A Pedacito of Taos, New Mexico

My husband and I married in 2017, blissfully unaware of the long and arduous visa process we would have to go through. He is a white American, I am a brown Pakistani, never the twain shall meet, at least not until I got an American visa.

I didn’t get my green card until 2019, so we had to spend much of 2018 apart. Both of us were miserable and decided to take vacations to get our minds off of our loneliness. I’ll talk about my vacation in another post, but my husband took a trip to Taos, New Mexico, and completely fell in love with the place.

The Toas skyline looks like a painting

One of his friends needed someone to house-sit for them. Take care of the house, feed the pets, you know how it is. He would send me pictures of the house, the lovely mountains in the distance, and all the beautiful art.

Taos has a thriving art community; lots of painters, sculptors, musicians, writers et al. I was sold. We decided to move to Taos permanently. Unfortunately for us, this was in August 2020, when the pandemic was in full swing and everything was closed.

The most beautiful parts of Taos, The National parks, the Ski Valley, the art galleries, the posh restaurants, were closed off to us. Beggars can’t be choosers, though, we decided to make the most of what we had. So, here’s a list of my favorite things about Taos In The Time Of Corona.

The Architecture

Few places in the entire US have the adobe kind of architecture that New Mexico has, and Taos is full of it. It’s quaint and adorable. Feels homey and welcoming and is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been.

An example of Taos' adobe architecture

Even the gigantic palaces have this adobe style and it’s so pleasing. Some houses have these brilliant contrasts happening with the windows and doors that add an additional interesting element to it.

The buildings of Taos are so eclectic and interesting

The Landscape

I had this idea that Taos was a really dry, barren area. It’s certainly not as green as some parts of California but it has a kind of rustic beauty. The gorgeous mountains in the distance, lovely plants like desert Marigold and Yarrow, add some color to the roadside, it’s really quite picturesque.

A river running through the Taos landscape

Add to this the breezy weather, it snows here and the summers are hot, but even extreme temperatures in Taos are mild when compared to Missouri, where I am from, the weather was definitely a plus for me.

New Mexico looks completely different during the Winter months

The Food

The food in Taos was amazing. Even the cheap food from the fast food places was delicious. The fresh groceries we got from Cid’s would last for days and taste amazing. Everything I cooked there was scrumptious because the core ingredients were of really good quality.

Taos Tap Room made this delicious oven-baked pepperoni pizza that we loved.

We stopped by the Taos Tap Room for a few drinks

The Burger Stand had these really great burgers (my husband is a vegetarian, and they had some really yummy vegetarian options too).

We had some really great burgers at Taos' Burger Stand

Orlando’s was our favorite Mexican place, the food was always so good and the portion sizes were huge!

Orlando's was our favorite Mexican restaurant in Taos

Taos Cow Ice cream had the creamiest ice cream, their coconut ice cream was so good! And as someone who doesn’t usually like coconut flavor in food, that’s really saying something. A few times I got breakfast there too, an Everything Bagel and small coffee, and they were delicious. The ice cream wasn’t the only thing Taos Cow did well.

And we had some fantastic ice cream at Taos Cow

The Shopping

Thrift stores, vintage music shops, farmer’s markets, jewelry, food, Taos had it all. There was this shop called Taos Market which had everything from chutneys and homemade sauces to frozen foods to artisanal cheeses and wines. It was a little treasure trove where you could find anything you’d need to host a great dinner party.

The jewelry store had really unique and gorgeous handmade pieces with valuable stones, I wanted to buy it all. There were some lovely shops selling hand-made rugs and decoration pieces all along the main road.

Downtown Taos has some great shopping

Outside the Taos Inn where we stayed

My trip to Taos was memorable and I really loved it. We will visit again once the pandemic is completely behind us and all the many restaurants, parks, and art galleries open up again.

---

Want to know more? Are you interested in becoming a contributor for Pedacitos? We'd love to hear your stories! Send me a message and I will get back to you!