Albuquerque part 2

So I've been away in Boston for a writers summit the last few days, thats to come later. I haven't fallen into my usual no blog pattern. Now let me continue with ABQ.

Oscar and Rich were generous enough to let me spend the nights on their hotel room floor. I dropped my stuff off in their room and decided to search for a little adventure. The First bout wasn't starting until 7Pm so I recruited Oscar, Rich and Kyra ( I hope thats spelled right) to go with me to the Sandia Mts. which make a beautiful backdrop for Albuquerque. We headed on the main road in the general direction of the closest mountain. There were houses built up the sides so we ended up driving though a community of pretty adobe houses seeing how far up we could get. When we got to the highest point that was paved we parked the car and went in to the protected area that actually surrounds the peaks. It was a fifteen minute hike to a plateau near the top, along a rough trail. Rich of course was in sandals which made for a funny ascent as some of the ledges were pretty slippery, and he was worried that his open toes would look like tempting baby groundhogs to some famished rattlesnake. We didn't end up seeing any rattlesnakes but we did spot a roadrunner and a wild rabbit which was cool. The mountain was covered in dry grasses and the many small cactus that all had red pear fruit. Every now and then there would be a bush of wild purple sage. It was rocky and narrow but Rich managed his way up to the plateau as did we all. We were all very proud of him. :) The mountain view was indescribable, but let me try any way. Albuquerque lay out from the mountain like a blanket of food. All around us were the peaks of other mountains. In the distance could be seen the faint purple shadows of much higher range, but even from this small peak, for we were only three to five hundred feet higher than the community below, the urban sprawl was evident yet seemed somehow insignificant. No amount of development would overshadow the natural wonder of the mountains. Just like Mt. Fuji and Tokyo,Seattle and Mt.Rainier the Sandia Mountains to a lesser extent, seem to keep Albuquerque humble. Even in this old city where evidence dates settlements nearby as far back as 12,000 years, the mountain remains largely unchanged. Even the encroaching houses look as though they could just be shaken off if the mountain ever decided to get up and move. All in all it was beautiful, and it was great sharing the experience with friends. There was even a funny shot of me holding up Oscar like Simba on Pride Rock, which I will put online soon.
After we climbed back down and Rich sucked the venom from his wounds, we headed over to the venue for the first round of the competition. Louder Arts did really well winning the bout over hometown favorite Albuquerque, but my favorite part of that round would have to be the team from France. This year they had a projector with subtitles so the audience could read along with the French team. Jeannie may say I love everything french, but I was not alone in my admiration of the French teams work. They did very interesting things with images, and language. They were writers first, performers second and I'm really glad I got to hear them. The judges were not so glad, but thats ok as team Louder got the win. The night ended with the usual late night hotel room festivities with talking and drinking and making lots of fun of people (my forte). It went on till about four in the morning when Oscar did a limpia and everybody vanished. Thats where I'll leave it for now.