We've had a few days of rough weather and limited connectivity so now we'll try to catch up on our last few days:
Last Tuesday Ed and I were all into Indian civilizations again. The area around Grants, NM is sorta in the middle of Indian reservations. We went to the Acoma (Sky City) Pueblo where the Haaku-ma (Acoma) people settled around 1150 ad. They came south from the Mesa Verde area in what is now southern Colorado down thru Chaco Canyon (NM) in search of a home that would be revealed to them. The story was that if they found a place and called "Haaku!" into the distance, it would be home if they heard an answering "Haaku!". In otherwords, their search was based on hearing an echo of their calls. Acoma also has the distinction of being the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America. About 10% of the approx. 3600 Acoma people living in the area still reside on top of the mesa in Sky City (360 ft above the desert floor). Many of the rest live in nearby villages and travel to the mesa top for important ceremonies and cultural celebrations.

We traveled south from Grants on a desolate highway and dropped down into the valley that is part of the Acoma reservation. We checked in first at the Sky City Cultural Center to arrange for our tour of the mesa pueblo. With about a half hour before our tour began, we ventured outside to the vendor tables of handmade pottery, jewelry and other items. There we learned that there is pottery still made using the clay that the potters mine nearby from the ground themselves and there is pottery made from commercial clay but handpainted. There is a significant price difference between the two! We purchased two beautiful pieces of absolutely unique pottery (I couldn't resist!) and a couple pieces of the commercial grade clay pottery (still beautiful but you can feel the difference). The designs all have meaning which was explained to us by the craftswomen themselves. They told us that the craft was handed down generation by generation and one potter said that she could count 7 generations of potters in her family. They are also a maternal society and so this talent passes from mother to daughter and on. There were also craftsmen who made silver jewelry. One man made pendants based on shards of old pottery that has been unearthed on the mesa top and then the old piece of pottery was included with the pendant purchase. We really wanted one of these too but they were out of our price range!!

We rode in a small van up a road to the top of the mesa to begin our tour. Gary (his native name I could not pronounce and cannot reproduce in writing) was our tour guide and started at the Santa Esteban del Rey Mission and Convento. This building was began in 1629 and completed in 1640. All materials and labor were basically supplied by the native peoples under slave labor (of course) to the Spaniards and resident Franciscan friar. Trees were carried from mountains about 30 miles away and basketfuls of clay were brought up to the mesa top by foot hole paths (no roads for vans in those days!). It has been refurbished a few times since its creation but the dry heat of the desert environment aids in preservation. The tour wound thru the village from the new part around to the old part and on all sides we could see the desert vista stretch into the distance. It was very strange to see this ancient pueblo with no electricity or running water with vehicles parked in front of some of the homes and porta-potties lined up here and there. One of the mesas we saw in the distance was called Enchanted Mesa. This story goes that Enchanted Mesa was the first home of the Haaku-ma in this area but a violent storm destroyed the access path to the top of the mesa. An old grandmother and her young granddaughter were the only people left stranded on top. Instead of slowly starving to death from hunger and thirst, they chose to jump off the top of the mesa to their deaths. They were buried at the base of Enchanted Mesa as were other ancestors over the years. Enchanted Mesa is off limits to all non-native people and even the Acoma seldom go over there.

At the end of the tour we were offered a ride back in the van or we could choose to go down the old access that was basically steps and handholds carved out of the rock. Being the adventurous old fogies that we are, we chose the old access route and started down at the end of the group. I wanted no audience for this particular folly. We have pictures that will show what we went thru but suffice it to say, it was not easy. I'm glad we did it, I'd do it again but I was awfully glad that we made it down safe with no broken bones. A broken bone at this age would be an adventure-stopper! We had about a 1/2 mile walk from the bottom of the old access back to the museum and my legs shook the whole way! Whoo-Hoo!