El Camino Real International Heritage Centre

It was hot and sunny definitely another day when we needed the air con as we drove along highway 1

and I25 before turning east past the ‘Road of Dreams’ monument sculpture on the road leading to the El Camino Real International Heritage Centre http://www.caminorealheritage.org/.

In use for over 300 years the first Spanish colonists from Mexico travelled along the El Camino Real 22 years before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock.   The arrival of the railroad in the mid 1800’s was the beginning of the end for the road, although it had a brief revival in the early 1900’s when automobiles used it as the first highway from El Paso to Sante Fe.

It was quiet the day we visited the Heritage Centre and we practically had the place to ourselves, luckily for DB the shop was closed so there was no temptation for me to add to my collection of books. 

The Heritage Centre.

 Some of the many interesting exhibits in the Heritage Centre.

From the viewing platform at the Heritage Centre you can look out to El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and the Rio Grande. 

I can’t begin to imagine what it must’ve been like for the settlers who travelled along the road with no maps, no satellite navigation, no cell ‘phones and no water expecting to be attacked by hostile Apache at any moment.   Even now with all of the above in our truck it wouldn’t be much fun to break down or be lost out here.

Have fun, we are!