A Sojourn to the US Southwest

Having been to Paris with my Mom in June, my mission for September was to go on a trip with my Dad.  We tossed ideas around for a while (Cuba?  More Pacific Northwest?) until one day he suggested that we go to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.  I had never heard of Chaco Canyon before, but when has that ever stopped me from going somewhere new?  Within a couple hours we had booked super cheap flights from Seattle to Albuquerque and we were set to go.

I'll get to Chaco Canyon in a post or two, but our first day in New Mexico we got in our rental Jeep Liberty and headed west for Acoma Pueblo.  The scenery in that part of the world is just stunning.

The Super 8 we stayed at our first night in Albuquerque was so classy it had a fountain!  Okay, not really.  The water gushing up behind me is a just a broken pipe that had been noticed, but no one had bothered to fix.

Western New Mexico scenery.  Love it!

Our trusty stead for the trip - a Jeep Liberty.  I wouldn't want to own one, but it was super fun to bomb around in for the week.

Our destination Acoma Pueblo is also called 'Sky City', and is one of the three villages of the Acoma Pueblo people - a federally recognized Native American tribe.  They have inhabited Sky City, atop a mesa, for 800 years, making it one of the longest continuously inhabited places in North America.

The Acoma people have a fancy hotel and casino about 20 miles from the mesa, where we stayed, and have built a fancy visitors' centre at the bottom of the mesa itself.  The pueblo can be visited by guided tour only.

Prior to this trip I had never heard of Sky City, but since the Rough Guide raves about it we decided to give it a visit.  Totally worth the trip.

Growing their traditional crop outside the visitor's centre.

The Acoma religion focuses around praying for rain in order to grow more corn.  I'm guessing this statue has something to do with that...

Sky City is in the background.

The mission at Sky City, built back in the 1500s.  No photographs are allowed of the inside or of the graveyard.  Inside is a painting that was given to the Acoma people by a Spanish missionary.  Once they received the painting, it rained.  A few years later, they lent it to a neighbouring tribe desperate for rain, and it worked for the neighbours too.  The neighbours then decided that perhaps they didn't want to give back the lucky painting.  The Acoma took them to court and were awarded the painting back.  However, because it's inside the mission you won't ever see it unless you visit Sky City.

Typical Acoma pueblo dwelling.  The ladder goes to the 2nd floor, set back enough that it doesn't appear in the photo.  People live at Sky City year round, but it is a second dwelling for all of them.  They are not allowed modern conveniences like running water or solar panels, but they are allowed to generate heat and electricity using propane.  We didn't quite figure that one out.

White ladders lead to kivas, round rooms built for spiritual purposes.  We didn't know it yet, but we would see many, many more kivas before the trip was out.

Just another stunning view from the top of the mesa.  Not pictured: the portable outhouses brought up the mesa. Also not a modern convenience?

There are a couple ponds atop the mesa that used to provide clear drinking water.  However, dirt has been packed up over the years and they are now a murky brown that will never clear.  Some do their laundry in there.

The best part of the visit was at the end when we were given the option to take the minibus back to the visitors' centre or to climb down the ancient set of stairs used by the Acoma people before the road was built to the top.  Of course we chose the staircase!  It was awesome; so hidden in the cliff that you can't tell where it is even when you're standing right at the top or right at the bottom.  And it was so steep that you had to go down it face first in parts.  Those who have hiked with me (or, more recently, been out for drinks with me) know that I am not the most stable on my feet, but I managed to make it down without falling off the mesa.

Dad heading down the stairs using 1,000 year old hand holds.

Tourists in flip flops brave the path down.  That was a dumb move.

The easy way up and down the mesa.

A nearby butte.  Isn't this place gorgeous!?