Garita, also known as Variadero, is an unincorporated community located in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. The community is located on New Mexico State Road 104 where it crosses the Conchas River. It was founded in 1872 by Jess Angel, a settler from Bernal.Garita has a post office with ZIP code 88421, which opened on January 19, 1907; the post office used the name Variadero intermittently until the 1920s. The community's two names both come from Spanish terms; Variadero derives from variar, meaning "to change", due to the changes in the river's course, while Garita means "lookout" or "government building".Variadero was initially called "Estrada" after the first settler, Jose Laureano Estrada, who made a permanent home along the Conchas Arroyo around the time of the Civil War. Jose Laureano is buried at the Catholic Cemetery across highway 104 from the Catholic Church in Variadero. His wife Filomena Estrada de Madrid is buried at his side.