Our drive took us along the Rio Grande, so we pulled off and took a closer look. Plus, Tom wanted to touch it (we've now touched the Rio Grande AND the Colorado River). :-)
Our first official stop was the Pueblos in Taos, NM. I was particularly excited to see a village where Native Americans still lived without modern conveniences like electricity or running water. When we got here, though, we were somewhat disappointed. The Taos Pueblos have become completely commercialized... and I have conflicting feelings since I realize they have to make a living somehow, but the town was pure commercialism and didn't feel at all like a community set back in time. In short, the Pueblos are now an outdoor mall of Native American crafts and foods (which is fine, just not how it's pitched to tourists). We didn't get to see the insides of any pueblos, we were charged $6 to be able to use our own camera, and we saw evidence of modern technologies and conveniences everywhere. It was also sad to learn that this community had been forced into Catholicism by the Spanish... the local cemetery is full of grave markers for people who died during religious violence.
We are still glad we went of course - it was an experience - and the buildings are interesting to look at. But we ended up only staying here for about 45 minutes and feeling a tad duped. But I guess it's people like us who fuel the fire... we came and paid money to look at their houses, and they just want to make a living. Maybe they just need to update how they depict themselves to tourists? Call it a Native American market?
Things to note in the pictures (left to right from top to bottom): 1) the Catholic church; 2) the river that still supplies all of their water (and the JEEP parked in a community without modern conveniences?!); 3) an adobe house; 4) an outdoor adobe oven; 5) another adobe house; 6) the Taos cemetery; 7) a view of the community at large. You can't fully grasp the commercialism from these pictures because visitors aren't allowed to take photos of the residents and because we also didn't take pictures of the shops close up.
From the Taos Pueblos, we drove north to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. This was a tad out of the way, but it sounded so cool and unique that we had to check it out. They're over the border into Colorado. In a nutshell, sand from the San Juan Mountains drifts east through the wind and water... and opposing winds in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (where the Great Sand Dunes are) trap all the sand here. The sand has been accumulating and shifting for thousands of years - the exact age is unknown because scientists have no accurate process to date sand.
This is a truly interactive national park - we were able to get out of our cars and hike all over the dunes. It's incredible to see these gigantic sand dunes rise out of nowhere and sit against such verdant mountains. You truly feel like you're in the middle of the Sahara, but when you turn around you see green mountains. Incredible. Climbing the dunes is quite a workout since they're so steep and constantly shifting (and because of the altitude!!). We had a blast exploring them and only wish we had more time to climb to the very top.
Please forgive the ridiculous number of sand photos below... it is just so darn cool that I couldn't help myself. These are worth clicking on to see larger views! Can you believe this is in Colorado?!?
From the Great Sand Dunes, we drove the rest of the way to Denver. We got in late at night, so we just checked in, washed all the sand out of our hair and shoes, and went to bed.
Up next: A Saturday of music and exploration in Denver!
In one of those photos, is Tom checking his phone to see if he has a signal? Haha. I had no idea there were sand dunes in Colorado!
ReplyDeleteHaha - no he's taking a close-up pic of the sand. I had no idea there were sand dunes in Colorado, either!!
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