Photo Story: Art festival brings together CO and NM
JC Santistevan | October 2The Annual Rio Costilla Studio Tour is in its 19th year, located in north-central New Mexico and south-central Colorado. The towns participating are Costilla and Amalia in New Mexico and Jaroso and Garcia in Colorado. The tour starts at the Plaza de Arriba in Costilla, NM. The Plaza de Arriba, or "Upper Plaza," is one of seven plazas built in the area after 1849. Six plazas were connected to it: del Media, de los Manzanares, Placitas de los Madriles, de los Cordovas, de Chalifu and de Poleo. Of the original seven plazas, Plaza de Arriba is the one that is still intact and the closest to what it would have looked like in 1849. The plazas were originally built as defensive structures, and in 1854 were the sight of a historic battle between the settlers and the Ute Tribe.