Red Cows and Herrings

We are in Santa Fe, a city much smaller than we envisioned. Nevertheless, it is the biggest we have seen in New Mexico. In fact, we have not seen many people or towns since we arrived a week ago. It seems a great number of people remained in ‘Old Mexico’ or have emigrated to Arizona and California. The city is filled with art, artists, galleries and restaurants. Outside the city, there are mountains, trees, lakes and rivers. It is a nice combination, something for everyone or at least for us.
Today our editor chose a hike that culminates at Lake Nambe just short of seven miles, but rated strenuous by the experts. The climb, in the beginning and for the last half-mile, was so steep it meant that we gained elevation at a rate of about 1800 feet per mile over those parts. This is serious stuff. I felt so bad for our editor. She is no longer a young woman and the climb must have been exhausting. However, she is showing a ‘lot of guts’. We attribute this to eating too well on the trail. It seems the ‘thin air’ at 12,000 feet is not working for her.
Last Shabbos, we read about the red heifer. Here you read about the ‘red herring’. The former is about truth, the latter is a decoy, a ‘fishy story’. It is how our editor’s other-half (me) hides the truth. Today, our editor was in outstanding form. Her courage and tenacity to ‘mow-down ‘those mountains took me by surprise. She was awesome and more. Unfortunately, I spent too much time whining about the trail. Whatever I wrote in the previous paragraph was with a ‘forked-tongue’ or I should write, ‘a twisted keyboard’. She outlasted me hands-down, her ‘flat-tummy’ included.
We discussed the problems of the trail. Last week we mentioned that the ‘New Mexicans’ do not grasp the concept of ‘switch-backs’. We don’t know whether it is because they don’t like the double-S shape or they are in a hurry to finish the job. Whatever it is, we find the trail is brutal in places. It has stones, soil and rocks and goes straight up. Each step has to be thought through carefully. They also don’t make bridges to cross the streams. However, we are not unreasonable hikers; we make our own plans for crossing water. Our other problem is that the upper thigh is strained. We cannot understand the reason for this. What have we done that could possibly cause injury? We think maybe while driving the car, we pushed the accelerator down too quickly. Who knows?
When we reached the summit finally—it seemed to be a moving target—we spent time admiring the beautiful surround and small lake. I repeat. It is beautiful. One achieves a state of mind that is difficult to explain or comprehend. Much of the time, we feel completely isolated ; there is usually no human around for miles. It is almost like being lost ‘in the middle of nowhere’.
In order to cross the lake and sit in the sun, we had to negotiate the water and ‘the bog’. Some people find this word distasteful. We promise you, walking in it is far less pleasant. Since we began traveling, we have been working on our language skills. We find we are now multilingual. Depending on our mood, we may refer to it as Ha’bog if we wish to speak Hebrew or Le Bog, De Bog, El Bog, Der Bog—it doesn’t matter, it’s all the same to us.
It was a wonderful afternoon of climbing and whining—we find whining is good for one, but unfortunately, only for the whiner. We hope to be better tomorrow…but there’s a lot to be said for a ‘good whine’.