Get Down With ‘Inner Monk’ Self At United World College

September 5th, 2008 · Tags:Cities · Satire

Next stop, Las Vegas … no … not that Vegas – the older Vegas, Las Vegas, N.M.And I confess straight up.I had been there before, and I knew what to expect.I knew there is a great restaurant with Wi-Fi and an interesting name – Spic and Span, and I knew there is a university with cool t-shirts – New Mexico Highlands.

But as I approached this Vegas sans glitz, I spotted some road signs that were new to me.There were mentions of a Luna Community College and a United World College.“I’ll bite,” I said.So, I headed through town in search of the community college … a surefire center of higher connectivity, I assumed.To get to the school, you drive up a steep little hill, and the college enjoys a view of the entire town and a good part of the rugged countryside.But, no Wi-Fi.However, since I was in need of an e-mail download, I went inside anyway and talked with a nice gentleman at the library.He let me set up shop in the library (slow student day) and surf to my heart’s content, the wired way.No score.

Then, a couple of miles outside of Las Vegas, actually in Montezuma, N.M., is quite a find – The United World College.Check this out: http://www.uwc-usa.org/

The UWC was the last thing I expected to find in a “suburb” of Las Vegas, N.M.It is a “college” in the European sense of the word – more like a preparatory school, for those wishing to land in an Ivy League school or whatever.And prepare to be impressed … on the board are Nelson Mandela and Queen Noir, to namedrop a few.

But does the college have Wi-Fi?It was hard to say, at first.It seems I arrived a day before students and the campus was closed.So, I left a message at the security gate for the staff, snapped a few photos, and drove away. (I would be back …)

The next sign I saw in Montezuma was touting my kind of hotspot … hot springs rather, right on the side of the road.I slammed on the breaks and “dropped trow” as they say.Actually I slipped on my swimsuit before ejecting from my ride.Dang.The water was 138 degrees at the first little checkpoint.A few feet further from the geothermal source, the water dips down into the low 100s and is much more inhabitable.In fact, there was an old dude “inhabitin” as I slid into the baths.

Gilbert Martinez first told me he was in his 90s, then he bumped it back a few years and had been pulling my leg … figuratively.Regardless he was in pretty good shape – sporting a “Mr. Clean” shaven head — and attributed his health to the hot springs.He attributed their development to himself, saying he had built most of the stone wall containing these healing waters, long before the UWC moved in on the other side of the spring-fed creek.

Do I detect sulphur?

A quarter of a mile up the rode was an even nicer pool, with another old timer set on simmer.Ruben was sporting a gray pony tail and entertaining other tourists with hot springs lore.For a moment I thought he was Lyle Alzedo’s ghost or something (rest his soul), when I saw the long hair and then his VW Beetle parked above the springs.The car was black with metallic silver doors and Oakland Raiders insignia adorning the bug inside and out – very nicely done.

What the hotsprings lacked in wireless connectivity, they made up for with healing waters, rich mud masks and a slightly sulphuric aftertaste. The hotsprings in Montezuma took no revenge on Ping and were awarded 4 pings.

We chatted, and I floated around until fully brewed.

Time to go. I toweled off, made my hair all “emo,” and trucked back over to the college.They had called me and invited me for a tour. Jeremiah Stevens of the Alumni Relations office showed me around, providing a full history of the UNC. He had attended the school before landing this sweet job in the New Mexico mountains.And those mountains were precisely what attracted the school.The founders wanted to incorporate wilderness training and conservation into the curriculum.They also were attracted to the castle onsite, dating back to the railroad baron days.The original Montezuma castle was built, burned, rebuilt, burned and refurbished, had been a hotel, etc., … dating back to the 1800s.

The Armand Hammer Foundation purchased the property for the college in 1981, and get this, for the opening of the school in 1982, His Royal Highness Prince Charles attended.Pretty cool.

Check out the UWC.Its mission brings in kids from around the world: “Thorough international education, shared experience and community service.United World Colleges enable young people to become responsible citizens, politically and environmentally aware, committed to the ideals of peace, justice, understanding and cooperation, and to the implementation of those ideals through action and personal example.”They have 12 campuses around the world.

(Whew … they are also perpetuating the run-on sentence, but who am I judge?)

So, what about my mission – the Wi-Fi?Well, I fired up the HP laptop in the great room on the first floor, just in front of the huge fireplace and carved mantle.There was a great signal … which I was told would be locked down and password protected the next day when the students arrive. I also picked up the signal of Metalica as a work crew installed new carpet in the lobby (you know, Lars and the boys .. the ones who end every line of every song with “yuh”). I climbed around for a while, took a few photos of a wedding party who were getting all photogenic out on the veranda.

I was most impressed by the original stain glass in the dining hall, and the modern art glass chandeliers throughout the massive room.I believe the chandeliers are the work of an artist whose work I have seen in the art museums in Omaha and Dallas, and even in the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nev. … See the works of Dale Chihuly at http://www.chihuly.com/index.html

Briefly I went into the non-denominational chapel on campus – the Dwan Light Sanctuary.It is there for students of various faiths from around the globe.I didn’t worship since it wasn’t “my flavor,” but seeing the round inner peace of the place, I did however chant and sing like a Gregorian monk (I really did) echoing my voice off the walls. “hummmmmmmm … ohfeely-mebony-bellala-nabisco-lost-allhis-dominoes” in pseudo Latin, (shout out to Cheech and Chong.Have you seen they are on MySpace? … I digress …).

Nice acoustics – but don’t give up the day job. Outside, the chapel mimicked the craftsman ship of native stone workers.Inside, rather than stained glass, it had giant prisms, bending the light that strayed into the sanctuary.I sang, I looked around, and then I walked outside to take a photo … and I guess the gods got back at me, although I meant no disrespect.I slipped in my sandals on the pine needles of the hill, hit on my tail and promptly rolled down the hill, camera in hand.“I’m okay … no one saw.”