On Thursday, October 17, we traveled to Bandelier National Monument to peek into the windows of the Pueblo Indian homes and apartments. Actually, the ruins are hundreds of years old and no longer used, but still of great interest. I remember as a kid my dad got National Geographic and the magazine had several stories about the Pueblo Indians and how they lived. The articles were accompanied by photos and artist’s concept images of what the cliff dwellings, kiva’s, and rounded towns looked like back in the day. That stuff fascinated me.
Vicky and I both climbed a ladder to look into the cliff dwelling (not at the same time) and I marveled at how small it was. But then the Pueblo Indians were only about 5 feet tall. Each dwelling has a black soot ceiling because they used to have fires inside their small rooms. Some had pictographs depicting animals and such. Some had openings to other rooms allowing passage back and forth. The kivas were large circular structures dug into the ground with roofs overhead. They were used for social and religious events. Like many of the other built structures, one gained access via a hole in the roof and a ladder down to the inside. I imagine they didn’t have doors and windows in order to keep the local wildlife outside.
The Bandelier National Monument has a great visitor’s center, museum and gift shop. The two-mile main trail begins and ends at the center. The museum has items you can touch and handle (such as rocky types) and dioramas depicting typical daily moments in the lives of the Indians. It also contained a lot of information about how they lived and where they came from. The gift shop was a gift shop and I avoided it.
We had lunch at a picnic table just across the stream from the visitor’s center – sandwiches, chips, cheese and fruit that we had brought from home. All in all, a tiring but satisfying excursion.
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