The Two Whos: The Starbucks that Wasn't!

Yun , Cece and their friend Ayoub are competing in a triathlon next weekend. So Cece took a trip down to Socorro to see where the Chile Harvest Triathlon would take place. She brought her bike so she could ride as much of the bike leg as was possible given that much of it is regularly closed. The site of the Triathlon goes through NM Tech where they regularly blow things up and they close off certain roads due to this!

Yun is the swimmer, Ayoub is our "ringer" runner (he is an elite runner) and Cece is the cyclist. Cece has been training, as they all have been...but she is the one who hates to climb hills. She discovered after she triumphantly returned to ABQ, that they changed the route she had just ridden and added more hills. HELLS!

Well, Cece will tell you it was hillacious enough as it was before the changes...but what can she do? She will just do her best and as Yun says, "We have Ayoub!" We are all doing this for fun...BUT we are all very competitive.

So after her ride, Cece was dying for a cup of coffee. Socorro looked to Cece like a ghost town, with not many resources, a bodega, a bar, a gas station and lots of dirt and rock. But, she did see a Walmart and she needed a pen so she went in and asked if there was a Starbucks in town. The woman looked at her like she was crazy! Cece tried again. " How about a coffee shop?" The lady's eyes brightened and she told Cece to turn left at the light and she would see it. Well, she drove and drove and drove and did not see a coffee house.

But, Cece did finally see a Circle K. She thought she could suffer through the bad coffee...but she had planned on oatmeal too. She bought her coffee in Circle K and asked the man behind the counter if there was a coffee shop in town. He told her there was and Cece asked for directions. A few blocks away... and there was the coffee house with a brightly colored mural wall. She took her circle K coffee and brought it in and told them to throw it out for her. She placed her order and even got her oatmeal!

The coffee house is called Manzanares Street Coffeehouse and was filled with locals. It reminded Cece of a 70's coffee shop in Woodstock! Instead of " free love" beads though...there were colorfully painted skateboards,guitars, bicycles, art on the walls and free WiFi! Yun and Cece have dreamed of opening a place like this! This coffeehouse had all kinds of food and snacks and Cece had the best oatmeal there she has ever eaten!

So, after hanging out and talking to people and feeling such a good vibe from the people of Socorro, Cece began to like the town even more. If a town has a great coffee shop...that says a lot! She was told that there was a French bistro some where near, but she could not find it!

What she did find was a beautiful park at the center of a round about just west of the coffee shop where she took a walking tour of a growers market, listened to a man playing some bluegrass fiddle and strolled around among the people.

Now Socorro even took on a better vibe as far as Cece was concerned. She thought it was too bad these places she discovered were tucked off the main dusty street...probably people do not even realize that there is beauty in the town!

Afterwards, with pen in hand, she got back in her car and drove the triathlon route and took pictures. Cece knew she would never be able to do that the day of the race.