Another week of teaching complete. What a week it has been! I'm going to try to give a quick run-down of last weekend (which was amazing) and the very shortened week of school.
Last weekend, 10 of us went on a little National Park/Monument tour of the surrounding area. On Saturday, we made stops at El Morro National Monument, El Malpais National Monument, and the Ice Cave. They were all absolutely wonderful places with so much history. At El Morro, the main attraction was the Inscription wall - the rock formation itself had tons of inscriptions on it of people from as far back as the 1600s who had passed through the area in order to get access to the only water for 150 miles. There was a little guide book they handed out that explained some of the more significant markings - who the people were and such.
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| walking up to the wall |
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| Water hole - only water for 150 miles back in the day! |
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Hand prints, names, you name it
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Once you walked around the main inscription wall, you could climb up to the top of the formation and look out for miles in all directions - Beautiful - the pictures don't even do it justice of course!
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| The gang |
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| Cool huh? |
After El Morro, we headed on to the Ice Cave. This place was simply amazing. First, there was a bandera (Volcano cinder cone) that you could hike to top of and look down into. It was amazing - the volcano erupted some 10,000 years ago. Not to mention on the trails, there was all sorts of igneous rock formations that were really neat (The inner geologist was definitely coming out of me the whole day!) After seeing the cinder cone, we hiked to the ice cave which itself was formed by a collapsed Lava flow tube. Apparently "The combination of cold air settling and insulation of the porous lake keeps the ice frozen year round." (From a sign at the cave) As you took the stairs down to the cave/lake, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees every 2 or 3 steps! The temperature at the bottom stays a brisk 31 degrees year round! Pretty neat!
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| cinder cone |
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| Funny sign - disturb the lava? |
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| stairs into the ice cave |
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| The ice cave!!! |
After the ice cave, we headed to El Malpais, which was yet another large national park with a dormant volcano cinder cone. Here, we hiked another few miles and some absolutely breathtaking views to take in.
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| Cinder cone - erupted 100,000 years ago - much more overgrown! |
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| Oh yeah! |
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| The Jesus Rays we see almost every night! |
And after all this, we treated ourselves to a little dinner and then crashed in our two cheap hotel rooms!
The next day was just as wonderful as we traveled to the Acoma sky city. The Acoma Pueblo who have lived in this small town on top of a mesa for around a 1000 years celebrate the feast of St. Stephen every September 2nd! The feast itself is open to the public and the day included vendors of all sorts selling handmade pottery, jewelry, clothing, you name it all over the small town. It also included hours of traditional Acoma Pueblo harvest dances in the middle of the small streets while all observed.
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| Really cool mesa along the drive |
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| The city is on top of the mesa right there! |
However, the highlight of the day had to be the lunch we got to experience. When we first arrived, Stacy, Mary Rose, and I were walking around checking out the different streets when a man who was setting up his vendor station stopped us and welcomed us to Acoma. After introducing himself, he invited us to come back for food later in the day stating "It's feast day! We feed any and all! It's a celebration!" Therefore, when it came to be around lunch time, we walked back to (his sister's small home) and he invited us right in where there was a large table set up with all sorts of dishes. There were a few other guests at the time as well simply sharing a meal and really being served by the home owners. We were invited in and treated with the utmost respect. We eventually learned that the man's sister (whose home it was) actually graduated from St. Michael's! What a neat connection. It was quite a lunch and day to remember to say the least! However, there are no pictures to show because cameras were not allowed at the festival.
Well after that weekend, labor day came as a blessing - got some work done at school and then simply relaxed! The week of school went by fast yet again because the Navajo Nation fair has now begun right here in St. Michaels/Window Rock area! This is quite the fair! Hopefully, I will have more pictures to share by the end of the weekend, but Stacy and I already enjoyed a free barbecue and fry bread contest last evening. So much to share - you really have to experience it! We did meet a gentleman and his wife at the contest who was very nice and told us all about fry bread and tid bits of cultural information. He even ended up inviting us to his home next weekend for dinner and another ceremony of some sort! We cannot wait!
I just finished up planning out next week, so I think I am starting to get the hang of this teaching thing a little bit. I have no doubt there will continue to be ups and downs - but I continue to learn how to deal with those days of struggle in different ways! There really is so much to experience here, and it is great to finally be realizing it at a deeper level.
Alright, could talk forever about this place - but Stacy and I need to go figure out some things for the house before heading to the fair again! Oh and I forgot to mention - we don't have school today due to the fair...pretty crazy! There are people camping out all along the main streets here. Tonight, there will be hot air balloons lighting up the sky as far as I understand. And tomorrow there is the parade and various other events including a rodeo....
Peace friends and family! Continue to keep my in your prayers and I always welcome cards/packages! :) hahaha
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