FREEZING AND SKIING AT TAOS

As there had been 15 inches of fresh powder overnight I decided to go skiing on Saturday. As it was 13F overnight we woke up to a partially frozen water system.

Carol had to wait until 4 pm to get a full water supply restored.

I took the local bus up to the slopes and had a great day, giving up when my knees gave out. at 4 pm after what may well be my last ever days skiing.

It will be a long and pricy journey from the Windward islands to a ski slope.

Snowed in at Taos RV park today..

Well the big storm just missed us but we still woke up to a covering this morning.

It is bitterly cold 16 degrees F and several rigs on our site have frozen pipes.

HO-HUM Where is the To-Do list, inside jobs only.

PEOPLE AT THE RED WILLOWS AKA Taos Pueblo

We visited the Taos Pueblo today in the snow.

The first flurries of the several inches which are forecast for tonight.





Archaeologists say people lived here nearly 1000 years ago. The main part of the present buildings were most likely constructed between 1000 and 1450 A.D.

The appeared much as they do today when the first Spanish explorers arrived in Northern New Mexico in 1540 and believed that the Pueblo was one of the fabled golden cities of Cibola. The two structures called Hlauuma (north house) and Hlaukwima (south house) are said to be of similar age. They are considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the USA. But the Hopi on the first mesa also claim this.

The outside surfaces of the Pueblo are continuously maintained by replastering with think layers of mud. Interior walls are carefully coated with thin washes of white earth to keep them clean and bright. The Pueblo is actually many individual homes, built side-by-side and in layers, with common walls but no connecting doorways. In earlier days there were ladders and skylights to gain access through the roof. The doors are a recent innovation.

The tribal elders ban electricity and piped water inside the pueblo. Water is still drawn from the stream that runs through the pueblo.

We visited most of the galleries in the Pueblo and were surprised by how warm most of them were. The wood burning stoves or earthern fireplaces they use really doing a good job.


The present San Geronimo, or St. Jerome, Chapel

was completed in 1850 to replace the original church which was destroyed in the War with Mexico by the U.S. Army in 1847. That church, the ruins still evident on the west side of the village, was first built in 1619. It was then destroyed in the Spanish Revolt of 1680 but soon rebuilt on the same site. St. Jerome is the patron saint of Taos Pueblo.

The Pueblo Indians are about 90% Catholic. Catholicism is practiced along with the ancient Indian religious rites which are an important part of Taos Pueblo life. The Pueblo religion is very complex; however, there is no conflict with the Catholic church, as evidenced by the prominent presence of both church and kiva in the village.


We liked the parking space in the village reserved for the war chief, he and his men see to the security of the mountains, the Pueblo, and the land holdings outside of the old city walls.

AZTEC RUINS SITE NORTHERN NEW MEXICO

We had looked at visiting Chaco Canyon where a great house is situated but the 20 miles of badly washboarded dirt road we had to drive put us off. So we headed on across the top of New Mexico on our way to Taos. On our way we saw a small National Monument called Aztec Ruins and went in as we passed by.


Much to our surprise we found ourselves looking at a well preserved great house with one of the largest kivas in the USA.




The building techniques used surprised us with their sophistication.
For instance look at the ends of the roof beams, cut with a stone axe then squared off with a sandstone block. But others just seemed to have no real use other than aesthetics. The green layer of blocks comes from a different area than the sandstone used for the rest of the blocks. But both were carried for miles from the quarries used.

The plan showed below is only a small part of the complex but is the part open for visits. All show carefull planning and the construction was an ongoing process with timber beams being imported and stored for decades before being used.

The work was carried out over a couple of centuries with different styles of stonework used. The experts think that the early work was based around the Chaco canyon style but the later is from Mesa Verde and the cliff dwellings.

We were able to walk through some of the internal rooms.


Boy o Boy were the doors small, I would have had to crawl through the next one.





The great kiva is a reconstruction but they think it is pretty accurate except for the height of the roof.

It is the most impressive piece of pueblo architecture that we have seen. The internal pillars are set on great circles of limestone which were quarried many miles away and moved here somehow. They weigh several hundred pounds each.



Also puzzling is the purpose of the two rectangular vaults in the ground. One theory is that they were foot drums, another is that they were used to germinate corn.

Like all the other pueblo buildings they were abandoned in the late 13th century. Some experts think that a succession of drought years forced them south to the Rio Grande area of Texas, others talk of invaders from the North forcing them out, personally I think they heard that Walmart had a sale on in Texas and they all left to get in line for the midnight opening.

We moved to a state park after Aztec. The Navajo Dam park is a mini Lake Powell with beautiful lakeside campgrounds and at this time of the year we had no problem finding a prime site overlooking the lake.

But as you can see from the snow on the pole it was chilly there when the sun was not shining.







Our next stop is Taos where we might see some serious snow if the weather forecast is accurate.

SKIING AGAIN

Well Telluride came up trumps in the end but it was a rocky start.

I had phoned in advance to the Information office inquiring about parking the Trek as I knew the town of Telluride is anti rv due to the lack of parking places. A very polite young lady gave us precise directions to the only park on the mountain capable of taking us, pity she was wrong. The place she directed us to was a double decker with low headroom and single places where we need 12 feet and a double. After managing to back out and get turned around we asked a police man. He was straight on the offense; where in Telluride were we staying, did we have a parking voucher, how many people were inside the RV etc. Eventually we convinced him that we were not intending to camp here and we did have a hotel room albeit not in Telluride so he directed us to this park in the middle of nowhere. The only problem was that this was an employees park so the shuttle had stopped running when we got there. There were no directions to the lifts or any information about which direction to walk. We started walking generally uphill and a fit young man with skis on his shoulder told us where to go to catch the Chondala. When we got there I had a problem finding long skis. The rental shops stopped at 178cm and I like 200cm, eventually I settled for 191cm GS skis very heavy [ bad ] very stiff [ good ] and very pricey [ bad ].

But two days later as I skied down on the last run with a big smile on my face all was forgotten if not forgiven. The sun was shining the snow was perfectly groomed and the skiing had been great.

Many of the black runs are short and through the trees which I do not like but some of the runs on the town side of the ridge were long, steep and free of moguls so I could let the skis run in big sweeping GS turns. Although it was spring break and the place was full of teenagers the ones on skis or boards were nearly all competent and slope aware so I was not too worried about being wiped out by some out of control lunatic.

But it was the new Prospect Bowl that really made the last afternoon a perfect couple of hours. Perfect snow when the rest of the mountain was starting to get soft and slushy in places. My MP3 player was up loud and the skis were running for me. I may even have let out a few “Yeah Haa” cries.

As all of the skiing is between 9,000 ft and 12,500ft this was a pretty good second stress test for my heart. I felt great.

HOPI CEREMONY AFTER MOVING NORTH FROM PHOENIX

We stopped of at Prescott on our way north but were not impressed, lots of plaques describing empty sites which had been occupied by wooden structure long since burnt down. The shops were expensive and there was little innovation.

However our next stop at Jerome was much more interesting, this is an old mountain mining area and the modern day inhabitants are some what off the beaten track of mediocre America. We liked it, the shops were quirky, the shopkeepers friendly without being pushy and much of the merchandise interesting.

Sedona is a sort of US Burton on the Water, touristy and much visited. It has many art galleries and although we had done the rounds on our last visit we trawled the shops for anything eyecatching. We both bought Arizona Dirt shirts dyed with genuine local dirt.

Before we left Sedona we had to deal with the output from the heron nursery above the Trek. Boy o Boy these birds are real sh***hawks. I was scrubbing for an hour.






Our next stop was Flagstaff but on the way we stopped at a recently developed state park based on a 1908 homestead set up in Oak Creek Canyon. He used the river water to irrigate his fruit trees and had a successful business. The orchards are still there with one original tree still producing fruit. One of the main attractions in the park is a narrow chute between two pools in the canyon. As the rocks have been worn smooth it is an natural easy water slide, hence the parks name, Slide River. The toe test soon established why nobody was sliding today; too cold as we are in snow melt country.

As we get close to Flagstaff we start seeing piles of snow in corners where the ploughs had piled it up and our campsite was full of banks of snow.

HOPI INDIAN RESERVATION

North of Flagstaff we went looking for a Hopi indian experience. We knew that unlike the Navajo, who like to live separate from each other, the Hopi crowd together on a few mesas. I had the expectation of huddled pueblo style buildings but the reality was double wide trailers, cinder block shacks and a few buildings that might include some original pueblo walls all on dirt roads. So we were disappointed but it was what we had come to expect 'On the Res'.

However we pressed on. One of the things I knew I wanted to see if at all possible was the ceremonial dances that form part of their complex religious rites and I had looked at the schedule and one was on this weekend. We got lucky, the ceremony was on and e could enter the village to watch even though we were not Hopis. No cameras, sound recorders or even sketching is allowed but we could join the spectators. While we were waiting for the dancers it was good to see lots of healthy looking kids running around playing with what they had from their surroundings and not a game boy in sight even though there were satellite dishes on many of the houses.

The dancers appeared and it was obvious why this was the Cow dance. 32 dancers wearing similar masks with cow horns took their place in the dance arena. Another dancer wore a mask without horns but the muzzle and teeth of a wolf. He final dancer carried a bow and had a another kind of mask. They were all adorned with much turquoise jewelery. The only odd note was the man controlling the dance and sprinkling something, possibly corn pollen, over the dancers at regular intervals; he wore a plain shirt and slacks and of the dancers he was the only one not masked. The sole drummer called the cadence of the dance and the drumbeats were echoed by the turtle rattle each dancer wore strapped to his right leg.

The drum beats and the sense of antiquity attached to the rituals made me think of the years and years of dances that had taken place. For these are the oldest continuously inhabited town sites in the USA. The kivas have housed the masks, the shaman have lead the dances and the rituals have come down to the present day through 800 years. Have they changed? Who knows, but the sense of times past was really strong as the old men in the the ritual lead the the young boys in the same costumes through the steps that may have been heard in this place for 800 years.

Oh yes, the dancers also bought laundry baskets full of food which was handed out to the watchers at half time. Why I do not know. This was a dance for the village. There were us and another couple amongst hundreds of Hopis. We were offered food and accepted but felt a little uneasy about this. For there can not be much money on the res. Still to have refused would have been wrong, we are sure of this.


Carol is not sure if we should eat it or keep it. We both felt honored to be a small part of their ceremony

Looking for information on the internet did not turn up much. Well we were not expecting much as this is part of a religion that goes back a long way and is still alive today with a lot of secrecy sourrounding parts of the ceremonies especially in the Kivas. Still we think that the dancers were Wakaskatsina an animal Spirit that is a cow Kachina and is one of the Rain Gods Messengers.


Another special moment on our trip round North America.



CANYON de CHELLY

Our next step was the Canyon De Chelly. This is jointly administered by the Navajo and the Parks Service. We drove up to the overlook at the White House.



Here we saw why this site has been inhabited for thousands of years. Running water and flat fertile flood plains.

We also saw the local ravens putting on a show for the tourists - or maybe just flying for fun. An old argument amongst stiffie flyers.





We could walk down to the canyon floor from the White House overlook but as it was steep we decided to wimp out after coming through the tunnel at the cliff top.

The Navajo run jeep trips down to the Pueblo but as we have seen similar and got closer than we would be allowed to do here we skipped that as well.



We are now in Dolores still chasing our mail and John is looking forward to getting back on the boards at Telluride where the snow is still deep.

Travels in the Yucatan

.

Carol's bit,

Cancun.

We had to leave the U.S because our 6 month visa had expired. So we went to Mexico to see the Mayan ruins. We arrived at Cancun airport and picked up the hire car. As we drove towards our hotel,
we passed one long road of hotels, and cheap shops. This is Costa del Yarmouth.





On the day going out again, we had a walk around the Artisans market, which was fun. If you have been to Morocco you know that you are going to be hassled by the vendors, and are expected to bargain with them. It was mostly cheap tat, but I managed to get a hand crocheted shoulder bag from $700 down to $550 ( pesos).

The Mayans are a quiet , friendly people, but obviously have a lot of anger towards the Spanish. The Mayan civilization was decimated with the Spanish invasion. Their buildings were built on top of ,and their books burned by a Spanish priest, who was trying to convert them to Christianity. The history is a bit sketchy because of that incident , the Mayans kept very good records, and were very advanced.

Whilst walking through the ruins at Uxmal I felt a light touch on my hand, when I looked down there was a skinny young bitch looking up at me. She was covered in mange and ticks. Somewhere she had puppies, or may be they were dead, she didn't look fit enough to look after babies. I had nothing to give her, but she appreciated the attention when I held her face in my hands. One of the other visitors had a plastic pot and gave her some water. Something needs to be done here, there is no animal welfare, and they have to fend for themselves. Other dogs at Ek Balam ( black panther) had made friends with one of the guides, and about 4 or 5 of them had established a nice life for themselves. They seemed happy and were fed every day. The guides were genuinely fond of them .

One of the places we stayed at was tucked into a jungle setting, and although basic, was very peaceful and comfortable, it would have been nice to have stayed longer here.
I found the roads here easy and pleasant to drive on, even if they did suddenly disappear into a ditch at the side.

We decided to have a meal at a roadside cafe called the Pickled onion.


The owner turned out to be British, from the north of England . She was in the process of setting up another business in holistic medicine, and had some of the locals coming in to do therapy work. Valerie herself was a Reflexologist and Reiki practitioner, I got a job offer. I think if I worked down here it would be animal rescue.

The ruins are fascinating and each one has a different Aura and feel to it. Apart from the poor little dog,I preferred Ek Balam. No one should go to Cancun and not see the ruins ( but they do)

CANCUN

We expected a cross between Blackpool and Benidorm and what we got was a little better but no much. The hotels are in a 20km long strip against the sea with lots of tshirts and other such tat on sale in little booths with aggressive vendors. It is a sign of the times and US big business that they have a new cry when they try to entice you into their shops, instead of “Lookee Lookee less than 1 dollah” they shout with pride “ Cheaper than Walmart”.

However the interior was better than we could have hoped for and the many Mayan people we met were unfailingly polite and helpful.

Our first stop on the interior was at Chichen Itza and the Mayaland Hotel where we had reserved a room at the extortionate rate of $165 a night. We had decided that one nights worth of luxury and to be next to the ruins made this worth while. But we got a lot more than we bargained for as they upgraded us to the Pavarotti suite, their most expensive at only $800 per night. The bed was about 8 foot wide, the ensuite jacuzzi had room for 3 and there was room for a cricket pitch in the room.


The grounds were fabulous, 3 swimming pools, several bars and restaurants and a variety of animals and birds wandering around.

[ YES Those are peacocks walking upstairs for the evening!]



We took in the sound and light show inside the ruins which was very atmospheric that evening and got an early start next day with the aim of seeing as much as we could before the tour buses arrived. The great pyramid greets
you first and you can only marvel at the industry required to build it and all the other structures.










The 1000 pillars might have been a market place. The Platform of the Eagles and the Jaguars are built in a combination Maya and Toltec styles. Each side has a staircase to the top. Carved into the sides are panels depicting eagles and jaguars consuming what appear to be human hearts.
Great Ball Court about 150 meters to the north-west of the Castillo is by far the most impressive. It is the largest ball court in ancient Mesoamerica. It measures 166 by 68 meters (545 by 232 feet). The imposing walls are 12 meters high, and in the center, high up on each of the long walls, are rings carved with intertwining serpents.



At the base of the high interior walls are slanted benches with sculpted panels of teams of ball players. In one panel, one of the players has been decapitated and from the wound emits seven streams of blood; six become wriggling serpents and the center becomes a winding plant.

We walked down a SacBe an old Mayan white road.

As well as being highways connecting their many centres together they have a religious significance to the Mayans and you sometimes see the locals utter a brief prayer before crossing a SacBe.


It led to the Cenote,
one of the two water sources for the site and home of many sacrifices.





These old time Mayans were a bloodthirsty lot.



Our next stop was Merida. We took a walk around the central plaza with a local guide, and learned that there had been 5 pyramids in Merida when the Spanish arrived. They enslaved the local mayans and forced them to tear down the pyramids and build churches on the flattened sites. They also burned all but three of their books. This was a thousand year old culture which had erected magnificent edifices, run a trading empire thousands of miles across and kept meticulous written records of their achievements.

We stayed at a little bed and breakfast run by a couple of cuban ladies and their cat named doggie. The outside street was pretty rough looking and Carols comment was “This is a right sh** heap”. But inside there was a tiny swimming pool and lovely little back yard that we could use, filled with plants. The owners were a goldmine of local information.

We visited Dzibilchaltun just north of Merida. As well as significant Maya ruins there was a museum full of Maya and Spanish artifacts including pirate memorabila. The deep cenote freshwater well
looked excellent for a cool swim but I did not bring my trunks.







Our next stop was Uxmal, much less visited than Chichen Itza but as impressive and perhaps of more archaeological significance.



Unlike Chichen Itza where a strict no climbing rule was applied we were allowed to walk and climb our way around and over much of the buildings except the roofs.


My calves are still aching from the climb up the pyramid and boy o boy were the steps narrow and steep.


Coming down was pretty scary and over the years several people have fallen and either died or been seriously injured. Some descended on their bottoms but Scottish machismo prevented me from doing this.






We stayed at a charming little place called Sacbe,
[Mayan for white road]




in a spotlessly clean little bungalow in grounds where a bewilderigly wide range of trees and plants were lovingly nurtured by the owner. Carol was in her element.

and ate at the Pickled Onion just down the road.


Carols Bit has covered the owner already, a Lancashire lass now living happily in Mexico.

We finished off our ruins tour next day at Ek Balam. This much smaller site was only recently discovered. Excavations and restoration is still going on but in some areas the degree of preservation is astounding. This giant idol was mostly intact when discovered.

The guide said only a small amount of restoration work had been done this area. It was all original stonework and only the stucco had needed some filling and retouching.






We are both more than a little skeptical about some of what we saw and read. Buildings were reconstructed from piles of bricks to some 1950s idea of what a Mayan temple looked like and explanations are little more than guesswork. But whatever the mistakes and misconceptions there are there remains an unmistakable truth, this was a complex, long lasting and successful civilisation.

Some Mayans still live in traditional oval houses with a thatched roof but here the wattle and daub wall looks like it might be cement to me.


The television screen was an anchronistic touch though!





After this we returned to Cancun where that peculiarly American College tradition “Spring Break” was in full swing.



We were lucky to find a quiet room and avoid the drunken mobs reeling from bar to bed to bar along the 20 kms of the hotel zone.



Amongst the memories we have of the Yucatan are
1 The enormous semi feral but friendly stray dog population
2 The crazy and scary bus drivers.
3 The even crazier and scarier taxi drivers. You would stop for a red light and the taxi behind you would take to the pavement, drive around you and run the red light.
4 The friendly and unfailingly polite Mayans.
5 The person who sat on the bonnet of our hire car in Merida, denting the bonnet.
6 Last but not least the "Get out of jail card" provided by the hire car company which we needed when John got stopped and accused of " Not respecting the red light" and not having a back number plate.

DOWN IN MEXICO

We are down in the Yucatan following the Mayan ruins trail. It seems that the border towns have lots of violence but not down here or so the locals claim. The only scary thing so far was the local buses in Merida - boy they are big fast and take no prisoners. his is very intimidating when you are trying to find your way home in a little hire car at night.

carol´s bit

lot of stray dogs down here, I am keeping some chicken in my pocket. There is no animal rescue here , and these dogs are not going to live very long. They are very submissive and friendly and look hopefully for just a little food and kindness. The Mayan people are very friendly and helpful, but they can´t feed themselves, let alone stray dogs. English dogs are very lucky in this respect, there are laws to protect them, here there is nothing, including hope.


More stories and pics to follow when we get home to the RV and find a good WIFI connection.