So, if all roads lead to Rome—then certainly they must have passed through New Mexico to get there.

Or, maybe it just seems that way.

Many visitors have enjoyed our area, stayed for a while, then traveled onward or stayed to live. The famous and unknown, the genius and the madman, the talented and perhaps the best of liars—have sat near to us, ate in the same restaurants, danced to the same music, and have done business in the same shops that we often visit. It is easy to be hidden here— in this enchanted place.

Intelligent and interesting people have long found comfort in our state and its various environments, thus the tourist industry has always been one of the main sources of our state’s income. It is an easily overlooked commodity—but commercial hospitality like hotels, motels, parks, recreational areas, etc. have greatly contributed to our economy. Too often we bite the hand that feeds us when we complain about tourists under our breath. We need to remember that visitors buy a large portion of our artistic goods, real estate, and various other items produced here.

Having been a hotel desk clerk in my earlier days, I was always bemused by the famous, the not yet famous, and ordinary people I checked in and out. I often overheard guests chatting in the lobby near the check-in desk, in the dining room or heard their discussions  in the bar. Occasionally, I even joined in the conversations.

Although working behind a hotel desk usually means minimum wage and entry-level status, I found a lot of pleasure and experience that no amount of money could ever buy. It teaches one how to care for people. One has to take charge immediately if the manager is unavailable, think quickly on their feet, make fast decisions, and it forces one to balance both the cash register and the books before each shift is over. Do everything quickly, answer the switchboard by the first ring or two, delegate authority, and try to keep everyone happy (both customers and the large staff that a hotel requires). When a guest walks into an establishment, they are to be treated with the utmost care. Guests need good food and drink, a safe and comfortable place to spend the night and an overall pleasurable experience. Like a large family in a big house, the staff (who also need their special type of occasional nurturing) is more like a family—tending to the hotel visitors and guests. It is a great responsibility to keep multiple travelers happy under a hotel roof especially in a job that is all day, every day, 24-hours around the clock. Yes, there are always people working at night, usually general cleaning, providing security, and doing the night audit. The night auditor ensures all the books balance from all sources like the hotel room charges, restaurant charges, bar tabs, other miscellaneous costs and that all charges are correct. This is done late at night when fewer customers are around and hardly any new charges are flying into accountability—a perfect time to balance the books.

I found working in a hotel was almost a glamorous job, meeting people from all over the world. Although I never had enough opportunity or money to travel extensively, I tried not to indulge in any personal pity parties about my circumstances. Instead, I found that I often met up with people from destinations that I would have chosen to visit. What better tourist guides could I have—than the people who had lived and experienced the very geographical areas of interest I had sought in my travel goals? I almost didn’t need to travel because the world was slowly traveling to me in the form of its former occupants—as current hotel guests. So there they were—standing at my check-in desk at the hotel. Eventually, some of them gave me wonderful stories about wonderful things.

So people talk. They talk to me, they talk to each other and sometimes give little care to who listens in public places. Some of the very wisest and most experienced have sat around and discussed their own thoughts and considerations back and forth with others—debating why this works and that doesn’t—lessons from history, social solutions, love, etc.

Brilliant minds are all around us, all you have to do is be quite and listen. I have been an occasional listener to some of these stories and been told other stories by other listeners (meaning of course, second or third hand information). Many guests were fascinating and were not currently known in the general media at the time. Exaggerations and mistakes are always possibilities—both for and against interesting new ideas—but it is important to keep an open mind. The subject matter was awesome and almost unbelievable but it was fascinating! It makes life more deliciously complex and detailed. As time moved on, I have found that the subject material discussed is just now being seriously considered— all from long-ago conversations I once heard.

For an example, I will relate one theory I once heard.

Moses and Akhenaten were probably one and the same person. Akhenaten (the Heretic King) was the father of the famous King Tut, of the tomb discovered by Howard Carter in 1915 in Egypt. This is the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who appeared to have an unusually elongated head, an extended abdomen and spindly arms and legs. Much of early life this Pharaoh seems to closely match the life of a young Moses. It appears that some are questioning the dates that these men both existed but science is nothing if it not constantly correcting or fine tuning itself. Dating things from the past has always been a little tricky, even for the experts.

Unlike those before, both Moses and Akhenaten were monotheists (belief in only one God). Although Akhenaten is said to worship the Sun as God, perhaps there is a nuance in translation that has a slight variation of meaning—not yet discovered? Moses was once a Prince of Egypt. Afterwards, he departed Egypt to lead his people in the Exodus and thus no mummy has yet been found for Akhenaten. As a young prince, Moses may have been allowed a privileged access to the secrets of Egyptian priests and their knowledge banks. The performance of the many unexplained feats of Moses might be partially explained by his early access to secret technologies hidden from the common population.

Some scholars claim the Exodus never happened because no records of ancient history exist that record the large and massive group of people moving around near Egypt. Why wouldn’t this massive group of people have been recorded in any history?

As a side-note, famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud was also convinced that Akhenaten and Moses were exactly the same person.

If there is truth to this possibility, it should not shake anyone’s faith— in any degree. Beloved Moses was the Law-Giver whose principles we continue to cherish in our society. However, it could mean that we would have more information of Moses than ever before, rounding out the religious figure to deeper depth and understanding.

Here in New Mexico we have several sites that have the Ten Commandments inscribed onto rock walls. These sites have been dated by experts to have been created more that 2,500 years ago. It might sound odd, but some think that a lost tribe of Israel (or their descendants) could have been in North America thousands of years ago. Several years ago, an Egyptian mummy was found to have cocaine and tobacco in her system. Wouldn’t this indicate ancient trade with the Americas not previously thought possible?

Possibilities of ancient Egyptian influence in North America are slowly coming to light. Curiously, some of the names of certain fish and equipment around and near the Mississippi River have the same names as fish and fishing implements found in ancient Egypt along the Nile.

G.E. Kincade was employed as a scout for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. He was assigned to some unrelated tracking near the Grand Canyon. As reported in the “Arizona Gazette” on April 5, 1909, (on what might have been a busman’s holiday) he took a water trip in a lesser-traveled area in the Grand Canyon and found a hole in a rock wall opening. After some labor, he reached the hole and found it led into a cave system with a hidden tomb that held several Egyptian artifacts, mummies, and even more curious—a statue of what seemed to be Buddha. The story continues that when Kincade found the trove, he alerted the Smithsonian Institute about his find. When members of the Smithsonian arrived, they took all the artifacts from the cave system and were never heard from again. Unfortunately, Mr. Kincade was bewildered at all the unanswered questions and lack of further investigation from his employer. Eventually, Mr. Kincade also disappeared.

It is possible that any ancient people who could move huge stones to build the large and precisely accurate pyramids (things we still can’t fully duplicate today), could do many things that we moderns cannot even begin to imagine. This would include extremely long distance travel by foot or other primitive methods, settlements on distant foreign soils, and deeper ship navigation into North America. Waterways and rivers were probably much deeper and more navigational than in our modern times, providing deeper accessibility to the interior lands. Earth’s land masses continue to change and perhaps ancient travelers had certain advantages that we (in the modern world) can no longer see or access.

History has been telling us for a long time that the populations were smaller in ancient times, yet were are beginning to hear that populations of South American were much higher than previously thought. Perhaps we might eventually find that North America also once had huge populations and masses of people in certain locations. Who knows who all our visitors (and possible ancestors) have been?

Beneath the ground we walk on—so much more may be waiting to be discovered . . .

Mural painted the the hallway of Loretto Academy High School. I understand it was maybe moved to a morada in Ojo Caliente,NM. If anyone has seen it please take pictures of it to see how it compares.  I’m glad they didn’t destroy it when they tore the school down to build the hotel. 

This is our 8 th grade graduation pictures at Loretto Academy on the famous spiral staircase. I wanted to make sure that it was preserved in history. I’ve also posted this on You Know Your Old School Santa Fe. I know it’s a repeat but hate to lose it.

Bottom Left: Yolanda Olivas, Debbie Seligman, Yvonne Lopez, Pam Munn, Christine Lacey, Bobbie Ortiz Y Pino, Ellena Sandoval Margie Baca, Martha Romero ,Judy Surber, Roberta Nolasco, Linda Chavez. 

First spiral: Anna Mae Gonzales, Gracie Gallegos, Yolanda Delgado,Liz Romero, Karen (Bunny)Mcdonald ,.........., Debbie Alleman. 

Top spiral: Paula Mackel, Anita Lockwood, Edith Thayer,Patty Chiffoni, Dolores Maes ?,Carmilla Duran.

Top of choir loft: Kathy Brainerd, Mazie Vigil, Judith Quintana, Connie Tsosie ,Diane Villanueva ,Sharon Jolly. 

Sorry if I misspelled anyone's name. Maybe someone can help me fill in the blanks.