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Bandelier
National Monument - The Ancient Pueblo Culture
Bandelier National Monument - The Ancient Pueblo
Culture. A tour into another world and another time. 500 to 1000 years
ago the ancestors of today's Pueblo people inhabited cliff dwellings and
multi-story pueblos deep in the canyons of the Jemez Mountains west of
Santa Fe. Their caves, rock carvings, ceremonial buildings - and presence
- are still accessible to us at Bandelier.
Nearby is San Ildefonso Pueblo - famous for unique
red and black clay pottery and home of descendants of the Bandelier people.
A couple of miles away in the Jemez foothills - but in
another universe - is Los Alamos, the home of the atomic bomb,
the human genome project and possibly the most intensive scientific research
community on earth. The shift from The Ancient Ones to the nuclear physicists
could not be greater, yet the surrounding geology, light and color isolate
and inspire both cultures. . This is an unforgettable half-day experience
no visitor should miss.
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Taos and the
High Road
One of the most popopular activities in New Mexico - a
tour up the High Road to Taos is a tour back in time and into an another
world. The day's highlight will be a visit to Taos Pueblo, a United Nations
"World Heritage Site". This ancient Native American village
has been continuously occupied for over a thousand years and its people
have tenaciously resisted being absorbed into other cultures.
And there is nothing anywhere else in the U.S. comparable
to the remote, charming and culturally significant Spanish villages scattered
along the old High Road to Taos. Here is another culture proudly nurturing
centuries old ideals: Familia y Fe - the "family and faith"
foundation blocks of traditional Spanish life. In the old village of Chimayo
one encounters both superb examples of centuries old weaving art and a
diminutive old church that is the goal of tens of thousands of pilgrims
each Holy Week.
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Tsankawi
- An Untouched Ancestral Pueblo Village
This is an in-depth tour through 10,000 years of historic and pre-historic
Pueblo dwelling Native Americans - in a setting of rare beauty and geology
between the Rio Grande and the volcanic Jemez mountains.
Tsankawi is part of Bandelier National Monument, but is considered
an 'outlier' - a suburb. It has been excavated many times, but never reconstructed.
The trails are rustic and unimproved. Over the 1 1/2 mile hike, you will
climb up and down ladders, walk along a volcanic ridge, crawl into smoke-blackened
caves and immerse yourself into early Native American civilization at
the ancestral home of today's San Ildefonso Pueblo and Cochiti Pueblo
people.
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Petroglyphs
Ancient Pueblo Rock Art
These Native American images chipped into stone exist throughout
Northern New Mexico. There are literally thousands of these significant
representations etched onto huge basalt boulders in mesas and valleys
surrounding pre-historic Pueblo ruins. A visit to one of these petroglyph
fields with a Native American guide will give insight into the lives and
spiritual beliefs of the Pueblo people who left these mysterious and enigmatic
symbols as evidence of their civilizations and values.
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Chaco
Canyon - Ancient Southwestern Native American Culture
Here is one of America's most significant
and fascinating cultural and historic areas. Chaco Canyon was the nucleus
of ancestral Pueblo culture and was a hub of ceremony, trade and administration
for prehistoric populations - the "Anasazi" - extending from
the four corners states to Mexico. This is an exceptional day tour into
another world.
The Chacoan cultural sites are fragile and
irreplaceable and represent a significant part of America's Native American
cultural heritage. The sites are part of the sacred homeland of Pueblo
Indian peoples of New Mexico and the Hopi and Navajo of Arizona and are
honored by these people to this day.
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Acoma
Pueblo - Cultural integrity Reinforced by Isolation
Probably the oldest inhabited city in the
U.S., this Native American cultural wonder has been situated atop its
370-foot high mesa for well over 650 years. The first view of the site
is unforgettable - the remoteness, the steep sided red mesas, mountains
and rock formations of various sizes, all set in colors of sky and clouds
that are not seen anywhere else. The Acoma people have historically remained
among the least acculturated of any Native American tribes. The tribe
offers a guided one-hour tour of the Pueblo and its culture by small bus
and on foot. There is also ample opportunity to view and purchase the
famous Acoma pottery.
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Native
American Pottery Class
The art and culture inherent in Pueblo pottery
have fascinated visitors and serious art collectors for over a hundred
years. This activity combines hands-on creativity with philosophy and
religion - all coming together through the artists (and your) hands into
Mother Earth's clay.
Supervision, explanation - and plenty of help
- will be offered by local Pueblo artists, and having your work fired
and sent back home is an option. Lunch or a snack also fits easily into
the program and, and the activity can be created in Santa Fe or at a local
Pueblo.
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Native American Float Trip
The beautiful Rio Grande Valley is home to
many Pueblo tribes that still follow their traditional ways. We navigate
a tranquil section of the river surrounded by majestic mountains, where
calm waters meander through a gorgeous land sacred to Native peoples for
over a thousand years. Native American guides will accompany you in the
raft, sharing their history and knowledge with you. Their stories, and
their unique view of the land they live in, provide an intimate glimpse
of a very special and ancient culture.
At the end of the trip you can enjoy a
delicious traditional feast, prepared and served by Pueblo Indian families.
This special meal includes red chile stew, green chile stew, posole, calabacitas,
oven bread or fry bread and Indian tea.
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