ART DESTINATION: Cultural Gallup in Remote New Mexico

By Jorge R. Jefferds May 20, 2020

Gallup offers an astonishing and unparalleled variety of high quality turquoise and silver jewelry, paintings, murals, pottery and sculptures, rugs and blankets, Kachina dolls and other Native American arts and crafts. This town is the Indian jewelry capital of the world; wares produced in their community supply the art markets of Santa Fe and San Francisco. As the gateway to the Native American culture, Gallup affords easy access to visit Zuni Pueblo and the Navajo Nation. You might experience authentic traditional nightly dances right in Gallup, all of them performed by a variety of area tribes, with traditional drum, rattle and flute instruments.

Hopi katsina figures, also known as Kachina dolls, are figures carved, typically from cottonwood root, by Hopi people to instruct young girls and new brides about katsinas or katsinam, the immortal beings that bring rain, control other aspects of the natural world and society, and act as messengers between humans and the spirit world.

A View of Gallup Downtown

The Gallup area is home to over 1,000 Native American Artisans creating unique works in jewelry, pottery, basket weaving, rug weavings, sculptures, unique textiles, paintings, and more.

Founded in 1881 as a headquarters for the southern transcontinental rail route, Gallup has become the gateway to the Native American cultural experience and a center for Native American arts. Visit the local museums to learn more about Gallup history, Native American art & culture as well as the Navajo Code Talkers.

Main Entrance to the Gallup Cultural Center

The Gallup Cultural Center was created in 1996 at the newly renovated Santa Fe Depot by the Southwest Indian Foundation. The concept for the Cultural Center is modeled on the Public Square, where the community, school children and visitors can gather together for forums, lectures and to celebrate the extraordinarily diverse heritages of our region.

The exhibits at the museum of the Gallup Cultural Center (located on the 2nd floor of the building- the Storytellers Museum) showcase the museum’s traditional approach to the interpretation of Native American Arts & Culture. Developed through active partnership between Native and non-Native people, the museum's exhibits convey the message that Indian cultures are complex diverse, steeped in Tradition and very much alive. There are also unique train models for the public that give a sense of Gallup's rich train history.

The Gallup Cultural Center is now home to Gallup's Navajo Code Talker Exhibit.

The Red Rock State Park

Several archeological sites here record the presence of the Ancestral Puebloans, a prehistoric farming culture that developed and thrived in the area from 300 to 1200 CE.  From 1700 to the present, members of the Navajo tribe have sparsely inhabited the region.

Through interpretive exhibits, the Red Rock Museum chronicles the lives and culture of the Ancestral Puebloans as well as the present-day Zuni, Hopi and Navajo.

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The Museum houses permanent displays of Kachinas, pottery, rugs, silver, and turquoise as well as traveling art exhibits.  Museum hours are 8:30-4:30 Monday-Friday and by appointment.

Directions to the museum are not difficult to follow. As you come from I-40 East, take exit 33 and proceed west on the frontage road for 4.5 miles. Follow signs into Red Rock Park. The museum is located west of the Convention Center main doors next to the office. If, on the contrary, you come from I-40 West, then take exit 26 and proceed east on NM 118 for 2 miles. Follow signs into Red Rock Park. The museum is located west of the Convention Center main doors next to the office. Do you use a GPS? Set the address 825 Outlaw Road, but once in the park follow the left road at the fork, not the right. 825 Outlaw Road is located inside the Campground area, and the museum is on the other road.

Sign of the Rex Historical Museum

Explore Gallup’s rich and colorful heritage at the Rex Museum. Get a sense of Gallup’s rich and colorful heritage at the Rex Museum. Once a brothel and later a grocery, the museum building houses exhibits detailing a wide swath of local history, exploring the culture of the area’s earliest inhabitants, mining and railroad activities through to present-day Gallup. Researchers will find a number of important historical resources including an inventory of the graves at Hillcrest Cemetery, photographs, newspapers, artifacts and books about Gallup’s past. The Rex Museum is located at 300 West Historic U.S. Highway 66 at the intersection of Route 66 and Third Street. Their phone number is (505) 863-1363 or you can contact them via email. The attraction is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.

Gallup at Night

Gallup is accessible by automobile, rail, and bus transportation. Although there is no scheduled service at this time, the city also operates the municipal airport. There are several local and regional bus transportation providers:

Gallup Express provides local transportation in Gallup and Zuni, as well as intercity service between the two towns. Navajo Transit provides regional transportation within the Navajo Nation. Greyhound provides intercity transportation. The local Greyhound station is located at the Route 66 Mini Mart at 3060 West Highway 66. Amtrak provides daily service from Gallup to the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, Albuquerque and other destinations via Amtrak's Southwest Chief. The station is located in the Gallup Cultural Center at 201 East Highway 66. Gallup lies along U.S. Interstate 40, one of the major transcontinental East-West thoroughfares, between Albuquerque, NM and Flagstaff, AZ. U.S. Highway 491 (north) and N.M. Highway 602 (south) provide additional access to the Gallup area. As reference, Albuquerque is located 136 miles east of Gallup or about 4 hours of drive.

  

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CITY DESTINATION: Helsinki's Espa

By Jorge Jefferds May 14th., 2020

The popular Esplanade Park, fondly referred to as “Espa” among locals, is the most famous park in Finland and the green heart of Helsinki. People come here to see and be seen, to listen to music and watch performances, and to enjoy picnics. Originally, the principle architect of Helsinki Carl Ludvig Engel designed the park in an area of low-lying wetland. Locals referred the eastern portion (Chapel Esplanade) to as “Small Calf Hook” and the central and western portions (Runeberg Esplanade and Theatre Esplanade) as “Large Calf Hook”. The foul smelling Kluuvi Bay (Kluuvinlahti) extended southwards almost to the Esplanade, so the authorities required a lot of landfill to construct the park in the 1850s.

The Esplanade Park

Esplanade Park was designed as a green promenade in the Continental style. The more pragmatic reason for the tree-lined alleys was to promote fire safety; wooden buildings still predominated in the city, despite the growing number of stone buildings.

The park features an architectonic style with its straight tree-lined alleys and flowerbeds. The rows of linden trees on either side of the park create a hall-like space. Svante Olsson (1856–1941), Helsinki’s first City Gardener, also influenced in the design of the park. Furthermore, landscape architect Leena Iisakkila designed the most recent renovation in 1998.

One of the most historic restaurants in Helsinki is the Chapel Esplanade. Kappeli was designed by architect Hampus Dahlström (1829–1882) and built in 1867. According to a legend, the name of the restaurant originally referred to a booth from which a local “shepherd” boy (“pastor” in Latin) used to sell milk and which was affectionately known as “The Chapel”. This was followed by another “chapel” in the shape of a lofty building used by the confectioner Jerngren to sell pastries and lemonade in the 1840s. It seemed natural, therefore, to christen the new restaurant Kappeli. A public toilet can be found at one end of the restaurant.

The Chapel Esplanade

Opposite to Kappeli is Espa Stage, which hosts the longest festival of music in Finland each year from the beginning of May to the end of August. Each summer around 200 artists and groups perform on the stage. The program is organized by the Cultural Office of the City of Helsinki. The current stage was built in the 1930s; the original stage was considerably more decorative.

On either side of the stage there is a pool with interesting sculptures commissioned from Viktor Jansson (1886–1958) in 1939 and unveiled in 1942. Water Nymphs depicts a mermaid and child playing with a fish; the mermaid was modeled on the sculptor’s daughter Tove Jansson (1914–2001), world-famous creator of the Moomins. Hey There (Hi) depicts a small boy playing with a fish.

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The pools are lined by perennials, such as moon lilies and exotic lilies of the Nile that spend the winter in greenhouses. Audiences listening to the performance on Espa Stage can also enjoy the summer flowers in the large flower pots.


The open-air café next to the stage is open in summertime and also sells tickets for sightseeing tours departing from Fabianinkatu next to the park. In the center section of Esplanade Park, roses blossom among the trimmed cotoneaster shrubs. As you get close to the statue of J. L. Runeberg in early June, you will be able to notice the beautiful flowering crab apple trees (Malus Nipissing) on the northern side of the park. The statue is circled by columnar aspen trees, and laburnum bushes with exotic golden flower clusters also growing on the lawns.

The Pool with a Water Nymph

An impressive flowerbed surrounds the statue of Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804–1877), Finland’s national poet and author of the Finnish national anthem. The flowerbed is replanted three times a year: Pre-grown bulbs are planted after the May Day celebrations; colorful summer flowers are planted before the Midsummer holidays; and heather and conifer plants are introduced in autumn. During wintertime the large trees are brightly illuminated.

The statue of Johan Ludvig Runeberg was the first public monument erected in Helsinki. The unveiling occurred on May 6th., 1885, exactly eight years after the death of the poet, and turned a major event attended by the cream of society plus 20,000 other patriotic Finns. The memorial committee was appointed by the Estates and headed by the author Zacharias Topelius (1818–1898). Local residents lit candles in the windows as a sign of patriotism, beginning a tradition that continues to this day on Independence Day (6 December).

Johan Ludvig Runeberg Memorial

The poet’s son Walter Runeberg (1838–1920) commissioned the memorial. On the pedestal of the eight-meter-high statue stands the Maiden of Finland wrapped in a bearskin. In her right hand she has a laurel wreath, and a pile of Runeberg’s books lies by her feet. In her left hand she is holding a tablet with the words of the first and last two stanzas of the Finnish national anthem in Swedish. On the side of the memorial is the inscription “Suomen kansa maamme laulajalle – Af Finlands Folk” (“From the Finnish people to the Singer of our Nation”). Runeberg’s name does not appear anywhere on the memorial, as it was considered self-evident. The statue remains popular among the locals, and it’s a convenient place to arrange to meet.

Runeberg Esplanade also contains the park’s four historic kiosks. The decorative wooden kiosks on the southern side were built in 1893 and 1909, while the functionalist kiosks on the northern side were designed in 1928 by City Architect Gunnar Taucher (1886–1941).

Close-up of a Wooden Kiosk

The park benches were designed in connection with the renovation of the park in 1998, as were the black 120-liter garbage bins with the city’s coat of arms. The lamps are also new but based on a historic model.

The western section of the park is dominated by the restaurant Teatteri and Svenska Teatern (the Swedish Theater, familiarly known as “Svenska”). The theater was designed by Professor Nikolai Benois (1813–1898), the court architect of Tsar Nicholas I, and completed in autumn 1866. The building was modernized and expanded in 1935–1936 under the direction of the architects Eero Saarinen (1910–1961) and Jarl Eklund (1876–1962). The architects left the heart of the theater, the original beautiful red and gold auditorium, almost untouched. The most recent renovation was completed in 2012.

Fact and Fable Statue

The park at this end is more shaded than the rest of the Esplanade, making it a pleasant place to sit on hot days. The old horse chestnut tree blossoms beautifully in early June. Rhododendrons, hydrangeas and seasonal plants flower next to the restaurant’s terrace.

Two memorials can be found in Theater Esplanade. The first is to the author, journalist and historian Zacharias Topelius (1818–1898), the man behind the memorial to his friend Johan Ludvig Runeberg. When the memorial project began in the 1920s, the trend favored symbolism over exact likenesses. The design competition organized in 1928 by the Society of Swedish Literature (Svenska Litteratursällskapet) was one by the sculptor Gunnar Finne (1886–1952). Fact and Fable was unveiled in 1932, 34 years after the death of Topelius.

Eino Leino Memorial Statue

The second memorial is to the great Finnish poet and journalist Eino Leino (1878–1926), the first writer to use the Finnish language fluently for all artistic purposes. The memorial was designed by the sculptor Lauri Leppänen (1895–1977), a personal friend of Eino Leino. The Eino Leino Society, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the publishing company Otava organized a competition for a memorial to Eino Leino in 1948. The final round of the competition was held in 1951 and won by Leppänen. The memorial to Eino Leino was unveiled in 1953, 27 years after the death of the poet.

In 1999 the first “Helsinki model” City-WC was opened in Theater Esplanade. The public toilet was designed by the architect Juhani Vainio from the Public Works Department of the City of Helsinki and manufactured in Sweden. The toilet has two parts: a larger pay section with a toilet, sink and changing table for babies that is accessible also by wheelchairs, and a free-of-charge pissoir that was later converted for use also by women. The City-WC is cleaned once a day.

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ADVENTURE DESTINATION: Paradisaical Madeira

By Jorge Jefferds May 8th., 2020

Madeira is an archipelago located in the North Atlantic Ocean 430 miles west of the Morocco coastline. Access to the islands is through two major airports from Lisbon and from 30 other important European hubs. Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport and Porto Santo Airport are settled on the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo, respectively. Transportation between the two main islands is by plane, or ferries from the Porto Santo Line, the latter also carrying vehicles.

Upon the arrival, a recommendation is to rent a car if you want to spend the entire time visiting the island and the trip will last for a couple of days. Hertz, Rodavante and Sixt will be looking forward to welcoming you with their best offers and vehicles.

Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport

Madeira is famous for its laurel woodland, mild and sub-tropical climate, Mediterranean summer droughts and winter rain; in fact, there are several micro climates as courtesy of changes in the mountainous elevations. Only the Madeira Island, which is your final destination in this article, is at the top of a massive shield volcano that rises about 12,000 feet from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. It formed atop an east-west rift in the oceanic crust along the African plate. This process began during the Miocene epoch over five million years ago and continued through the Pleistocene era until about 700,000 years ago.

Following an extensive erosion, the volcano produced two large amphitheaters open to the south central part of the island. Researchers recorded the most recent volcanic eruptions with a date of about 6,500 years ago.

Pico Ruivo (Redheaded Peak)

From the airport, your vehicle will take you along via VE1 to an excellent place to explore the magnificence of this volcano. In about 40 minutes, you will be in Pico Ruivo (Redheaded Peak). Actually, it is the time to drive to the parking lot at the Pico das Pedras State Forrest. From there, be ready for an exciting hike experience. This is an excursion you have to make leaving the hotel early morning if you plan on doing this only for a day.

  

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There are no roads to Pico Ruivo, but levadas. The island of Madeira is wet in the northwest, but dry in the southeast. In the 16th century, Portuguese colonists started the construction of aqueducts or levadas in their language in order to carry water to the agricultural regions of the south. Madeira is very mountainous, for building the levadas became difficult. As a result, they often pushed convicts and slaves against the rigorous work. Many are cut into the sides of mountains, and it was necessary to dig 25 miles of tunnels, some of which are still accessible.

Levadas

Today the levadas supply not only water to the southern parts of the island, but also provide hydro-electric power. There are over 1,350 miles of levadas and they administer a network of walking paths. Some give easy and relaxing walks through the countryside, but others are narrow, crumbling ledges where a slip could result in serious injury or death. Since 2011, some improvements have been made to these pathways, after the 2010 Madeira floods and mudslides on the Island, to clean and reconstruct some critical parts of the island, including the levadas. Such improvements involved the continuous maintenance of the water streams, cementing the trails, and positioning safety fences on dangerous paths.

The Laurel Forrest of Madeira

Two of the most popular levadas to hike are the Levada do Caldeirão Verde and the Levada do Caldeirão do Inferno, which should not be attempted by hikers prone to vertigo or without torches and helmets. The Levada do Caniçal is a much easier walk, running 11.4 km (7.1 mi) from Maroços to the Caniçal Tunnel. It is known as the mimosa levada, because "mimosa" trees, (the colloquial name for invasive acacia) are found all along the route. If your excursion turns out to be longer than a day, you might consider to stay in one of the two nearby hotels: Destination Madere, located on the west side of Pico Ruivo or if you can make it to your vehicle in the parking lot, there is another lodging place called Lua de Mel, only if you want to stay for another day in this beautiful spot of Madeira Island.

Pico das Pedras State Forrest

Hopefully, you will enjoy this trip. Always remember to check with airlines if they are having regular flights during COVID-19. Also, verify availability with hotels and even entrance regulations to the parks.