Again, I feel I must tell everyone that hasn’t been to the American Southwest that if they haven’t been, they MUST come here sooner than later. It is such a wonderfully rich landscape, full of wide open plains, surrounded by riotously coloured mesas, and just a never-ending series of “Wow, look at that” moments. It really is almost indescribable, simply because of the magnificent scale of it all. By now you’re probably thinking I am sounding like a broken record, skipping over that favourite section of your favourite album (yes, I know my blogging is THAT good 😉 ), but I just can’t help gushing over this place.
Today we left Grants, NM, which was okay, cuz it seemed like Grants doesn’t have a lot going on. Sure, they have a walmart (boo!) and a walgreen’s, and even a Denny’s. But yeah, that’s about it. On the plus side, it’s a very short ride down the I40 to take a turnoff into the Acoma Pueblo, a Pueblo that’s been continuously inhabited for over 800 years. By the locals estimates they’ve been there over 2000! Anyway, it’s a short drive to Acoma SKy City and then you come down off the high ground into this wonderful valley, full of Mesas that just take your breath away. We stopped in the Acoma Cultural centre, and while we didn’t go on the tour (which is 1.5 hours and probably a good value), we did go to the museum, watch a short movie about the area, and also bought a beautiful piece of pottery for which the Acoma tribe are known. One interesting tidbit from the video – apparently the Acoma people were wandering the desert before settling there, and according to legend they would know where they were meant to be when they shouted Ha’ko and heard a clear echo. They finally found this beautiful place, and settled there (though, of course the spaniards would eventually ruin things for them, as they did so many others!)
After stopping to take some pics we got back to the ride and made our way to Albuquerque. Our hotel is decent enough, but the highlights tonight are our cab driver Mark, who told us quite a bit about the region and places we should see, and El Patio, a fantastic little spot for New Mexican food, which had wonderful food, a beautiful patio, and even some live classical guitar.
So yes, yet another fantastic day in the American Southwest! If I could figure out a way that I could live here, I wouldn’t mind it all all I am sure.
Tomorrow is my 50th. Stay tuned for birthday updates. We’ve got an adventure planned which will likely run a bit late so I may not be posting until the 11th 🙂
Ciao for now,
Byron
Simply Awesome! Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!!!