What do you love/hate about New Mexico? (Albuquerque, Las Cruces: insurance, homes)

[Trebek]

Originally Posted by CieloAzul70

I just got back from Albuquerque. I had to cut my vacation short because my family started suffering from heat exhaustion. We're from Utah where the climate is similar, but the problem is we were camping out and there isn't a lot of shade. We were camped out in cottonwood trees by the Rio Grande but it still did not shade our tent enough to keep the heat out. Next time I go there I will go at a cooler time of year or stay in a hotel.

I have a family of 6 children (two sets of twins). Some people seemed very put off by us when we would go into a store or restaurant. I don't know what the problem was. This was especially so at the Wal-Mart in Rio Rancho; people there were actually rude to us. We were told that Rio Rancho is mostly people from the Eastern U.S. that have moved to New Mexico.

What we did like is the food was very inexpensive and good. We went up the Sandia Tram and hiked and this was very nice. Most of the people (other than Rio Rancho) were very nice to us. I did not see a lot of poverty or vagabonds in New Mexico. I would really like to go back and take more time to explore. It was very beautiful and I feel bad about cutting it short.

I would recommend that if you go to New Mexico, be prepared for the sun and heat. Put on sunscreen even if you're going out in the sun for 10 minutes. Drink lots of water. Don't take a vehicle that doesn't have AC.

I took my family to Santa Fe last year and noticed the same thing in Walmart. I think it stems from people, who have lived in the area for 400 yearsm who do not like tourists. New England can be like that also. There were a lot of Indians (native Americans but I try not to be politically correct) and they seemed to feel the place was theirs. Funny in Alaska, where there was a much greater percentage of Indians, I didn't feel that way at all.
People just need to lighten up! Damn, we all came from Africa at some point!

Get a walmart shade for the heat. And stay out of south Texas because the humidity will positively kill most Yankees (places where it snows). And we folks down here are polite since the law allows you to carry a gun. Which is the meaning of Southern Hospitality for some reason.

[GregW]

Just think about the fact that us Yankees have to build expensive saunas just to get the same effect as a Las Cruces Wal-Mart parking lot on an August afternoon.

New Mexicans have to build expensive freezers to freeze the applejack when Yankees can just put the jug on the back deck.

[designer]

You really need to drive around the state a little more to see the poverty.
New Mexico is pretty much on a par with some of the deep south states
in poverty except we don't have as many trees to hide all the junk. If you
look close you might notice all the family cars that are now retired or won't
run. NM might be one of the biggest junk collector states and you probably
won't see as many in Santa Fe and Albuquerque because they might have
ordances against that type of thing. The people who have lived in Santa Fe for over 400 years hate everybody who has not lived there for at least
400 years. Don't plan on getting to know those folks real well. For the
vagabond types they are everywhere in this state. The southwest seems
to be a magnet for those types. I guess it's warm and open minded enough
that most people don't even notice or even care. This is a state of drifters
even though most will not go to Santa Fe because they can't afford it. It's
really not that bad once you get used to the wind and dust and yes you will
get used to the weird people who seem to always be in a state of flux.

[Towanda]

I have been visiting Santa Fe and Albuquerque for 37 years (that's nearly all my adult life) .... and I just do not run into rude or unfriendly people (and I am one of those weird "pushy" New Yorkers! )

In fact, the friendliness of the people in New Mexico is one of the reasons I am looking forward to moving there in the next year.

Just a suggestion .... maybe people are as nice to you as you are to them. At least projecting a friendly attitude has always worked for me...and I do not think my experience is all that unusual.

[holmes]

I grew up in southern NM just outside El Paso and can say that NM, as a whole, is definitely one of the most beautiful states in the country. I've also lived in Las Cruces while attending NMSU. As such, I'm much more partial to southern NM than the north. They have some beautiful country up there too, but I don't particularly like the whole santa fe/albq groove. Not my cup of tea. There are some pros/cons to living here as anywhere:

Pros:
- beautiful scenery
- weather
- low cost of living
- being so remote, much of the state is still in an untouched, pristine state
- more liberal, "hippy" state of mind that I like compared to El Paso

Cons:
- very rural outside of Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe & even then,
these are small towns except maybe Albq
- extreme poverty
- alcoholism
- high crime/gangs, particularly in Albq

[newmex]

Get a walmart shade for the heat. And stay out of south Texas because the humidity will positively kill most Yankees (places where it snows). And we folks down here are polite since the law allows you to carry a gun. Which is the meaning of Southern Hospitality for some reason.[/quote]

Yankee?
My relatives had not yet arrived in Ohio when the South was getting a righteous Union skull stomping!

As for the humidity, NE Ohio gets their share of 90+ degree humid days, I drove a FedEx truck in it, NO AIR CONDITIONING unlike what I've seen of the coddled AC 'd FedEx drivers in your woods. I know one thing for sure one northeast Ohio winter would be the death of you. Temperature drops 10 degrees here and people are ready to don parkas (?) I love the weather and the people here in NM, they are friendlier.
Ohio has concealed carry, It doesn't make society any more polite there. You can stop crime with CC which is good, but if someone flips you off and lobs an f-bomb (not polite) in your direction thats no reason to shoot.

[Towanda]

Originally Posted by Trebek

And stay out of south Texas because the humidity will positively kill most Yankees (places where it snows).

Oh please.

I am a Yankee and I lived in south Texas (San Antonio) for nine years from 1970 - 1979. We NEVER turned on our air conditioner while we lived there, and every single Texan we knew would never DREAM of going without A/C in the summer.

Yankees are not quite as weak about heat and humidity as you seem to think.

[Santa Fe Journal]

Sorry I'm a year late, but I totally agree with you. NM has similar problems to the rest of the country, so yes, you have to find your safe, removed little pocket...but it's not difficult. The weather is perfect here and the skies are at times unspeakably beautiful. When we visit anywhere else, we miss the clean and dry air of NM.

[Santa Fe Journal]

And by 'agree with you' I mean Crackerjack.

[designer]

The weather is perfect in San Diego not new mexico unless you like violent
winds and snow and ice. Santa Fe is very nice in the summer and if you like
snow and wind it's probably OK in the winter but I do miss the nice smell of
the pacific ocean. Also the rough roads in Santa Fe are not much to write
home about either. I guess everyone has their own definition of the perfect
place.