore bookstores, art galleries, museums, wabi-sabi stores, bombarding our senses from many directions.

Our last night in Taos we spent in the middle of the desert in an Earthship -- the model of sustainability in dwellings, built of recycled tires stuffed with sand, recycled bottles and cans, and finished with adobe. Solar powered, with collected water in cisterns used three times, first for drinking, then washing and plants, then plumbing. We walked the desert that night looking up at the big sky with the designs of Earthships resembling Spaceships more than anything else. The moon was waxing, near full. . . . next stop Santa Fe.