Health & Fitness
Acequias, Holy Dirt and Green Chile
A Yummish Pilgrimage to New Mexico, on the trail of a Yummish Saint.
Next time you're driving from Albuquerque to Taos, NM, and you see a couple of gabachos standing in the snow on the side of the road, excitedly photographing an ancient irrigation canal, know that John Nichols is to blame.
Though I am a newcomer to the work of this recently canonized Yummish Saint, his 1978 novel “The Magic Journey” is currently tied with Thomas Pynchon's “Gravity's Rainbow” for "Most Mind-blowing Book I've Read." It is the second novel in "The New Mexico Trilogy," which also includes “The Milagro Beanfield War” (on which the Robert Redford film is based) and “The Nirvana Blues.” The Berkeley-born writer has also written about a blue-zillion other books, which I am extremely eager to read.
“The New Mexico” trilogy is remarkable in many ways, not the least of which are the author's brilliantly complex stories and his extraordinary gift for languages and dialects. Even more impressive is Mr. Nichols' approach to writing about poverty and the impoverished. The characters he has created are both admirable and idiotic, virtuous and flawed, extremely clever and utterly clueless – often simultaneously. To read these stories is to understand that there are no “simple” people living “simple” lives, only people struggling to live, and that the struggle can be as ridiculous and hilarious as it is inspiring.
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Based on my extreme enjoyment of these three books (along with the fact that my brother, Fino Chevere, has established a very cozy Yummish Mission in Albuquerque), last November I decided to take a short trip to New Mexico to sample the culture I'd read about, like dipping a tortilla chip in so much spicy salsa.
Except it wasn't salsa.
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It was chile. Green chile. And like so much of New Mexico, it was both different and more compelling than I'd imagined.
I will not even try to sum up the climate, culture, or cuisine of New Mexico. For that, I will direct you to the works of St. John. Instead, I have included some photos from my Pilgrimage to honor this new Yummish Saint.