Next Event Flyer

Subject	Date	Category	Presenter	Description
Travel Bug Book Discussion	Tue Nov 04	Book Group	Aimee Gwynne Franklyn	Tuesday 5:30-7:00pm Joseph Lee 's Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for the Indigenous Identity In Nothing More of This Land, award-winning journalist Joseph Lee delivers a powerful and deeply personal exploration of Indigenous identity in the modern world. Drawing from his roots as a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe on Martha 's Vineyard, Lee expands his lens to Indigenous communities across the globe — from Alaska to California to the United Nations — capturing their struggles, resilience, and transformation. Through intimate storytelling and sharp reporting, Lee challenges outdated narratives and reveals the vibrant, diverse realities of Indigenous life today. This compelling debut is both a tribute to heritage and a call to reimagine a future beyond colonial legacy.
French	Thu Nov 06	French	Philippe	Advanced beginners / Intermediate Thursdays 4:30-5:45pm (75 minutes) 11/6/25-12/11/25 (6 classes) How to communicate effectively with French speakers—understand, be understood and enjoy it in a variety of common situations. The classes will consist of one session per week over a total of six weeks. The sessions will be based on conversation and some non-standard insights into the specifics of French language and culture. Class format: in person at the Travel Bug Group size: 3 to 8 participants max. Cost: $180 per person (cash, Zelle or check) for 6 classes.
Financial Fridays! 5:00-6:30pm	Fri Nov 07	SPECIAL	Emily Estes	Join us and Emily Estes (Financial Advisor, Edward Jones) the first Friday of every month for an informal, but informative way to enjoy your evening! From 5:15-5:45pm Emily will cover various financial topics to help you live a life worth living. Stay after the talk until 6:30pm for the Q&A, casual discussion, and a beer! Remember Happy Hour is 5-6pm! Everyone welcome!
Medicinal Plants of Northern New Mexico	Sat Nov 08	Slide Show	Jessie Emerson	Nature to the Rescue Jessie Emerson, RN, herbalist has travelled the mountains, foothills, and uplands of northern new Mexico for many years. She will take us on a field trip where we will learn to identify plants and learn how to use them in emergency situations. This presentation is intended to educate those interested in natural medicine and learning about the plants where they live or visit. Our focus is the plants traditionally used by historic and contemporary Northern New Mexicans. Her newest book Nature to the Rescue will be available at the talk.
Spanish in Merida, Mexico	Sat Nov 15	SPECIAL	Greg	We are presenting a one week Spanish conversation class with our Spanish teacher, Clara Evans, at our hacienda near Merida, Mexico. Dates are tentative If you are interested in joining please email us for more information: travelbug@mapsofnewmexico.com
Petra Rephotographed	Sat Nov 15	Slide Show	Kaelin Groom	Join Dr. Kaelin Groom for a visual exploration of the magical ruined city of Petra, Jordan through the lens of repeat photography — a method that recreates historic photographs from the same vantage point to show change over time. This event blends landscape storytelling, archival research, and cultural geography to celebrate Petra 's resilience, people, and the site 's layered history. Audiences will walk away with new insights on heritage, memory, and the power of repeat imagery.
Italian	Tue Nov 18	Italian	Elisabetta	Beginner Tuesdays, 5:15-6:30 Nov 18, 25, Dec 2,9,16, Jan 6 Classes will meet for 6 weeks at the Travel Bug for 1 hour and 15 minutes each time. 4 to 8 students max. The focus is on learning to speak and comprehend. A "Pimsleur " subscription will be required (https://www.pimsleur.com/). Cost: $192.38 (incl. tax). Payment through check, PayPal, Venmo, or cash (non-refundable after the class has started). To determine your level, please contact Elisabetta to assess which class will be the best fit for you. Other non-Pimsleur-based classes also offered. Please inquire.
Gen X/ Millennial Book Club	Wed Nov 19	Book Group	Jeff Grossman	The Millennial Gen-X Book Club is a once-a-month fiction book club for anyone in those generations. We skew towards the queer, the tender, and the strange. If you are interested in joining us, drop by on the night of, or direct your interest to Jeff through themillennialgenxbookclub@gmail.com November Book Selection Watership Down Richard Adams
Old Santa Fe Association Book Club	Fri Nov 21	Book Group	Edward Archuleta	Trade Roots by J. Cosmo Lewis 4-5:30pm Everyone welcome Jeffrey Lewis came to New Mexico in the late 1960s as a teacher at Santa Fe High School. Later, at the direction of several Hopi elders he began a fifty-five year adventure retracing Pre-Columbian traderoutes between the American Southwest and the jungles of Central America on a quest to bring sacred macaw feathers to the kivas of the pueblo people. The journey led him to revive long-forgotten trade routes, and create new ones, to Indonesia, the Mediterranean, islands in the South Pacific, and many other locations worldwide in search of reliable sources for materials needed by Pueblo artisans. He tells his story with a cast of characters including Hopi and Zuni elders, native jewelers, hippies, misanthropic pot smugglers, river runners and decades-old friends and cohorts.
Italian Dolomites	Sat Nov 22	Slide Show	Ken Collins	"The Dolomites are a portion of the European Alps located in far northern Italy, close to the Austrian border. In fact, until the end of World War I, much of the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but was ceded to Italy as a "reward " for coming in on the side of the Allies. Much of the region is stilll more Germanic than Italian, with German the first language and customs and cuisine remaining predominantly Austrian. Sprinkled with beautiful small towns, its claim to fame is the stunning alpine scenery and the abundance of hiking trails and "rifugios " - luxurious trailside restaurants offering lodgings for those walking long distances. Along with the knock-out setting, there is a wealth of brilliantly-colored wildflowers in spring and summer. A short distance from the Dolomites is the Italian lake district, and of the numerous famous lakes, Lake Garda is remarkable for its jewel-like placement surrounded by steep cliffs and mountain sides spilling down to the water. While small cities along the lake shore are popular with holiday makers, the area also offers some dramatic walks. This program will highlight some of the beauty of this area, based on a trip my husband and I made there in June 2024, before the peak and crowded July - August period. " - Ken Collins
Botswana in the Green Season	Sat Nov 29	Slide Show	Evalyn Bemis	We have enjoyed traveling in several countries in Africa over the past 15 years, from Namibia to Kenya, but have always been there outside of the rainy seasons to allow for maximum viewing of wildlife and ease of getting around. For this trip we deliberately wanted to go during the "summer ", or rainy time in Botswana, in order to see the animals healthy, with lots to eat and many with new life at their sides. In most peoples ' minds, the Kalahari is a ferocious and unforgiving desert. In February, it was awash in green, with large playas of collected rainwater and abundant herds of oryx, impala, and zebras. In turn, that meant resident lion prides looking fat and happy. To the northwest, the famous Okavango Delta was not flooded but still well-watered. We witnessed packs of wild dogs hunting, lions and leopards on the prowl, and birds of every size, shape and color, including big flocks in a heron rookery.
Travel Bug Book Discussion	Tue Dec 02	Book Group	Aimee Gwynne Franklyn	Telephone by PErcival Everett Zach Wells is a perpetually dissatisfied geologist-slash-paleobiologist. Expert in a very narrow area—the geological history of a cave forty-four meters above the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon—he is a laconic man who plays chess with his daughter, trades puns with his wife while she does yoga, and dodges committee work at the college where he teaches. After a field trip to the desert yields nothing more than a colleague with a tenure problem and a student with an unwelcome crush on him, Wells returns home to find his world crumbling. His daughter has lost her edge at chess, she has developed mysterious eye problems, and her memory has lost its grasp. Powerless in the face of his daughter 's slow deterioration, he finds a cryptic note asking for help tucked into the pocket of a jacket he 's ordered off eBay. Desperate for someone to save, he sets off to New Mexico in secret on a quixotic rescue mission. A deeply affecting story about the lengths to which loss and grief will drive us, Telephone is the Percival Everett novel that will shake you to the core, as it asks questions about the power of narrative to save.
Financial Fridays! 5:00-6:30pm	Fri Dec 05	SPECIAL	Emily Estes	Join us and Emily Estes (Financial Advisor, Edward Jones) the first Friday of every month for an informal, but informative way to enjoy your evening! From 5:15-5:45pm Emily will cover various financial topics to help you live a life worth living. Stay after the talk until 6:30pm for the Q&A, casual discussion, and a beer! Remember Happy Hour is 5-6pm! Everyone welcome!
Buy a home for $1 in ITALY	Sat Dec 06	Slide Show	Melanie Lamb Faithful	Have you ever dreamed of living in a medieval Italian town? In wine country? At a price much less than you can imagine? We live this dream as Italian half-timers. And the "buy a house for a dollar plan " will be explained. There are so many options for people who are craving la dolce vita.
Giving a Voice to the Unhoused	Sat Dec 13	SPECIAL	Jean Palmer	5:00-6:30pm Join us for a panel discussion with people sharing stories of their lives unhoused and housed in Santa Fe. Learn more about the issue of being homeless and what you can do to help. After a presentation by a panel of people with the lived experience of being homeless, audience members shared their biggest take aways. Some of the comments: “These were just a few of the many “stories” of people who are unhoused. The authenticity of each story touched my heart.” “Great! Thank you. Awesome presentation! Thank you! Lived experience is so important – it humanizes the issue”. “The presentations reinforced the humanity of people who are or were unhoused. So powerful to hear their stories”. “Homeless populations are not monolithic. Every story is different and we need to stay open and empathetic.
Sailing & Painting the Pacific Ocean for 9 Years	Sat Dec 20	Slide Show	Roxy Podlogar	Roxy and her husband, Carl Podlogar, sold all their possessions and began living aboard their ocean-going catamaran, Sky Pond, in February 2016. They embarked on a circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean from Vietnam, sailing in the "wrong direction " against the prevailing currents and wind to northern British Columbia, then south to Mexico, and finally returning to Australia in December 2024. This story highlights Roxy 's journey as she pursued her dream of becoming a watercolor artist while also striving to acquire a high level of seamanship quickly. It includes photos of their sailing adventure, paintings created in iconic locations, and short stories corresponding to their sailing route and the specific anchorages where she painted her landscapes.
On the Road With On the Road	Sat Dec 27	Slide Show	Carl Moore	Robert Frank 's The Americans redefined photography in 1959 and inspired Carl Moore to hit the road with Jack Kerouac 's On the Road. Like Frank, Moore sought to reveal America to Americans—capturing the landscapes, faces, and fleeting moments that echo Kerouac 's metaphorical vision. From Denver, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Los Angeles to a cross-country drive with his son from Santa Fe to New England, Moore, with his Nikon in hand, retraces Sal Paradise 's footsteps. The result is a vivid, contemporary counterpart to Kerouac 's masterpiece—where the photographs themselves feel restless, alive, and haunted by the same hunger for the open road. As Jim Sampas, executor of the Kerouac literary estate, notes in his Foreword, "It isn 't often that something comes in that excites me as much as this project. " These images remind us of the beauty and variety of human experience, the thrill of movement, and the quiet grace of stillness. Paired with passages from On the Road, they invite us to see Kerouac 's America anew—and to feel again the irresistible pull of the road.
Bolivia and Chile	Sat Jan 03	Slide Show	Diane Marron
Travel Bug Book Discussion	Tue Jan 06	Book Group	Aimee Gwynne Franklyn	Held by Anne Michaels 1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory as the snow fall -- a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near a different river. He is alive but still not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and tries to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts with messages he cannot understand. Michaels brilliantly links the various threads by exploring the thin divide between the living and the dead and the ways memory can carry her characters between worlds. Her stunning prose sustains the book 's enchanted mood from start to finish.
Backpacking Through Wales	Sat Jan 10	Slide Show	Terry Owen	Have you ever thought of expanding your backpacking or hiking experiences to an overseas locale? There 's no better way to learn about a place and its people than on foot with a pack strapped to your back. Join Terry Owen for his presentation on his recent thru-hiking journey through Wales. He 'll cover planning, logistics, travel and safety, while also sharing his experiences, photos and video from the land of dragons and castles. It might be just the thing to get you to say, "why not? ". Terry is a retired U.S. Navy officer and deep submersible pilot, and subsequently completed an 18-year career at Sandia National Laboratories. An avid hiker, backpacker and climber for nearly 50 years, he 's journeyed to six continents but just recently expanded his horizons to include overseas backpacking trails, because he said "why not? ".
AYear in the Outback	Sat Jan 17	Slide Show	Bill Earl	A Gringo in OZ
AVAILABLE	Sat Jan 24	AVAILABLE
Guatemala During the High Holidays	Sat Jan 31	Slide Show	Jack Shlachter	It 's Mayan, Not Yours! Leading Congregation Adat Israel, in Guatemala City for the Jewish High Holidays Rabbi Jack Shlachter is a physicist and ordained rabbi whose long career at Los Alamos National Laboratory provided him with the luxury of galavanting around the world to lead small congregations for the Jewish High Holidays. His travels have taken him to Vienna, Beijing, Warsaw, Bangkok, and most recently, Guatemala City. When home in New Mexico, Rabbi Jack serves as rabbi for the Los Alamos Jewish Center as well as congregation HaMakom in Santa Fe. The Jewish community of Guatemala is small by world standards; Jewish population for the entire country of 18 million people is estimated to be under 1000 or a mere 0.006%. Nonetheless, Guatemala as a country is strongly pro-Israel. The current president lived in Israel for ten years, speaks Hebrew, and received his college degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Guatemala was the second country in the world to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Rabbi Jack will describe his experiences leading a small, non-Orthodox congregation in Guatemala City for the Jewish High Holidays in 2025 as well as a first-time traveler 's impressions of Guatemala.
Travel Bug Book Discussion	Tue Feb 03	Book Group	Aimee Gwynne Franklyn	Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshananthan Jaffna, 1981. Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, a vicious civil war tears through her home, and her dream spins off course as she sees her four beloved brothers and their friend K swept up in the mounting violence. Desperate to act, Sashi accepts K 's invitation to work as a medic at a field hospital for the militant Tamil Tigers, who, following years of state discrimination and violence, are fighting for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka 's Tamil minority. But after the Tigers murder one of her teachers and Indian peacekeepers arrive only to commit further atrocities, Sashi begins to question where she stands. When one of her medical school professors, a Tamil feminist and dissident, invites her to join a secret project documenting human rights violations, she embarks on a dangerous path that will change her forever. Set during the early years of Sri Lanka 's three-decade civil war, Brotherless Night is a heartrending portrait of one woman 's moral journey and a testament to both the enduring impact of war and the bonds of home.
Bali	Sat Feb 07	Slide Show	Ken Hughes	"Around Bali " - Volunteering, sightseeing, and swimming around Bali. Six weeks and twelve accommodations later, Ellen Kemper literally traveled the island of Bali enjoying its culture, landscape, and seas.
AVAILABLE	Sat Feb 14	AVAILABLE
AVAILABLE	Sat Feb 21	AVAILABLE
AVAILABLE	Sat Feb 28	AVAILABLE
AVAILABLE	Sat Mar 07	AVAILABLE
AVAILABLE	Sat Mar 14	AVAILABLE