Quests and Spirituality

Today was a day of quests.

I started the day at Bandelier National Monument,yet another ancient pueblo dwelling. I am sort of getting tired of pueblos and ready for the plains indians, but I digress. This place was pretty neat bc initially the people hollowed out caves in the volcanic rock. Then they built stuctures against the mesa walls. Then they built giant pueblo towns on the canyon floor. Another neat thing about this place is that they have installed ladders that you can climb up and inside some of the hollowed out openings (at your own risk of course).

The higlight and scariest part was visiting the alcove house. this house is 140 feet off the canyone floor and is reached via 3 very tall (25 feet ish) wooden ladders, a short ladder, and some steps. Very easy to fall to your death, but that's the fun. All this ascending leads you to a hollowed out alcove with an intact kiva (circular ceremonial room where you climb through the roof) with a roof (most of the time the roofs have decayed away) and a ladder so you could go in. Spirtual. After I had my fill of pueblo ruins, I hiked the falls trail to two spectacular water falls.

Then I headed into Los Alamos. I came in the back way through the actual lab complex and had to go throgh a security checkpoint. I visited the Bradbury Museum of Science which put a positive spin on nuclear everything - medicine, weapons, etc, and highlighted what some of the scientists were working on (like the Human Genome Project). Los Alamos was originally a boys school purchased specifically to be taken over for the Manhattan Project as a secret location for the top scientists to come together and collaborate. It was very secret and if you went there - you stayed for the duration - and you didn't know how long that was going to be so you brought your entire family. The average age was 25! Everyone worked for the lab in some way even if was just secretary work or maintenance. All mail and communication went through a post office box in Santa Fe and the people in the area didn't even know it was there.

I visited a store called the Black Hole, which has anything and everything technological or scientific. I knew it was in LA, but couldnt remember where. I had to talk to the visitor's center twice until I found this meca. It had panels that looked right out of submarines, lab equipment, all kinds of stuff. It is way more junky than the junk store in Louisa that mom likes. It would be perfect if you wanted to make an urban sculpture. The man told me that I wasnt in there long enough when I came out, but it was overwhelming.

The last stop for the say was Chimayo for the Sanctuary. The sanctuary was built in Chimayo bc a farmer was 'called,' dug, and discovered a cross in the soil. Someone tried to move it twice to a distant church, but each evening it dissapeared from the church and back to the earth in Chimayo, so they just built a church around it. Apparently millions of people make a pilgramage to this adobe church each year for it's miraculous healing powers (the Lourdes of America). There are lots of crosses and shrines outside and inside and you can see the offerings people have left and the crutches and walkers they have left behind. It was interesting.

Home again to Santa Fe for map reading and some excellet carrot cake from WholeFoods. Tomorrow will be museum day and then onto Texas.