"It was with the greatest difficulty I could obtain a place to lie upon, and clean victuals with which to allay my hunger. I could get a room, it is true, even for a real per day, in one of those great barn-like mesones which are to be met with in all these cities, but not one of them was at all furnished. There is sometimes, in a corner, a raised platform of mud, much resembling a common blacksmith's hearth, which is to supply the place of a bedstead, upon which the traveler may spread his blankets, if he happen to have any. On this occasion I succeeded in borrowing one or two from the stage-driver who was a Yankee, and so made out 'pretty comfortably' in the sleeping way. These mesones are equally ill-prepared to furnish food for the traveler, unless he is willing to put up with a dish of frijoles [beans] and chile guisado [chile stew] with tortillas, all served up in the most filthy manner. I therefore sought out a public fonda kept by an Italian, where I procured an excellent supper. Fondas, however, are mere restaurants, and consequently without accommodations for lodging."
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Commerce of the Prairies
1806 – 1850
Commerce of the Prairies: or, The journal of a Santa Fé trader, 1831–1839 was written by Josiah Gregg (1806–1850), a merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author who described his travels and adventures throughout the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. He is most famous for this book, a classic description of his early travels along the Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe, then along El Camino Real to Chihuahua, Mexico and further south.
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