How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The difficulty was that the country in which he found himself was so featureless—or rather, that it was crowded with features, all exactly alike. (1.1.1)
Father Latour finds New Mexico a really hard place to travel at first because everything looks the same to him. Every rock looks like every other rock, and it's impossible for him to tell which landmarks he has already passed.
Quote #2
Running water, clover fields, cottonwoods, acacias, little adobe houses with brilliant gardens, a boy driving a flock of white goats toward the stream,—that was what the young Bishop saw. (1.1.20)
Once he has escaped death from thirst and met a nice family, Father Latour suddenly changes his opinions about the New Mexico landscape and decides that it's actually really beautiful. It's funny how having a nice meal and a glass of water can turn your mood right around.
Quote #3
It was like a country of dry ashes; no juniper, no rabbit brush, nothing but thickets of withered, dead-looking cactus, and patches of wild pumpkin—the only vegetation that had any vitality. (3.2.1)
There isn't a whole lot of stuff that can grow in New Mexico apart from only the heartiest of plants. And you can take this as a metaphor for humans, too. In other words, only a tough sort of person can live in a place like New Mexico and really thrive.