Yesterday, we drove to Janet's casita, climbed into her land shark (actually a Suburban) and headed off to see the Puye Cliff Dwellings on the Santa Clara Pueblo. This actually turned out to be easier said than done, since it seemed you couldn't get there from here. The directions on the website took us into Espanola, but no turn for Puye came up. Wait! There's a billboard! Why does it simply have a phone number rather than a "Turn at exit xx" message? Finally, with Janet's navigational help, we backtracked, took the road toward Los Alamos, and found the road to Puye.
The Puye Cliff Dwellings are very similar to those at Bandelier National Monument, minus the crowds, the plundered sites, and the National Park Service. The dwellings themselves were built out from the cliffs, with additional rooms dug into the cliff faces. The cliffs consist of volcanic "tuff", which is fairly soft and workable with wooden tools.
These dwellings are on the Santa Clara Pueblo and have been left pretty much as found, including an unbelievable number of pottery sherds and flintknapped tools and debris on the ground. You have to pay around $20 for the tour, guided by a member of the Pueblo, but you're allowed to pick up and examine (but not keep) any artifacts you find.
We also saw a few petroglyphs carved into the cliff face.
On the way back down, we continued to see loads of pottery sherds. What distinguished this site was the variety of styles and designs. We've never seen such variety at any other site in the Southwest. I'm guessing this is due to the fact that these dwellings were occupied from 900 to 1580 A.D. - much longer than most sites - so the pottery evolved.
At the bottom of the trail, we paused for lunch - peanut butter and chili raspberry jam sandwiches - and admired the Harvey House, which serves as the museum and gift shop. Fred Harvey was an Englishman who had the franchise for hotels and Native American merchandise along the Union Pacific Railroad. Tourists would come out west by train, and Fred Harvey and his Harvey girls would make them feel right at home in his hotels and souvenir shops. The Harvey House at Puye is the only one that was built on a Pueblo or reservation.
After the tour, we headed down into the Santa Clara Pueblo itself, where we went into a couple of galleries/homes to see some of the pottery they're famous for. It's mostly "black on black", meaning the pots are fluted or carved to form a pattern, but always black. They are quite beautiful, and expensive. Most we saw cost around $200 to $300 for pretty small pots. Older Santa Clara pottery by famous potters can set you back thousands of dollars. This for pots that were sold to tourists in the 20's and 30's for 65 cents.
After that we took a drive up to Las Alamos, home of the atomic bomb. (Now that's something to be proud of!) The site is really something, as the Government was looking for a location that was remote and defensible. The town and the lab are situated on several mesas that are close together but altogether separate. One of the most beautiful buildings in town was the boys' school that the government seized in order to get started. All of the students and faculty were simply sent home when the big boys came to town. Janet had told us that in previous visits the Starbucks seemed to be teeming with physicists speaking incomprehensibly. When we stopped in, the most notable thing was that every table seemed to have at least one laptop.
When we got back to Santa Fe, we went downtown and had dinner at The Shed on the Plaza. Always a good choice, Janet and I had fish tacos and Marie had a blue cheese and walnut salad. Later we walked around the Plaza and noted that the film crews were back filming "Odd Thomas", adapted from a Dean Koontz novel about a clairvoyant short-order cook. I vowed to return after taking Janet and Marie home, but never made it back. I had some coaching work to do regarding new clients in a NASA leadership program, and I just ran out of gas.
This morning we went to an estate sale that promised to have Navajo rugs and "ethnographic items". Turned out to be quite a lot of fun picking through everything, and we found several items to buy, mostly silver button covers, earrings and rings, plus a nice pendant for Marie and and huge bag of arrowheads. Our grandson flies out for a visit in 10 days, and he should have a ball picking through them. Next we went to get our hair cut, and Santa Fe showed its ugly side. We walked into a Great Clips store - no appointment needed! - and found that they only did cuts, but not color as Marie needed. So wile I got my hair cut for $19 (including tip), it cost Marie $175 for a cut and color at the salon across the parking lot. Are you kidding me? For $175 I expect a medical procedure! A friend of ours told us her son said it was hard to be poor in Santa Fe. I'd say it's hard to be middle class in Santa Fe. As much as we love the town, it's VERY expensive for just about everything. Not sure this plan of ours is going to work, after all.
I'll be heading up to Ghost Ranch tomorrow morning to let the ranch do its magic on me. I'll be returning Monday, and won't have internet or cell service until then. So don't think I've forgotten you - I'll be back on the air next week.
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