Pueblo Prayer

We end with the following Pueblo Prayer:

THAT SO LONG AS WE ENJOY THE LIGHT OF DAY, WE MAY GREET ONE ANOTHER AS KINDRED.

The Balloon Fiesta

“Colorful.” “Majestic.” “Like pictures come to life.” These are a few of the comments made about the sight of over 600 hot air balloons ascending all around us as we stood on our aerie overlooking the fiesta grounds. Bright colors and fantastic shapes filled our vision in the early morning hours.




So drawn to the balloons were some of our group, that they joined in helping launch, chase and deflate a balloon.











In the evening, the whoosh sound of propane tanks accompanied the glowing of multicolored balloons as they lit up on the ground boasting their beauty. The finale was a grand fireworks display that brought out the oohs and aahs.















We have all had a wonderful trip filled with phenomenal beauty, intense education, gastronomic overindulgence, increased art and jewelry collecting, and, most of all, convivial companionship that will lead to lasting friendships. We all look forward to meeting on the highways and byways along the way.

And Up We Go Again

On a clear, though somewhat windy day, we rode the world’s longest gondola ride, 3819 feet, to the top of Sandia Peak, also known as Watermelon Mountain. Albuquerque looked like a toy town below us.

After enjoying the view, we again imbibed in a tasty luncheon before returning to our coaches on the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Grounds.

Acoma Pueblo

On our quest for knowledge of the nineteen pueblos of the New Mexico area, we have gone to great heights. In fact, we ascended 367 feet above the desert floor to the oldest continuously inhabited city in the USA. Acoma, or Sky City, sits on a mesa overlooking the extended pueblo community. Access is by bus or by climbing a steep trail.















Acoma was first inhabited about 1150, possibly by people departing from Chaco Canyon. Their first brief settlement was on Enchanted Mountain, but a lightening strike damaged the staircase up that mesa and the people left, never returning.


While everyone in the pueblo has an ancestral home, only thirty to fifty elders choose to live year-round on the mesa, living without water or electricity. Other family members share the home for religious or family events. There is no male ownership, the youngest daughter inherits the family home and is responsible for those older than her.

The center area of the city is San Estaban del Rey Mission, built from 1629-1640 by forced tribal labor. It was built over the tribe’s largest kiva, intending to destroy the native religion. To protect the kiva as a center of traditional worship, Acoma people built square kivas next to their homes where they seemed like standard rooms. Today the mission is no longer a Catholic church but does serve as a religious center five times a year and is one of the places for traditional dances.

Jewelers and potters display their outstanding art work on tables along the dirt roads of the city. After enjoying the tour and purchasing some of the art, we again had a very good lunch at the Cultural Center back in the desert.

Zuni Pueblo

The Zuni Pueblo is the largest of the 19 in the Four Corners area. Eighty percent of them are engaged in the creation of top quality crafts, primarily jewelry and pottery. We had an opportunity to learn first hand from Zuni artists on our visit to the village.





After a traditional lunch of tamales, mutton stew, and bean pudding, we watched a jeweler create in silver and a potter draw her designs.






On the walls of the Old Zuni Mission is a mural of a parade of characters symbolic in the creation story and beliefs of the tribe. We were privileged to hear these stories from the artist who painted the murals in this historic church.

Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary

Sometimes people just happen onto their lifetime calling. This is true of Jacque Evans, an artist who obtained a wolf dog to paint a picture of the animal. She moved to an abandoned ranch in Candy Mountain, New Mexico. She soon discovered that a wolf-dog does not behave like a dog. It does not want to please its human and, really, wants to be the boss of the environment in which it lives. This made it very unsatisfactory as a pet. Jacque ultimately met Barbara Berge, a wolf-dog rescuer and the result of their partnership is the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary. Here sixty-two wolves and wolf-dogs, who were kept as pets by people who really did not know what they were getting into and then rejected due to their non-doglike behavior, are cared for.


Our tour was led by Angel Bennett, Administrative and Educational Assistant, who introduced us to the wolves and dog-wolves, explaining both the general characteristics of wolves and the individual traits of the ones we viewed.
We learned that wolves are highly intelligent. In captivity they even learn by observation to open gates. Pairs mate for life and mourn the loss of their mate. Generally fearful of strangers, most of the wolves tolerate only the caretakers they know. They are not at all like Labs or other dogs who want only to please their owners although their reputation for attacking man is mostly mythical rather than factual.
Wolf-dogs who are not full blooded wolves but crosses between wolves and dogs generally have the traits of wolves and do not socialize with humans well. For this reason many are abandoned or given to shelters. The Sanctuary provides a safe haven for these animals who cannot be released to the wild but need to be as free as possible.

Pinehill Band of the Ramah Band of the Navajo Nation

Today was a day to learn about the native Americans who had inhabited the land we have been traveling thorough centuries before the white race even thought of sailing out of the sight of land. We started our visit to the Pinehill Band of the Navajo peoples with a luscious lunch of soup, frybread and blue corn mush. Maylee, our docent for our tour of the area, gave us a brief history of the tribe including the war waged by Kit Carson that led to the Long Walk to Fort Sumner in 1820. The tribe was allowed to return to their ancestral lands following the Treaty of 1868 in which the seven clans gave the US government title to the land in return for the promise of health care and social services. Needless to say, the promises made by the government carried little weight in truth. The land the native Americans returned to was covered in lava with little water. The people continued to live there regardless of the harsh conditions.




With the coming of the civil rights movement In the 1960s, tribal leaders, under a program of self-determination, formed a school board Though the board members spoke little or no English and were not literate, they were determined to educate their children on their own land with both native and standard curriculum. One hundred years after the treaty promising them services, as a result of a "sit in" in the office of Senator Joseph Montoya, the nation began to receive support from the federal government for schools and health care. Improved housing and health care are still needed. One third of the community lives without running water or electricity.



Today there are 500 families in the community with 300 children in the school. There is also early childhood and family education available. The education system is hands on with the children learning by doing. The school buildings are patterned after the hogan.

Everything is both male and female in the Navajo culture. Hogans are either male, angular, or female, round. The teaching wall in the west of the newly constructed haystack hogan has glass markers for the four mountains that are the boundaries of the nation.











Following our Mexican dinner at Tinaja Restaurant we enjoyed an evening of cowboy poetry and Navajo singing. Bert and Glenda enjoyed the music so much they had to dance.