Truth? Consequences? What's the Difference?

I'll have more to post on Santa Fe in the next couple of days, but it was a great stay. The conference went VERY well, and my paper was VERY well received.

I drove down Truth or Consequences (T or C to the locals, who really HATE the name of their town) on Sunday evening, after gettting a late start from Santa Fe. The drive is, for those who don't like the desert, forgettable. I find it quite soothing, as long as the airconditioner is working. Miles and miles of nothing, broken only by the green ribbon that follows the Rio Grande down into Mexico. It's almost mind numbingly hot and bright here. At 10:00 this morning the temperature was already 90, and it should go up to 97. Of course, as we say, it's "A Dry Heat," and that really does make a difference. Here when you sweat, it evaporates. Here, if you're hot, you go into the shade and cool off. What a concept! The problem is, this is largely a forgotten dusty spot in the road, and there really are few places to get into the shade. The place looks like it has been vacuum-packed, circa 1950, and left to bake in the hot desert sun.

The allure from the past, which the change of name to Truth or Consequences largely cut off, is the hot springs. It was previously known as Hot Springs, NM until Ralph Edwards offered to make an annual visit to whichever town in the US changed its name to match his, then popular game show. After this, the place known for its healing hot springs sort of withered on the vine. Things have been on the upswing, though. For better or worse, artists have discovered the joint, and "A Scene" is starting to develop here. There's an organic grocery store and juice bar, any number of overpriced galleries selling "art," and scores of alternative medicine practitioners (accupuncturists, aura cleansers, shamans, snake oil salesmen and probably a voodoo priestess or two). The hot springs are starting to make a comeback.

The place where I'm staying, La Paloma, formerly the Marshall Baths, is in the midst of a massive renovation. Most of the improvements are largely cosmetic (changing the paint scheme from the rather garish and painful reds of the past, to a "cooler" and more soothing blue palette). The water is still hot (perhaps not quite as scalding in years past, but still comfortable) and it feels particularly good on my poor, ailing tailbone.

So the long and short is, I'm holed up here, getting some reading and writing done, trying to stay out of the sun in the worst hours of the day (like now...although I'm about to go out and buy some organic produce and have my aura cleansed), drinking lots of water, and moving very slowly. Stay tuned.