What is "paraje"

Paraje, a Spanish term in use among English speakers in the southwestern United States, refers to a camping place along a long distance trail where travelers customarily stopped for the night. A paraje can be a town, a village or pueblo, a caravanserai, or simply a good location for stopping. Parajes typically are spaced 10 to 15 miles apart and feature abundant water and fodder for the travelers' animals (cattle, sheep, and horses).

A route between two parajes, that is difficult but must be traversed in one day because there is no water along the way, is known as a jornada.

In New Mexico, one notable paraje on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro is El Rancho de las Golondrinas in La Cienega, New Mexico, located between the Rio Grande and Santa Fe, New Mexico.