February 2009
Scuba Diving in the Desert
by Phaedra Greenwood
Phil Alldritt, a resident of Taos, is an international tour guide with a Masters in Latin American Studies and a scuba diver with a passion for outdoor adventures.
As a University of New Mexico (UNM) professor in Mayan Archeology and tropical ecology, he has guided tours in Guatemala, Belize and Jamaica since 1989. He is currently conducting cultural research and architectural studies in Cuba. Beginning in the spring of 2010, Alldritt plans to teach a 10-week program for UNM-Taos with Cuban music and dance, history and Spanish studies, culminating in a trip to Cuba.
For the past 14 years, Alldritt has also worked in the field on many fascinating prehistoric and historic sites. His current project with the State Office of Archeological Studies is conducting a “pedestrian survey” near the old mining town of San Pedro, a 45 minute drive south from Santa Fe on Highway 14, the Old Turquoise Trail.
“We walk in a systematic way along certain transects looking for what’s on the surface and recording artifacts and mine shafts, some as deep as 300 feet,” he says. For safety reasons, these mine shafts will eventually be closed.
Alldritt is also examining records of mining companies in the state archives and going through personal letters from some of the people who lived there and worked in the mines. “San Pedro is the oldest gold mining town in America,” he says. “No one has ever recorded this town.”
Archeologists have found evidence of Spanish mining activity from as early as 1776. “At that time it was dangerous to be out there mining,” Alldritt says. “There were no trains; it was two days by wagon to Santa Fe.”
Gold was discovered there in 1828. “Thomas Edison came out to the Santa Fe area in 1897,” Alldritt says. “He had invented new technology—a machine to process gold. There’s an old hotel…I’m a tour guide—I’d like to develop tours of these mining sites by jeep.”
When Alldritt takes groups on tours in Central America, he usually includes the famous Mayan site of Tikal in Guatemala because it is one of the most well excavated and documented sites in the Mayan world. The Tikal tour is often combined with a visit to nearby Belize where the group can go snorkeling or scuba diving in the warm, turquoise waters along the Great Barrier Reef. A visit to Shark-Ray alley offers a close-up look at friendly nurse sharks and manta rays.
Alldritt is also a scuba diving teacher with Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) certification. “I’ve probably taught over 150 people in Taos how to dive,” he says. He offers private or semi-private lessons in the public Youth and Family Center swimming pool. Students can complete the course over two weekends with a 110 foot dive at the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, NM, or down the side of the Great Barrier Reef in Belize.
For more information contact taosmountainguy@yahoo.com.
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