A theme has emerged since I started doing these Slow Travel Reviews: I need to have less assumptions and be more open, and living in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the month, continued to drive this lesson home. Because Santa Fe is in the Southwest I assumed it was:
- Flat
- Hot
- Void of Trees
I personally find deserts weird and scary being a Georgia girl who grew up surrounded by trees (“What do you mean you can see all the way to the horizon?!? Where is there to run and hide??”…Always gotta be prepared 😉 ).
My partner visited Santa Fe a few years ago on a work trip, loved it and suggested it as one of the places we would live in 2021. Because I am such a chill bro, I agreed 😉 and I discovered that only about half of one of the above assumptions are correct.
When we planned our snowbirding ways for 2021 we decided to move from the Northeast to the Southwest for the fall because it would be hot…right😎? Well, I forgot that elevation exists so while it's sunny in Santa Fe there's a high of 54 today. Oops🤣! #NomadFail #LiveAndLearn pic.twitter.com/64eWaHELuM
— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) October 27, 2021
Santa Fe is pretty flat, but not completely and it is not hot because it sits at 7200 ft elevation 🙂 . I was looking forward to getting my tan on before realizing we’re basically in the sky and that wasn’t really going to happen. Santa Fe also has an abundance of trees, which I was not expecting – they’re everywhere and it’s been wonderful watching fall colors take them over.
Anyway the point is, I don’t know anything about anything 🙂 . And I should stop making assumptions because after thinking I would find Santa Fe freaky, I actually loved living there. Let’s get into why.
Sup Santa Fe? You're pretty 😍 pic.twitter.com/qrEWedJBGZ
— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) November 11, 2021
Walkability
As I’ve mentioned, we do not own a car by choice because I basically hate them 🙂 . Our main mode of transportation is walking and now that more people are vaccinated, we’re more comfortable using public transit and Uber/Lyft. However, living in a walkable city is a must for us overall, and in this category, Santa Fe delivered!
There are sidewalks everywhere in this city and it’s completely walkable – we’ve walked the length of it many times and never had an issue. Most of the city’s population seems to favor cars, which just means more room on the sidewalks for us. Our Airbnb was a 35 minute walk (or a 20 minute run 😉 ) to the very center of town. It was also a 10 minute walk from grocery stores and several lovely parks we loved running through in the mornings.
So despite Santa Fe having a Walk Score of 40/100, we found it completely serviceable….and learned that maybe I should take those scores with a grain of salt going forward.
Me: WOAH! A day pass for the public transit bus in Santa Fe is only $2.
Partner: Oooh let's make it rain! We're gonna get wild!
Me: Hell yeah🙌🏾🚌🙌🏾🚌🙌🏾!!! pic.twitter.com/XjjtGHkxX8— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) October 27, 2021
Inclusivity
As a black woman, I like to play a little game with myself and see how long it takes me to see another black person in a new city. Well, Santa Fe is now the reigning champion of this game: It took me 3 weeks to spot another black person in this city. This was not a surprise after I looked up the demographics of this city.
The racial makeup of Santa Fe is 75% White, 2.5% Native American, 1.9% Asian, 0.4% African American, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 16.9% from other races, and 3.1% from two or more races. And based on my experience, 0.4% sounds about right 🙂 . Despite that, I felt very comfortable living there, going for runs by myself and holding hands with my (white) partner. It’s a very welcoming place to be. And once again, random yard signs don’t necessarily accurately provide an example of how accepting a place is, but I was excited to see these signs everywhere:
I've never seen the "Water is life" addition to these signs before💧. I love it😍! Way to go Santa Fe🙌🏾! pic.twitter.com/brE2zq3MrF
— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) November 6, 2021
Nature
There are also trees and flowers everywhere in Santa Fe and mountains in the distance in most directions. I knew that many people enjoyed hiking around this town, but I had imagined more of a Wild West type landscape – not this Eden 🙂 . The weather in Santa Fe also helped because it was always gorgeous and sunny, there was rarely a cloud in the sky. Also because of its flat nature, it’s easy to watch the sunrise and sunset every day in Santa Fe. This quickly became one of my favorite activities while living there 🙂 .
Why are the sunsets in Santa Fe consistently the best I've ever seen? pic.twitter.com/Pv0VgbvClW
— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) November 15, 2021
Food & Brews
The food in Santa Fe is about what you would expect – full of chilis! We enjoyed getting “Christmas” (green and red chili sauce) on everything and eating all the delicious grub we could get our hands on.
Also I was surprised to see how many local breweries Santa Fe had! Basically all of them were delicious and had some very unique flavors, which are my favorite 🙂 . I like to get weird with it!
Cost
I like to base estimates on solid facts and that’s why I began my retirement calculations by assuming I would continue spending the same amount that I did during my awesome HCOL life in Seattle, which cost $18,000 a year. I then added 11% on top of that amount just in case, to come to a round $20,000 for my annual retirement budget.
This padded assumption also adds another cushion to my plan because most places in the USA and especially the world, are cheaper to live in than Seattle, Washington. Here’s how Santa Fe, NM compares to Seattle:
Lodging
Cost: $1,152.00 each
This sums it up:
Food
Grocery Cost: $121.86
Eating Out Cost: $357.18
As I mentioned above, Santa Fe had some great food, so I’m not surprised by this split between groceries and eating out. I was also keto for about 3/4 weeks we were there and mostly cooked at home during that time. After those weeks I basically just ate out to explore all the Santa Fe cuisine I could.
Alcohol Cost: $141.59
Those breweries know what’s up and my spending is high accordingly 🙂 . No regrets!
Transit
Cost: $57
Santa Fe has a very affordable bus system that we didn’t end up using because everything was walkable and we love walking. We did take a Lyft to the ABQ airport when we left, but besides that and getting a ride into Santa Fe when we arrived, our transit fees were all free thanks to the power of our own legs.
Conclusion
And that’s what I discovered after living in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a month! I continue to be surprised with how happy I can be basically anywhere. I’m such a chill bro now 🙂 . Until next time, this was my Slow Travel Review!
Are there any climates that subverted your expectations?
Santa Fe looks awesome! What a great write-up. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. You seem to find the positives of each place you’ve visited, which is great. And yes, the desert can be surprisingly cold!
It is indeed an awesome city 🙂 . So glad you enjoyed the recap! And haha about the desert – I really do learn something new every day 🙂 .
Great review, I like that slow travel concept but not willing to give up my volunteer gigs to do it. I like being plugged in locally to our community college and to a charitable foundation and that leads to commitments I can’t meet if I’m gone for extended periods. That’s one thing about retirement I didn’t foresee, you have more time to do what you want but you still can’t have everything because some choices preclude others. You seem to be doing it right, though, and it is a lot of fun watching you live your early retirement.
To each their own 🙂 . I’ve been enjoying the freedom the internet gives me to feel connected to places and people all over the place. That’s awesome you have such strong roots! And yeah everything has limitations. Thank you!
Love your review of Sante Fe, its now on my list of places to check out! Walkability is a huge factor and its nice to see that you were able to get around by feet only.
The city looks quite different than Phoenix, which I was expecting it to look like.
It’s a sweet spot 🙂 and yeah it’s nothing like Phoenix (one of my best friends lives there so I’ve gone often).
I’ve been to Santa Fe three times but haven’t been there for a while so it was great to read your experience of living there for a month and reminisce. New Mexico is such a beautiful place and the colors of the mountains always touched my soul. It’s like you can FEEL the history there. I’m so glad you and your partner had a terrific time there and were comfortable (despite the lack of diversity) going around town. It’s cool to have your expectations blown, isn’t it?
It really is a lovely place 🙂 and I do indeed love having my expectations blown!
We’ve never been to Santa Fe. It sounds like Mrs. RB40 would really like it. She loves Tex/Mex food and she likes the dessert. She went to visit Joshua tree last year and really enjoyed it. I’m pretty much okay anywhere too. Maybe I’m just ready to move away from the rainy Pacific NW. Hahaha…
Y’all should visit when you’re back from Thailand! It’s awesome. Joshua tree sounds cool 🙂 and yeah rain is not my thing anymore haha.
Thank you so much for visiting Santa Fe. My home state is New Mexico but I have lived on the East Coast for many years. I had so much fun reading your posts and now feel thoroughly homesick. 🙂 Looking forward to your future travels.
I’m sorry I made you homesick and hope you can get back soon 🙂 . And thank you! I’m glad you liked the post.
I live for these posts. Love following along as you & your partner live your best lives in fun, new places all over the country/world! 🙂
Haha thanks so much!! I’m enjoying it too 😉 .
I’d love to eat my way through Sante Fe. I hear the food is fabulous!
It is indeed fabulous 🙂 . I hope you can make it there soon!
That’s actually super-surprising that Sante Fe is that walkable. I know you’ve come from NYC and so this coming from a former NYC-er I feel like this is quite reasonable. The food looks amazing and I love the desert to be honest (my favorite things to go do in Vegas is visit Valley Of Fire, which is like a long stretch of rocks / dessert — I love looking at the vast expanse of dry rocks and I enjoy the super dry weather. Not to mention the sun, which I am thoroughly missing).
Yeah I was surprised myself (and good to know that my NYC roots help my credibility 😉 ) . The food was indeed amazing and that’s awesome you love the desert – I’m working on my love for it lol. The sun is indeed amazing and Valley of Fire sounds cool!
Do you have any posts on packing or how your stuff is stored, how often you access it, what/how much you bring with you, etc. ? This is one of the things that alludes me as I try to get rid of things I own to go more nomadic! Any tips on downsizing your belongings or what you did or didn’t keep? Just an idea (unless you’ve already posted something like this)!
I don’t (I’m too lazy to do it currently 🙂 ), but Geekstreamers (who commented below) and All Options Considered have some great ones and we have similar stuff. I think I listed out what I brought in an early Retirement Update post, but it wasn’t thorough and didn’t mention how often I use things. As for downsizing, I wrote a post about how I got rid of all my stuff in Seattle before becoming nomadic – just search “Got Rid Of” and it should come up.
So glad to hear that you enjoyed Santa Fe, which we still consider one of our favorite places in the US. And relieved that you found it to be walkable! We have an aversion to walking along long stretches of stroads, which Santa Fe has an abundance of, but they make up for it with all the other amazing things you described. Really enjoy these reviews and looking forward to the next one!
It’s a great one for sure 🙂 . And I’m so glad you enjoyed it – I’ll keep them coming!
Awesome! It’s definitely on my list. My husband is afraid of deserts and heat so I hope I can overcome his perceptions!
I too feel nervous about whether I’ll be welcome in a new town because I’m not white so it’s really helpful to hear your perspective here.
Well tell him from a fellow desert lover that Santa Fe doesn’t look like a desert and at least in November is quite cool (it was 30-50 while we were there). I hope you can convince him 🙂 . It’s a great town. And happy to share those perspectives! I’m so glad they’re helpful.
I used to live in Albuquerque and visited Santa Fe all the time. It’s so beautiful there, I miss the desert and mountain landscapes! If you’re ever back again, get a short Lyft to/from the airport to the ABQ train station (~$10) and take the Railrunner up to Santa Fe. It may take longer but it’s only $9 on top of a very short Lyft. Plus, it’s a double decker train so you can grab a seat on the 2nd level and take in the wonderful scenery.
That’s cool and yeah it’s lovely 🙂 . Thanks so much for the tip! We saw that, but decided to just take a Lyft all that way haha. I’m getting lazy and less budget conscious in my ‘old age’ 😉 . When we go between those for fun instead of the airport though I’ll definitely try it! We love trains and scenery.