New Mexico

New Mexico is known as the Land of Enchantment. Not just any location is entitled to this sobriquet, so let's check out New Mexico's qualifications and see how it adds up on the enchantment scale.

New Mexico is known widely for a major UFO incident – the famous July 3, 1947 reported UFO crash incident in Roswell. (And for Roswellians being such good sports about it, and opening the International UFO Museum and Research Center in their town, they get a bonus enchantment point.)

Hundreds of years ago, the area was home to communities of pueblo-dwellers, the Anasazi, of whom much speculation has been made. The Anasazi item provides two points towards enchantment status – one for being an intriguing, ancient, advanced civilization, and one for disappearing under mysterious circumstances around 1200CE.

The state has a spectacular landscape, set in six of the seven North American ecological life zones. Such a combination of high mountains, volcanic cones, valleys, lakes, rivers, forests, and deserts with breathtaking canyons and mesas must constitute an enchanting mélange. Further, some say that the mountains and valleys contain powerful energy vortexes. And who could pass up a chance to see the Carlsbad Caverns, with one of the world's largest underground chambers – even though they are home to 300,000 Mexican free-tail bats.

It contains secret atomic test sites, which are mysterious enough!

Some people practice the traditional Native/Mexican healing tradition Curanderismo (to learn more, read Heart Heals Heart) along with modern medicine.

It's lovely, adobe-style capital, Santa Fe, has the oldest church in North America.

Additional bonus point awarded for the great name Albuquerque.

Albuquerque hosts the Hatch Chile Festival – and when the chili is hot and spicy enough, it's a truly mystical experience and sometimes you swear you can see through time.

Well, New Mexico, consider me enchanted.

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