When I reached Taos during the Memorial Day weekend, I was extremely shocked to see congested traffic in the town because of many tourists; I was really worried that my visit to Taos Pueblo will be ruined with chaos of sightseers. However, when I reached Taos Pueblo area, the road become dirt and the whole area were obscured by small sandstorm. When I managed to reach the car park outside the village, I was surprised that the car park was almost empty! After waited inside the car until the sandstorm gone, I got out and met by the guards who told me to buy ticket at the office opposite the village main entrance. After paid $16 I got a pamphlet which has small history of Taos Puebla and village map, no ticket or inspection at the entrance.

According to the pamphlet, Taos Puebla, the Place of the Red Willows, is the oldest continuously inhabited community in USA and the first living World Heritage Site. Judging from the old buildings I saw, I was quite understood why they claimed to be the oldest, but to be the first living WHS was really questionable since I did not understand what that means. The first thing I saw was the ruin of San Geronimo destroyed by US army in 1847 and cemetery showing that this place was not a peaceful village throughout the history. Then I saw the current San Geronimo Chapel, the church was fine, but I think it was too different from the other part of village. I crossed the Red Willow Creek that separated the village. It was interesting to find out that the level of water was actually higher than normal ground and small dike was needed to protect the village. I walked around the south Pueblo, that some adobe had been converted to local art shops, the buildings in this area were quite bit decayed. Then I crossed the creek again to northern side. This area has the best-preserved pueblo and the one that looked really complex with three floors adobe, and in my opinion the most beautiful and photogenic one. Sadly, that many areas in the village were closed to the public especially the sacred kiva. I continued my walked and saw many abandoned houses and some already collapsed.

Before I left the village, I decided to try local bakery because I saw many mud adobe ovens in the village, and really tempted to try its baked bread and puffs. With surprised the bakery product were very good deserved its price. I asked the baker who also made wooden fridge magnet for souvenirs about the ingredient and found that he used local organic berries from nearby mountain. I spend 1.5 hours in Taos Pueblo and really enjoyed the place. The village was really unique and well preserved. The most stunning thing was that the place still retained the feeling of authentic village, not an open-air museum. I felt a little bit awkward to be in some area as I felt that I may disrupt local privacy. All in all, Taos Pueblo was a nice place to visit and the one of the most interesting cultural World Heritage sites of USA.