To the west, sandstone canyons immortalized in the paintings of Georgia O'Keefe step up to the green, terraced uplands of the Chama Valley. To the east, the land rises steeply from the Rio Grande Gorge to the 13,000-foot peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Most of the county's 38,000 people live in semi-isolated towns and villages, some as small as Vallecitos, with only a few hundred inhabitants. Many of the villages have clung precariously to life since the 18th century, when the inhabitants used clubs and spears to ward off raiding Comanches. About one-quarter of Rio Arriba's population lives below the poverty line.
Traditional livelihoods remain a major part of the local economy.
People continue to tend small cattle herds, grow alfalfa, make furniture, and weave blankets, rugs and clothes from the coarse wool of churro sheep, brought here from Spain 300 years ago. Here, beside ancient irrigation ditches under the shade of wizened cottonwoods, it is easy to forget that the mountain West is being altered by urban growth more dramatically than any other region. Here, it's easy to pine for the dying West whose muscular virtues and rough-hewn charm often masked cruelty to people and the environment. And it is tempting to sympathize with the villagers in their struggle against outside influences. But that struggle still has a hard edge.