A day in Santa Fe - January 9th
We slept the night comfortably in my Aunt and Uncle's house and got a slow start the next morning.
Right when we arrived at Counter Culture, a great little coffee shop, my Uncle Bob called and gave us some great ideas for things to see and places to eat. The hummus sandwich at Counter Culture was amazingly excellent.
Then we were off to Bandelier National Park north of Santa Fe to see the remains of the ancient Pueblo village called Tyuonyi with it's famous cliff dwellings in Frijoles Canyon. We crossed the Rio Grande driving into the park.
The people living there built stone homes next to the cliff face and carved caves into the walls to serve as backrooms.
There were ladders at a few that we could climb up into and take a look around.
The cliffs are made of volanic tuff, which is compacted volcanic ash. It is relatively soft, but still apparently difficult to carve using only stone tools, as these ancient people did. Once carved out, they would smoke-blacken the ceilings to prevent crumbling, then plaster and paint the walls.
Here we are testing out the loungability of the caves:
Who hasn't lived in an apartment similar to this in New York City?
As Stephen and I walked along the walls I read in our guidebook that life expectancy for Ancestral Pueblo was about 35 years. That would make us elders!
In addition to the homes built along the cliff, there was a village in the canyon. You can see the remains in this photo I took from one of the caves:
The houses were made of stone walls plastered with mud and completely encircled the large, open central plaza except for one entrance. Large-scale construction of villages like Tyuonyi took place in the mid-1300s.
I wonder who got to live in the cliffs and who lived in the circular village? Was there a separation by class or profession? I think I would've chosen the cliff homes.
The Pueblos left the canyon around 450 years ago and no one is exactly sure why.
We left the canyon in the afternoon. Being creatures that normally live at sea level, finding ourselves well over a mile higher up in the atmosphere was certainly noticeable. Just walking the very easy path in Bandelier left me winded. We tried to visit downtown, but I just felt awful. Back at El Dorado I napped while Stephen went out to buy some food to cook. We happily lounged around the rest of the evening, watching TV and going to bed early. Probably too early.
Right when we arrived at Counter Culture, a great little coffee shop, my Uncle Bob called and gave us some great ideas for things to see and places to eat. The hummus sandwich at Counter Culture was amazingly excellent.
Then we were off to Bandelier National Park north of Santa Fe to see the remains of the ancient Pueblo village called Tyuonyi with it's famous cliff dwellings in Frijoles Canyon. We crossed the Rio Grande driving into the park.
The people living there built stone homes next to the cliff face and carved caves into the walls to serve as backrooms.
There were ladders at a few that we could climb up into and take a look around.
The cliffs are made of volanic tuff, which is compacted volcanic ash. It is relatively soft, but still apparently difficult to carve using only stone tools, as these ancient people did. Once carved out, they would smoke-blacken the ceilings to prevent crumbling, then plaster and paint the walls.
Here we are testing out the loungability of the caves:
Who hasn't lived in an apartment similar to this in New York City?
As Stephen and I walked along the walls I read in our guidebook that life expectancy for Ancestral Pueblo was about 35 years. That would make us elders!
In addition to the homes built along the cliff, there was a village in the canyon. You can see the remains in this photo I took from one of the caves:
The houses were made of stone walls plastered with mud and completely encircled the large, open central plaza except for one entrance. Large-scale construction of villages like Tyuonyi took place in the mid-1300s.
I wonder who got to live in the cliffs and who lived in the circular village? Was there a separation by class or profession? I think I would've chosen the cliff homes.
The Pueblos left the canyon around 450 years ago and no one is exactly sure why.
We left the canyon in the afternoon. Being creatures that normally live at sea level, finding ourselves well over a mile higher up in the atmosphere was certainly noticeable. Just walking the very easy path in Bandelier left me winded. We tried to visit downtown, but I just felt awful. Back at El Dorado I napped while Stephen went out to buy some food to cook. We happily lounged around the rest of the evening, watching TV and going to bed early. Probably too early.