Lodging in or very near Ojo Caliente: (note: there are no lodging options in close walking distance to where classes are held, since the Great Hall of Bolad’s Kitchen has been finished enough to work in and we will be holding classes there. People car-pool, for the sake of the air and the ground, for friendliness’ sake, and because the space available for parking requests it. Information about car pooling for first session students will be sent to you before you arrive for the December session.)

Owl Peak Pottery and Bed & Breakfast
Felipe Ortega
(505) 583-2345
japacheraven@netscape.net

Felipe is a master potter and friend who has a wonderful B&B in La Madera about 5 miles north/west of Ojo Caliente and maybe 9 miles north of the school (you would need your own car, or better yet, carpool—this works quite smoothly as you will see after a few days here). Felipe is a wonderful host and a great cook who will feed you until you pop, which means, at least three meals a day. Truly a northern New Mexico house in the old New Mexico style (not dissimilar to a traditional French auberge): rooms have two to four beds (and though you could PERHAPS request and pay for a room alone you then might not only displace others who may need those beds during school sessions but also forfeit a great gift of sinking fully and deeply into the community living style of such traditional places.) Many of the most delectable meals are cooked in the horno (the great outdoor clay ovens) and for that reason alone (although the sweetness of time unwinding slowly is another) meals are not on a strict time-table, and the guests respect that (are even blessed by it). Usually the price for the full 10 days with three meals a day runs $600 with many possibilities for just lodging and just meals and also meals if you are staying elsewhere in town. Please call Felipe for prices and availability.
 
Because Felipe is such a friend to the school and because his large family seems to own many of the houses in the little town of La Madera, there are also several casitas belonging to family members which can be rented by groups of students. These are wonderful and much-loved houses, not “rental cottages”, often houses of a relative which the family retains and makes use of from time to time, so you will most often be staying in a home filled with love and many mementos, to be honored accordingly. Current students have enjoyed the sweetness, delight, communal style, convenience and relative inexpensiveness of these rentals. You can either do your own cooking or just breakfast and sign up for meals at Felipe’s for lunches and dinners – all the time, or occasionally. Contacts for these rentals are made (at least initially) through Felipe.
 
In the warmer months, there is also camping available at Felipe’s. You can speak with him in December regarding June reservations for camping spaces.
 


The Inn and Mercantile at Ojo Caliente
www.ojocaliente.com
(505) 583 9131

Across the street from the Santa Cruz Church, on the road to the Hot Springs, 4 miles or so north of the school. A very nice and friendly little inn owned by a local family. In the past, if Bolad’s Kitchen students have been the sole guests in residence, the inn has allowed them use of the kitchen for cooking lunches and dinners. They are offering us a very good rate for the 10 days:
 
1.) $625 (@$700 including tax) for a single, with breakfast everyday included in the price
2.) $750 (@ $830 including tax) for a double, with breakfast everyday (this is a great deal at $37.50 a person/night)
 

La Lomita Motel
(505) 583-2109

 La Lomita is an old fashion motor inn on the main drag across the street from the road to the Hot Springs, 4 miles or north of the school. (On HWY 285-– a two lane highway with some truck traffic) A clean, funky and friendly place, with nice places to sit in back. There are many cabins with kitchens, some without. All have their own bathroom. Pet friendly. Prices are somewhat flexible – perhaps $1000 for three people ($333 per person) for ten days in a cabin with a kitchen, more like $800 for a single.

Black Mesa Bed & Breakfast
Mesa Prieta/Ojo Caliente, New Mexico
(505) 583-2545

A small B&B (two to three bedrooms) 4-5 miles south of the school. Lovely funky, immaculate, much-loved and beautifully-decorated rooms with their own bath and a shared living area. They will do a package for 10 days, includes wonderful breakfast happily tailored to your eating needs—whatever they are! They have a private bathhouse and soaking pool. Very nice people. Dinners also available. Call for prices.

Bob Hiland's
(505) 583-2600 

He has newly and most beautifully renovated the old original trading post – just across the street from Oliver’s Store on Highway 585, 3-4 miles north of the school; several bedrooms (all with more than one bed and hopefully to be shared rather than taken by a single person) all have a private entrance and bath and share a kitchen. There is also a casita soon to open. Bolad’s Kitchen students who’ve used this since it opened this spring have loved it.

The Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Spa Lodging Options
www.ojocalientespa.com
(505) 583-2233 or 1-800-222-9162

Hotel rooms, cottages and houses 4 miles or so from the school. Price range about $90-$150/night for hotel rooms and cottages depending on single or double occupancy and seasonal rates, call for prices on houses.

Camping $20-$25/night per person on the river, under the cottonwoods.

RV sites and hook-up (water and electric) $30 night for double occupancy, more for more people. (Some tenting students share an RV site and bring tiny portable heaters as well as an electric light to hang in their tent.) Campfires aren’t permitted at the Hot Springs.

To use the hot springs and showers, RV site and tent users get a cut daily rate (anywhere from $8-$11 per day) or you can buy a package -- $99 for ten days. Prices do change, so check their web-site for accurate information.

 
abiquiu vacation homes
www.abiquiuvacationhomes.com

Really nice folks, you can look up their casitas on their web-site. These are the ones closest to the school: La Lomita, Casa De Los Palacios, Casa Ambrosia, El Rito Retreat, River Farm Guest Cabin, Medanales Mesa Retreat (some within 5 minutes, some more like 30 minutes)

Carson National Forest Camping: www.fs.fed.us/r3/carson
Or call the El Rito Ranger Station at (505) 583-4554

If (and only if) there are no forest fire restrictions, you can camp almost anywhere in the Carson National Forrest- they have maps at their web site. The El Rito Creek campgrounds and the Pilar campgrounds are the closest semi-developed campgrounds (with composting toilets and grills– no hook-ups) about 20-30 miles away (maybe 40 minutes or less. If you look at a map, you can find all the other non-developed areas of Carson National Forrest near Ojo Caliente. I also hear the BLM is giving out 11 day camping permits to our students, you can find more information at their web site.
 
 

---

Lodging not far but not quite so near:

Abiquiu Inn and Hotel
Abiquiu, New Mexico
(505) 685-4378

Located just below the old Abiquiu pueblo, along the Chama River, about 45 truly beautiful minutes from Ojo Caliente, shorter if you drive fast. Prices range from $80-$145/night, some with full kitchens and living rooms others small private casitas or just a room. Weekly rates are available. They have a restaurant that is open breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nice grounds.

The Inn at the Delta
Española, New Mexico
(505) 753-9466
 
Located in Española, New Mexico right off of Hwy 285-84 about 20-25 minutes from Ojo Caliente. A privately owned Inn in the heart of Española (the main small city of Northern New Mexico, not a flashy town!) which is a direct run to Ojo Caliente, only one turn…Rooms range from $100-$150/night all rooms are 600-700 square feet with a kiva fireplace and Jacuzzi tub, most rooms are queen beds, prices are for two people- no cooking facilities, continental breakfast included.

 
Casa Del Rio Bed and Breakfast
Chile, New Mexico
(505) 753-2035

A nice B&B right on the Chama River, at the turn off of 285/84, about 20 minutes from Ojo Caliente. Old adobe house with two rooms at $110/night and a private casita at $135/night both include a full breakfast and a wake-up tray of coffee or tea. Lowest price: $100 May think of doing a deal for the whole 10-day sessions-please call.


Days Inn
Española, New Mexico
(505) 747-1242

Like all the other ones: $69/night for two or three people. 20 minute drive to Ojo Caliente.

---

Places in Taos, New Mexico

Taos is an hour to an hour and 15 min. commute from Ojo Caliente, if you are going to commute from Santa Fe or Taos they are equal distances from us, but Taos is a nicer, quieter city. There are 100’s of hotels, inns, B&Bs and hostels. Please visit the Taos website for details and choices:
http://www.taoschamber.com/
or call (505) 758-3873

Taos B&B association: (505) 758-4747

---

  
RESTAURANTS AND GROCERY SHOPPING
 

There are three to four restaurants (depending on the season) within walking distance of La Lomita, The Mercantile, The Hot Springs and Bob Hiland’s place opposite Oliver’s Store: La Mesita and El Taquito Cafe are friendly family run New Mexican-style restaurants which serve enchiladas, burritos, tacos, burgers, pasole (some days), and lots of chile; some fish and vegetarian options as well, pretty well rounded menus. The Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs’ Artesian Restaurant  has a friendly staff and a “nouvelle New Mexican” menu plus really good hamburgers and is open for breakfast/lunch/dinner.
 
Up the road several miles in La Madera, Felipe Ortega has also been kind enough to cook wonderful lunches and dinners for students at his B&B. People sign up a day advance (at the morning school sessions) and car pool up and back; food is great and full of local flavor – flavor of both the atmospheric and spiced variety. The fee has always been “what you know to be right” in the generous and demanding-of-attention-to-small-details style of many traditional people, but due to the serious misunderstandings regarding this warm way of functioning of only a very few Bolad’s Kitchen students we are, for Felipe’s sake, suggesting a minimum of $7 for breakfast, $10 for lunch and $15 for dinner.
 
There are good restaurants in El Rito and elsewhere which can be lovely especially on the evening of an afternoon off, when there is just a bit more leisure time. We will try to provide a brief list and directions when we meet.
 
For those camping, or renting places with kitchens, the closest natural food stores are in Santa Fe The Montanita Co-Op on West Alemeda just off St. Francis Drive, Wild Oats right on St. Francis Drive, Whole Foods on Cerrillos and in Taos, Cid’s, a locally owned natural grocery, is on the northern end of town on the main drag: Paseo del Pueblo Norte.
 
The shuttle from the airport will make a stop in Santa Fe at a natural foods market for those who would like to stock up for the ten days and do not have a rental car.
 
There is a Super Save in Espanola. Oliver’s Store in Ojo Caliente is an old-time corner store which can supply you with gas, milk, eggs, onions, wonderful avocadoes, very basic canned goods, toiletries, hardware, beef jerky and a nice talk with the lady at the cash register.
 
We hope that your travel and lodging plans work out smoothly, as I am sure they will.
 

 

Bolad's Kitchen

Description | The Younger | The Elder | The New Sprouts | Lodging
Registration for The Younger -Sessions Four and Combined
Registration for The Elder - Sessions Five and Combined
Registration for New Sprouts


Back to Flowering Mountain


SCHEDULE | BOLAD'S KITCHEN | BOOKS/CD | ORDERS | CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBE

Copyright © 2008 by Martín Prechtel. All rights reserved.
This writing or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form
without written permission from the author, Martín Prechtel.