Shopping in Old Town

I've grown into a whole lot of things in my 42 years of life, but a shopper is not one of those things. My goodness, I got perfectly dizzy going from one store to the next in the Old Town district of Albuquerque today.

Old Town is a relatively short walk from the Hyatt Regency, up Route 66 a mile or two, a collection of touristy shops, art galleries and jewellery vendors surrounding a quaint little square in front of San Felipe de Neri church. It has been a focal point of community life since 1706--can you imagine that?

And while my head was about to explode with seeing the thousands of cheap trinkets mixed in with high end tourist fare, I was absolutely delighted by the welcoming and gracious store keepers. They were good to a fault, each and every one, interested in conversation and completely friendly as I said "Have a great day!" and left their shop without having purchased anything--wonderful people.

I always get overwhelmed with guilt when I am unable or uninterested in buying things. I'm not sure why? I'm also an instinctual shopper, returning to purchase those little things that have some kind of personal connection for me. Today, it was a large ceramic mug with hearts on it--a love mug, handmade by a Mexican artist. I also picked up a bag of pinon coffee, which I will happily brew when I get home, and a few things for the boys.

Just around the corner from Old Town is the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, which I enjoyed tremendously before scooting past the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, through a lovely residential neighborhood with pueblo homes complete with barren looking desert landscaping, around the massive Bernalillo County Court House, through the Civic Plaza and back to the hotel.

March 17, 2010 - weight and body fat% n/a