( CNN) It’s too easy to let New Mexico off as simply “The Land of Enchantment.”
It’s true the state has magical desert vistas, Rocky Mountain playgrounds and alluring adobe communities that predate Columbus’ arrival by a few thousand years. But there’s an undeniably eclectic and occasionally dark side to the 47 th country as well.
In Roswell, inhabitants ascertain UFOs with frightening regularity. In Santa Fe, they ignite Zozobra, or “Old Man Gloom, ” at the bet every fall. And Trinity Site, near Alamogordo, be the first time that place on countries around the world where humans explosion an atomic bomb.