They were the coolest things I've ever seen in my life except for maybe the Roman Colosseum in Pula, Croatia.
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| Those holes aren't windows - they are doors leading to separate rooms. |
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| Check this one out - it's TWO STORIES. OMG I can't get over it. |
The Mesa Verde dwellings were built mostly around A.D. 500 but people continued to live here well into the 1200's before migrating to the Rio Grande area. These cliff dwellings are part of a much larger area of tribes and settlements that dot the Four Corners region. Archeologists don't exactly know why the people left. They don't know if something "pushed" them out, so to speak, or drew their attention and "pulled" them elsewhere, maybe like the vast water sources of the Rio Grande.
The landscape mostly looks like this:
The Hopi Indians lived here and farmed the tops of the mesas. They grew corn, squash, and beans. Many Hopis lived atop the mesas and most likely only frequented the cliff dwellings during very cold or very hot times of the year. As far as they can tell, these lands weren't irrigated; they farmed via rain water and got some drinking water from softer rocks that absorbed it deep inside the canyons.
Is this the coolest thing you've ever seen or what? I can't get over it.
Some highlights of the day included seeing a fully captured Hopi hand print on a cave wall from sometime around 500-ish A.D.; crawling down inside a kiva (underground ceremonial and living space); getting to see where rooms were originally built and then renovated; and this:
Late afternoon, post-exploration Tex Mex that served as lunch and dinner.
Then!
We found a used book store and hit the jack pot! I got several books for myself and many for tutoring as well. Vacation is the best and I refuse to return to real life.
This is what Loo Loo Bell did all day:
More exploring tomorrow!
I am so full from Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving leftovers and that Tex-Mex still looks amazing!
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