_So you blew all your money on illegal cock fights, genetically enhanced green chile and alcohol. Always with the alcohol, you alcoholic. Anyway, you have to stick around New Mexico for spring break, and you’ll probably try to drink away the pain — again.
We are not here to judge, but offer helpful solutions to your vacation-less plight. Below, you’ll find all kinds of things to make your break suck less:_
_You’re a nature person, which means 95 percent of the
population doesn’t like you. You spend all your time away from society, so here are interesting scenic locations to get your Mother Earth on._
If you like warm water, but can’t get to Cancun, try Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort and Spa. Two hours north of Albuquerque, it offers 10 pools with mineral properties and varying temperatures. The pools remedy ailments. You’ve got the sauna, steam room and a row of hammocks to ensure rejuvenation. Incessant stress and tension are sure to acquiesce to extraordinary bliss that can stay with you for days.
Spring marks the end of winter, which means all that sledding you did in the Sandias is done. Except you didn’t do that, because there was no snow. Mother Nature, however, has heard the plight of desert yetis and offered a comparable substitute. The vast dunes at White Sands, three and a half hours south of Albuquerque, are sledding Shangri-La. Unlike snow, the sand’s friction entails a quest for a mound with an optimal slope. The seeker who succeeds in this quest will be rewarded with a titillating taste of reckless abandon.
You know it’s March if, in taking a short walk, you risk having your hair blown out of its follicles. The galling gales seem to be a malevolent force, harassing anyone who braves the gusts. But you can make the wind your punk by forcing it fly a kite for you. In a week void of obligations, you could make a day trip of showing Mother Nature what’s up. Try the West Mesa because it’s free of obstacles. You could also try Johnson Field, if you want to come to UNM on break, or go hang out by the nearest power lines to electrify your day.
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~Alexandra Swanberg_
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You’re into the less conventional paths life has to offer, and you would be exploring the deepest trenches of the sea this week, but you already blew your money on a telescope looking for Tralfamadorians. In the meantime, satisfy your quest for knowledge and the strange with these events. _
While it’s normally overrun by children who always hog the dam exhibit or legit airplane simulator, Albuquerque’s science center Explora hopes to remedy this problem by offering adults-only night. It’s March 18 and sponsored by 100.3 The Peak. Expect free food, a live band, plenty of hands-on experiments and activities, roof star-gazing and an Albuquerque-driven theme of “local science.”
You can also hit up the National Park Service and Aztec Ruins National Monument if you are more into looking at dead people’s defeated culture while thinking that it’ll never happen to us. That being said, it only costs $5 to get into the park for a week, so you could hypothetically be set for break. What you do there is your own business, and the government’s, but if Native American folklore has taught us anything, you should avoid angering the ghosts of spirits long since passed.
If you prefer a more practical knowledge, hit up the Red Cross Save a Life on Saturday. It takes place at the SUB ballrooms at 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The course is dedicated to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, but don’t fret. It’s free, so that seems like a pretty good reason concerning these courses can get expensive.
_~Chris Quintana and Antonio Sanchez _
You are stuck in New Mexico, but that doesn’t mean you can’t dull your mind with the arts in the meantime. Check out these exhibits, and maybe you’ll see you don’t need New York’s art scene.
If your imagination is the only part of you that’s able to “wander” this spring break, check out artist Archer Dougherty’s “In the Attic” free exhibition at the Matrix Fine Art gallery. Running till March 26, the Matrix Fine Art is displaying Dougherty’s latest solo exhibition, revealing the artist’s latest mixed-media works. “In the Attic” features paintings that highlight the artist’s fondness for the surreal and the fantastic, blending oil and graphite to create dream-like images. Dougherty is a UNM graduate.
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If you won’t be able to travel to India this week, experience the closest thing to the Taj Mahal by visiting Earth Treasures at the Coronado Mall in Albuquerque on March 19 from 11:30 a.m.-7 p.m. for Henna tattoos. For only $5, local Henna artists apply intricate Eastern designs, with tattoos lasting about two to three weeks. Dating back to the Bronze Age, Henna has been used to emphasize luck and beauty in many cultures, with no Henna tattoo being completely alike.
4If you are looking to learn more about the fairer sex this spring break, forget the bikinis and the sun-tan lotion and attend the Cervantes Institute at National Hispanic Cultural Center’s photography exhibit, “Mujeres y Mujeres” (Women & Women). From now to the end of March, visitors may attend the exhibit and see influential Spanish women photographers such as Isabel Muñoz, Gabriela Grech and Beatriz Moreno.
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~Juanita Martinez _
_You like to watch things instead of participating — which is cool. But if you are going to be stuck in New Mexico, you might as well watch something you like. Here’s a good list of things to hit up. _
Even if you can’t get to New Orleans to enjoy Mardi Gras, you at least have the opportunity to be presented with Louisiana at Albuquerque Little Theatre’s production, “Steel Magnolias.” It wraps Sunday. Just remember if you cried watching it at home alone on Lifetime, you are probably going to cry in the theater.
Even if the rest of the world has left you in the dust, Blackout Theatre feels your sorrow and promises to be there for you. Perhaps you even have family visiting you in our tiny desert getaway, young cousins and all. Whatever the case, you have a perfect opportunity to see “The Sparrow’s Daughter: A Cuento,” a New Mexico-influenced Blackout original directed by Heather Yeo. And of course, it wouldn’t be Blackout if they weren’t doing something extra special and crazy. The mystical setting incorporates extensive shadow puppets underlining the ghostly journey of the young protagonist.
If theater isn’t what you’re looking for, that’s cool, too. That’s because Nob Hill’s Guild Cinema would more than happily be your pal and show you all the sweet movies you might miss if you were off doing something cool. Monday and Tuesday mark the showing of “The Kids Are Alright,” the second film in the Guild special on The Who.
_~Graham Gentz
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