Santa Fe makes gypsies of us all, or of those who wish to be fancy free.  You can rent a casita here from $400 a month upwards, depending on your taste and income.  A casita is a small guest house, for visiting family and friends, and for renting for extra income. It can be attached to the main casa, or separate, tucked away on the grounds.  It’s as easy as pie to find one: Craigslist.  I found all mine that way. I shall be moving on April 1st to my sixth casita!  When I inform my friends I’m moving again, they grunt in sympathy, imagining all the packing and boxes… but I have only one large suitcase, along with a couple of Wholefoods bags of grocery items, and can be on the road in a matter of an hour or so. So, the thought of moving is not a nightmare but a new adventure.  I have already lived in and discovered five of Santa Fe’s neighborhoods. Don Gaspar (an upscale residential street in what’s called the South Capitol); downtown Santa Fe (on Chappelle Street, behind the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum); Don Juan Street (a funkier neighbrhood off Agua Fria, down by the Santa Fe river bed; Don Cubero Alley (by Don Diego & Cerrillos and the restaurant Vinaigrette), and for the past five months, in the suburban Casa Alegre neighborhood, just below Osage. My next move is to the Baca Street neighborhood, near Counter Culture Cafe.

Each casita has entranced me: thick rounded adobe walls, sun pouring in windows, native American artifacts, eclectic selections of furnishings, and yards filled with spiny plants capable of resisting drought.  And then there are the neighborhood birds that come and go; the robins, morning doves, the woodpeckers, and the ever-present murder of crows, who register your arrival and crow a coarse greeting as you pass by.  With each move I get to know the local people, the local stores, the sandy paths and short cuts.  I also add to the growing map I have in my mind of this small but oldest of North American capital cities: Santa Fe, holy faith.  I understand more the life of a nomad, the agility necessary to move and adapt, the freedom that comes with frugality and the detachment from one’s belongngs.