Understand
A New Mexican who hears "central New Mexico" automatically thinks "Albuquerque," but there is more to the region than just its largest city. Broadly, central New Mexico is bounded on the:
North, by Santa Fe and environs, although Santa Fe itself is usually considered part of the North Central region. Cochiti Lake and Cochiti Pueblo seem like a useful dividing line;
East, by the Sandia and Manzano Mountains and their foothills, although a few towns east of the range Moriarty, Mountainair, perhaps Estancia are usually considered part of this region;
South and rather indistinctly, by Socorro and US highways 60 and 380;
West again amorphously, by the sparsely inhabited plains west of Albuquerque, out to about Laguna Pueblo.
