Salt, Societies, and Spirituality - A Visit to Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument

Mountainair, New Mexico (very chilly, high 42 degrees, low 20's, clear blue skies)

"Listen to the wind,

it talks

Listen to the silence,

it speaks

Listen to your heart,

it knows."

Native American Proverb

ABO

One chilly morning we ventured out with our visiting friends Fran and Randy and went on a all day tour of the Salinas Pueblo Missions which are a part of a National Monument. They are not all together but spread out over a very scenic part  of New Mexico. It's an all day adventure but easily done with a good map and an early start. 

ABO

ABO

John, Fran, and Randy with ABO in the distance

The title of this post is taken from the parks website and it aptly summarizes what happened at these three beautiful missions. Here you can see ruins of churches operated by Franciscan monks which were  built by Tompiro Indians in 1150. The Pueblo Indians were the most recent residents.

We visited all three pueblos starting with Abo, then went downtown to Mountainiar visitor center to watch the historical film, ate a delicious lunch at a cute coffee house, and then on to Quarai, and finally Gran Quivira.  

This valley eventually because a major trade center with over 10,000 inhabitants. They traded pinyon nuts, maize, salt, pinto beans, pottery, and cotton goods for meat and hides. 

Quarai

Canyon  Towee

I won't go into all the history but it's important to know that  many cultures lived here including Nomadic Indians as far back as 20,000 years ago and later the Mongolian pithouse dwellers. The Spaniards eventually tried to settle this area and built churches to convert the Indians to Christianity. This clash of culture did not always go well. Eventually famine, lack of water, and relentless raids from the Apaches finally drove them away in 1670's never to return again. 

Gran Quivira

This is a very helpful map from the park website which shows the locations of the missions. It was a great road trip and the architecture was magnificent against the blue skies. We all thought these walls had many stories to tell. 

Return to White Sands National Monument

Alamogordo, NM (52 high 27 low)

"get out of your car and crawl in the sand, 

and experience what nature has to offer,

you might be surprised at what you find"

Edward Abbey 

Desert Solitaire

(This post is a rewind. I'm behind in posting and this took place over the Thanksgiving holiday)

I read Edward Abbey's book in my 20's and this quote had a powerful affect upon me. He lamented oftentimes how people never got out of their car when traveling and would only peer through the windshield. I used this quote to thank the folks who joined me on the Sunset Stroll while I was volunteering at White Sands National Monument. To truly experience this dazzling and unusual place getting out of your car is essential.  

We volunteered here for a few months in 2011. It was our first volunteer position with a National Park and it's a very special place. This Thanksgiving while volunteering at Bosque del Apache NWR, our friends who originally helped us get this position invited us to Thanksgiving dinner at their home in Alamogordo.  Eileen and John so love it here and returned often to volunteer at White Sands whenever possible. They have now gotten off the road this year and have bought a beautiful home nearby. 

We stopped at White Sands National Monument prior to seeing them and got out of car and retraced the route I used to take with the Sunset Stroll. This was a free program offered by White Sands and is very popular. I would describe about how the gypsum sand dunes are created and tell about the plants and animals which call this place their home. The beautiful sands have shifted but much of the trail still remains the same. Jimmy joined us too and we quietly took in the beauty as we hiked the route.  

These beautiful wave like gypsum sand dunes encompass a 275 square miles in the Tulorosa basin. Some of the dunes are massive and we saw lots of people sliding down them in saucers you can rent at the gift shop. 

This is a photo of me giving my talk in 2011. This yucca is still there and it's the same one with Jimmy standing nearby at the top of the post. I look so official in this shot. :)

Below is a structure which is home to many of the nocturnal creatures. It's not as green or as healthy as before but still is holding up. 

Now

Then (2011)

We had a wonderful and tasty Thanksgiving dinner at Eileen and John's new home the next day. Our friends Fran and Randy were there too. All of us originally met at a NOMADS project in Eustis Florida when we first started fulltiming. We have remained friends ever since. Eileen and John seem to really enjoy living in their new home and love all the additional space. It was great to see them and a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving surrounded by friends. 

Front (Eileen, Fran, and John) Back (John and Randy)

We  hope you had a good time over the holidays too.

Stop by again soon to see our next post about a visit with Fran and Randy to the Salinas Pueblo Missions. 

If you are interested in reading some of my posts written during our volunteering at White Sands click here or for another post when we had the whole park to ourselves because of a snowfall click here.