Old Dwelling Places

We like to be a bit spontaneous in our plans, so instead of heading south to Gila, as originally planned, we went north. So many people told us to go to Bandelier that we thought it must be the universe communicating a divine message Thanks to all 4 strangers who suggested this course of action – it turned out great! (minus the Helen tragedy).

Beautiful scenery instantly upon us as we left Santa Fe and all the way to Bandelier National Monument. Bandelier is actually the name of a Swiss anthropologist who researched the place (and the people) in the late 19th century. The “realer” name is the Frijoles Canyon, the ancient cliff dwelling place of Ancestral Pueblo natives, circa 1150 A.D. We first saw the cliff dwellings without knowing what we were seeing. From the viewpoint above the canyon, we saw beautiful autumn colours and pock-marked cliffsides – we didn’t even know we were looking at the very cliffs that housed people for hundreds of years.

Since Badger’s presence was frowned upon in the park, we only walked the 1 mile Main Loop trail that takes visitors to the cliff dwellings, the Long House and back through a leafy forest trail. The Tyounyi settlement area was once a circular pueblo site that was several stories high. The “cavates” were built right into the side of the cliff, carved out of the volcanic tuff stone. The long house is one particular section along the cliff wall that used to be a hallway of interconnected caves. Petroglyphs are still visible on the walls outside. Imagine building your house from the residue of a volcano that eruped 1.4 million years ago. Pretty smart – better than chopping down the forest around you.

More beautiful desert scenery as we travelled north. Eating a delicious meal in Espanola, Leah finally fulfilled her hamburger craving and I devoured a delicious veggie burrito doused in “Christmas” – a combination of red and green chile. New Mexico is famous for chiles! I could eat Mexican food all the time – what can be better than rice, vegetables, salsa, guacamole and sour cream? Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, is Leah’s response

We dwelled in a not so ancient place that night – a little adobe motel outside of Taos, close to the most photographed church in the entire USA. Very easy to drive by this bulky structure – from the road it looks like an ill-shaped blob of adobe in the middle of a plaza. In fact, it’s been blobbing there since 1815 and has inspired artists like Georgia O’Keefe. Go figure.

Our final exploration of ancient dwelling places was the Taos Pueblo. I have always been a bit of a european snob when it comes to old sh**. To me, America is a baby land with such a recent history that there really isn’t much to see in terms of ancient places and ancient history (not including nature, of course). Little did I know that the colonialists didn’t manage to destroy everything. This pueblo has been contineously occupied for 1000 years. The village is still arranged in the sacred circle, and access to the second stories is still via wooden ladders. No electricity in the pueblo. Cars and trucks look strangely out of place. The sign outside the little adobe store that read “Real Indian Stuff” looked equally out of place. But times change. Luckily ceremonial knowledge is still strictly kept within the culture, and ancient Pueblo ancestral dances survive to this day.