This Day Spa is owned by Valentina, a Native American woman, from the San Felipe Pueblo just 5 miles south of Hacienda Vargas.  Valentina exhibits the grace of her home Pueblo and has integrated it into the pueblo style ambiance of the treatment rooms and retail space.  Valentina says the Spa “has been a labor of love since its inception.”  She fashioned the treatment rooms after her grandparents’  home in the San Felipe Pueblo –Nurturing, Warm and Full of Love!

So, now, we have two more on the calendar . . . .

Are you a victim, an accomplice or a sleuth?   You may be surprised at who you are and what you are capable of!

Our historic chapel is all by candelight and firelight.   The sound of the crackling fire along with the shadows from the candles take you to a place far away that you have never been before. 

With its stained glass windows  and earthen floor, our chapel is perfect for just the couple and their witnesses, or it can accommodate 15 – 20 friends and family.  We’ve hosted a plethora of memorable ceremonies from the most traditional to the truly unique.

A recent wedding in the chapel had 12 people in attendance in the true Southwest tradition, complete with western attire and a sand ceremony to celebrate a new, blended family.  The “icing on the cake,” so to speak, may be a candelight dinner in your suite  if it is just the couple, or a New Mexican dinner specially prepared for your friends and family and served in the La Sala along with an exquisite miniature wedding cake served in the Bay Window Room and a roaring fire in the Kiva fireplace.

After the vows, the couple can retire to their own romantic room complete with double jacuzzi tub and kiva fireplace.  If there are guests, they, too may spend the night in their own room with private entrance, private bath and fireplaces.  Everyone will be treated with a heartwarming, homemade breakfast the following morning.  What an enchanting way to start your new life together!

Hacienda Courtyard in the Fall

One, not very highly publicized, event is this upcoming weekend’s   Placitas Holiday Sale. 

Placitas Holiday Arts and Crafts Sale

The Placitas Holiday Sale is a juried fine arts and crafts sale held every year for the past 28 years, the weekend before Thanksgiving, in the Village of Placitas.  82 of the finest artists and artisans in New Mexico and surrounding western states meet in the quaint, mountain Village of Placitas in three separate locations to show and sale their wares.  There is a wide array of crafts offered, all is handmade and many are items that the artists created just for the holiday season – all at affordable prices.  What’s so special about the three separate locations is that you can drive to all three or you can park your car and enjoy the fresh air by walking the ¾ mile between the three locations.    Placitas HolidaySale Map

Location # 1 is the Anasazi Fields Winery  http://www.anasazifieldswinery.com/ that sits on the western edge of the old village of Placitas.  Its orchards and vineyards surround the winery and are watered by a spring-fed irrigation system that dates back over a thousand years  to a time when the Anasazi people farmed the Placitas Valley.  They hand-craft dry table wines from grapes and other fruits and berries and are famous for their Cranberry wine.  This year, at the Placitas Holiday Sale, the Anasazi Fields Winery will be featuring a new release of their American Cranberry Table Wine and serving cups of hot, mulled cranberry wine. anasazifieldswinery.com.   They will be featuring Little Smokies where they will service salmon on a stick with lettuce and cheese as well as shrimp dogs, shrimp tacos and cheese stuffed bread.

Anasazi Fields Winery in Placitas

Location #2 is the Big Tent on Hwy 165, just east of the Presbyterian Church, the Las Placitas Presbyterian Church (www.lasplacitaschurch.org) which has been serving the Placitas community since 1894 and will be serving their own delicious frozen chile, coffee and handmade Christmas gift bags to benefit Habitat for Humanity right out of the tent.  Then, across the road the Church will be selling homemade food for everyone out of their church kitchen, Chili Pepper Café featuring breakfast burritos, pulled pork sandwiches and more.

Location #3 is the Placitas Elementary School where the 5^th grade parents will be selling hot foods like frito pies, hamburgers, drinks and desserts in addition to all the wonderful arts and crafts ready for you to shop!

The fair is from 10:00a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, November 20 and 21. Located 6 miles east of I-25 on Highway 165 (take exit 242). Colorful signs and banners will mark the way through the scenic hills to the historic village of Placitas.

Hacienda Vargas one of New Mexico’s Bed and Breakfasts, is only 10 minutes from the Placitas Holiday Arts and Crafts Sale.  A perfect weekend might be to spend a night at the Bed and Breakfast  in one of their 7 rooms with your own private entrance, fireplace and jacuzzi tub, have a delicious breakfast in the morning and head out the Placitas Holiday Sale for the day.

One of Hacienda Vargas's 7 rooms

Placitas is Spanish for “little places”, and is a collection of unique communities nestled in the foothills at the north end of the Sandia Mountain range that reaches heights of 11,000 feet.  The Village is located in the center of the 1745 San Antonio de las Huertas land grant and was an early home to Spanish settlers who may have been drawn by the areas of fresh spring waters and fertile soil that remain in use today.  A few miles east of the village of Placitas, just off the dirt portion of Highway 165, is Sandia Man Cave where prehistoric spear points were discovered in 1936 by Dr. Frank Hibben, establishing the presence of man in this area some 12,000 years ago. Placitas is Spanish for “little places”, and is a collection of unique communities nestled in the foothills at the north end of the Sandia Mountain range that reaches heights of 11,000 feet.  The Village is located in the center of the 1745 San Antonio de las Huertas land grant and was an early home to Spanish settlers who may have been drawn by the areas of fresh spring waters and fertile soil that remain in use today.  A few miles east of the village of Placitas, just off the dirt portion of Highway 165, is Sandia Man Cave  where prehistoric spear points were discovered in 1936 by Dr. Frank Hibben, establishing the presence of man in this area some 12,000 years ago.Sandia Man Cave.

Sandia Man Cave

Combine an enchanting day shopping and eating at the Placitas Holiday Sale, maybe hiking to Sandia Man Cave and spending an evening at   Hacienda Vargas and you have sampled some of  the enchantment of New Mexico.

All things enchanting in New Mexico – The Land of Enchantment,

Cynthia