TAOS, N.M. -- I was suffering from a condition I called "too little time in Taos" when I boarded an early morning shuttle van to the Albuquerque airport. After a few days in the mountains, I had figured that an afternoon and evening in this historic little town would make a fitting transition back to civilization.
But Taos doesn't let go of visitors that easily. I wished I had allowed more time to poke around the plaza, peruse the galleries, and chat with the folks who give this decidedly laid-back community 70 miles northeast of Santa Fe its flair. Instead, I anticipated spending the next three or so hours in the company of wiser travelers who had taken time to discover the hole-in-the-wall cafe with the best green chile stew in town or the shop with the most unusual Native American artifacts.
But the airport shuttle, it turns out, is not just for tourists. And in the close quarters of the van, it seemed almost rude not to chat as we followed the highway south.
Todd Lazar , who lives in the mountains north of town, was heading to Albuquerque to buy a used car. "I grew up in Maryland and went to school in Philly, but I decided Taos was the only place I could be happy. I had long hair and didn't want to wear a suit," he said.
"I practiced environmental law here for nine years, but the only thing I wanted to do was save the world," Lazar added. "I hated practicing law." Now he practices yoga and studies Ayurvedic medicine while his dog roams his property and chases bobcats.
If Lazar relished the live-and-let-live attitude, Charles Collins was seduced by beauty. "The environment offers endless horizons," said Collins, who displays his paintings and sculptures in his eponymous gallery three blocks from Taos Plaza. "The light influences my work. It's dramatic, yet subtle, and creates a luminosity in things. Even the shadows are bright."
Writers, too, have sought inspiration in the open spaces of the high country for many years. Nobody knows literary Taos better than Arthur J. Bachrach , who founded Moby Dickens Bookshop with his wife, Susan, in 1984 . He was leaving town to do a reading from his book, "The Time Is Different There," about D.H. Lawrence's sojourn in New Mexico in the 1920s. "I've come to know people who freely recalled the Lawrences," he said.
The van was almost full when Charlotte Evans squeezed on. She lives in the chile-growing region near Española, so naturally the conversation turned to food. To improve upon the standard chile stew of chopped peppers and pork cubes, "add chopped tomatoes and potatoes," she advised. Visitors to Taos often buy a ristra of colorful dried red chiles and then don't know what do with it. "Put the dried chiles in the blender and then just add a little water and some fresh garlic," Evans said. The resulting sauce is "very hot," she cautioned. "Put it on everything."
By the time the van reached Albuquerque, I'd had a little taste of Taos.
PATRICIA HARRIS 
