Name: A Local's Guide To Must-See New Mexico | Best In Travel 2023
Uploaded: 2025-06-17T17:19:02.000Z
Duration: 6 min 50 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Welcome to the land of enchantment, New Mexico!

I'm a Native American hoop dancer from Ocayawingue Pueblo of the eight northern pueblos of New Mexico.

He is a Native American jeweler and co-founder of the Lightning Boy Foundation.

I've performed around the world and toured with Cirque du Soleil, but this indigenous land under the open turquoise skies of New Mexico is my home.

I'm proud to live on the land of my ancestors and carry on our culture.

Let me take you on a journey through my ancestral lands and home state to learn more about our history, art, and culture.

What I love about New Mexico is the way the clouds move across our big, open skies, the way the desert rain gives the land a sweet, earthy smell, and our breathtaking sunsets with our cotton candy clouds.

New Mexico is a cultural place with strong Spanish and Native American influences.

The original name of Santa Fe is Oga Puge Owingue, which means the White Shell Place.

One important part of our history is the connection to the earth and to this land.

We use her to plant our seeds to sustain our livelihood.

We also use Mother Earth to build our Pueblo homes.

Sharing Bandelier with you is really exciting for me because it is a strong piece of our history.

Behind me are the cliff dwellings created by the Anasazi people, which my ancestors descended from.

There are 19 different indigenous Pueblos in New Mexico.

The term Pueblo comes from the Spanish word for village.

The small cluster of adobe homes can still be seen today, and there are a few Pueblos you can still visit, including here in Taos.

Check out this thousand-year-old village that's a UNESCO site.

And the reason you see ladders is because the original entrances to these houses were through the ceiling.

Just be respectful. Remember, you're not allowed to film without permission.

El Santuario de Chemao is a Roman Catholic church, but it's long been a place for those seeking spiritual and physical healing.

For generations, people have come here to rub the tierra bendita, or holy dirt, from a small pit inside the church on their ailments.

Another healing spot, the natural hot springs of Ojo Caliente.

More than 140 years old, this is one of the oldest known health resorts in the United States.

These are sacred springs to the Pueblo people.

Come here to soothe your tired body and soul.

Alright, let's talk about art in New Mexico.

Painting, pottery, drawing, music, dance.

In Santa Fe, the galleries and art museums are located in the same places that Native Americans have made and sold their art for generations.

Then head to Museum Hill, where you can check out historical works at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.

It's a great place to learn about the history of the Pueblo people.

For more modern works, visit the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.

I love their exhibit on indigenous fashion.

Some of my favorite indigenous designers are showing their work here right now.

Look how stunning and intricate these are.

And this is one of my other favorite designers, Xoxo Esquerra.

And I can't talk about indigenous fashion without mentioning Jamie Okuma.

Speaking of contemporary arts, take your art experience to another dimension by grabbing a ticket to Meow Wolf's original immersive art installation.

In this bizarre and beloved attraction, you're encouraged to touch, open, and even crawl through all the art to fully appreciate this multisensory experience.

This is really wild, guys. Things here are not what they seem.

You can easily just open up a fridge and walk into another dimension.

We are people of the earth. We derive from the earth.

We believe we came to this present world through an opening in the sky, through the earth.

This stunning landscape has been the backdrop to major Hollywood movies like City Slickers, Magnificent Seven, and Indiana Jones.

Go on a horseback ride and star in a western of your own.

Look at these painted deserts. How beautiful.

The legendary landscapes of New Mexico has inspired artists from the ancient Anasazi to modern masters like Georgia O'Keeffe.

The best way to see the land is up in the air.

It's a beautiful morning. We always greet the sun with our breath.

To be able to be up here and look out upon my ancestral tablelands is very special to me.

You can see the mountains that we're looking at and it's just so heartwarming because I know that my ancestors roamed here.

I love New Mexico so much because of the cultural influence.

To be able to represent my people through sharing hoop dancing,

I just feel so blessed because I feel like we're such a unique group of people.

I'm honored to share my land and culture with you and hope that you're inspired to visit New Mexico.

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