| Submitted by: Mark R. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 15 February 2005 |
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I still haven't figured one that said, 'Big Wind Sale--60-70%.'
We got to the Canyon eventually and took the scenic drive. It starts with a souvenir shop with a tower to climb to get a bird's- eye view of the Canyon. You have to pay twenty-five cents to climb the tower. Now I discovered a secret on how to get a bird's-eye view of the Canyon: you walk up to the edge of the rim and look down. The thirty or so feet the tower adds is nothing you cannot get at one of the lookouts without having to look through glass.
There are a lot of German and French tourists at the Canyon. On one of the Indian stores there was the sign 'Deutsch Wilkommen.'
But no matter how many people show up, there is still more than enough canyon to go around. Just standing looking you see a huge expanse of stratified rocks and the strata go from one butte to the next. Those that are tall enough that they are flat-topped mesas rather than the shorter buttes are green on top, but on the columns sticking up everything below the rim is in layers of red rock.
As we were looking at the view, someone claimed to see an eagle flying over the Canyon. I was skeptical that it was an eagle. I didn't think it was large enough. I thought it was something like a hawk that was smaller, though I admit it is tough to judge size at the Grand Canyon. Coronado looked into the Canyon and saw a river at the bottom which he judged to be six feet wide. The Indians with him told him it was three hundred feet wide. He sent down soldiers to have a closer look, but days later they gave up, getting only a third of the way down the Canyon. As for the bird, well, it did have a white head. Maybe it was an eagle.
Next stop was at one of the ranger museums for a half-hour talk about the Anasazi.
The ranger was very adamant against saying that the prehistoric tribes 'disappeared.' I'm not so sure that isn't the proper term. There were five tribes I mentioned previously. All of them seemed to abandon their homes early in the 1400s for reasons not currently known or understood. Probably the reason either was or was connected with a series of droughts--one twenty-three years according to tree rings--that ravaged the Southwest about that time. The next record we have says that there were tribes in the area like the Zuni, Navajo, and Hopi. Very probably the before-tribes were the same tribes, but there is insufficient evidence at which prehistoric tribes became which historic tribes. I might defend the use of the term 'disappeared,' though. Ten tribes of Israel are said to have disappeared. All that means is we are not sure where they went or what peoples they became. To say they disappeared merely means that the observer cannot trace them. (And isn't that what we mean by saying Jimmy Hoffa disappeared?) The five tribes of prehistoric Indians did not wink out of existence, but we cannot trace what happened to them. The Anasazi, as an archaeologically traceable people, did disappear. It is very highly probable they became some known tribe when they reappeared. The five names-- Anasazi, Hohokam, Sinagua, Salado, and Mogollon--are really not even names but descriptions that later people used. 'Anasazi' means 'the old enemy.' 'Hohokam' means 'those who vanished.' 'Sinagua' means 'those who did not have water.' For all we know, the Sinagua might have called themselves 'Zuni.'
The Anasazi were matrilineal. They would have a clan house and the woman would be born there, live there, and die there. When the men would marry, they would go to live at their wife's clan house. The husbands at a clan house would be from all different families; the women would all be from the one or two families that owned the clan house. Men took care of the kiva (the chapel--sort of), hunting, and the other man stuff. The women took care of food preparation, clothing-making, and playing bridge.
We also got an explanation of what kachinas are. Literally, a kachina is an intermediary between humans and gods, almost like an angel. People dress up as kachinas for ceremonies, which is why you see pictures of brightly costumed kachina dancers. Children are taught about kachinas using kachina dolls. That is why we have the three different forms.
At these ruins (called the Tusayan Ruins) the clan houses are large U's with the open end to the east. The kiva was at the northeast corner and a second one was at the southeast corner. The kiva was the men's preserve. If a woman wanted to punish her husband, he would have to sleep in the kiva or perhaps return to his 'true home,' the clan house of his mother and sisters.
The Anasazi buried their dead with water and provisions for a long journey. They had short life spans--averaging thirty-five years.
On the way back to Flagstaff, we stopped at Wupatki. What is Wupatki? Well, in the fall the ground to the north started smoking. No fire, just smoke. And the ground was warm. It wasn't too long before the ground cracked open. It was a major volcano. It created a cone of cinders a thousand feet high. (Eventually this would be known as Sunset Crater, incidentally.) A wind blew ashes eighteen miles to the north to cover the ground in a place now called Wupatki. It blew the ash in other directions, of course. Eight hundred square miles were covered, but Wupatki also had the right sort of topography for building pueblos. The ash fertilized the soil and made it perfect for growing corn and other crops. This area now has over eight hundred pueblo ruins. The public visits maybe seven or so. What remains is of varying degrees of completeness. The tops of most of the pueblos are gone but you do get to walk right into the pueblos and get a feel for the size of the rooms and the size of the inhabitants. Many of the pueblos offer commanding views of the surrounding area, either for aesthetics or for protection. We got about halfway through when the sundown caught us. We returned to Flagstaff, catching a quick meal at Taco Bell.
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We had breakfast at JB's again. Their $2.99 buffet is hard to beat. These days we are eating for about $11 each per day.
Betatakin was our first goal for the day. It is about two hours northeast of Flagstaff. We tried listening to the radio. It is just our luck to be in Arizona when every darn public radio station is in fund-drive mode. We listen to the news for ten minutes, then it goes into begging mode and we have to change the station.
Evelyn had heard about a Navajo radio station. Very strange ads. They were advertising somebody's quarterhorse sale. 'All mares more than two years old, $300 off. All mares with a colt on the side and one in the tummy, $200 off.' The music was about 80% country-western and 20% Indian. Indian music is just what you think it is. Most of us have heard Indian ceremonial music. It just sounds strange in a mix with country-western music.
Betatakin is pretty inaccessible even from the Visitors Center. You can go on a hiking day trip to get closer. What most people-- including us--do is walk downhill a half a mile to a stone cliff opposite Betatakin where you can just get a distant glimpse. There is a big telescope there (I estimate something like 20-power), just so you can see the actual site. What is the Betatakin site? It is an entire village in an alcove in the side of a cliff overlooking a canyon. These are people who did not want surprise guests. The alcove is 452 feet high, 370 feet wide, and 135 feet deep. In this alcove is a whole prehistoric village big enough for a population of 135 people. The village seems better preserved than most prehistoric villages. (Gee, I wonder why.) This village was inhabited by the Anasazi.
On the trail down they as usual identify the plants and what they were used for. This one had a sap that could be used as chewing gum. That one had pads that were used as diaper pads. One they said was good to counteract the effects of swallowing ants.
Now, my question is why would people swallow ants and how the heck did anyone figure out that this plant is good for swallowed ants?
We asked the ranger at the Visitors Center why anyone would eat ants and how they would figure out what plants would be a cure. He didn't know either.
Also on the path was a reconstructed hogan and a sweathouse. A sweathouse is like a sauna without use of water. Only hot rocks were used.
After that we were headed for Monument Valley. As Evelyn drove, I read from THE BOOK OF THE NAVAJO by Raymond Friday Locke. I read the myth of creation and paraphrased it for Evelyn. Occasionally as I looked up I saw some impressive rock formations. But then we were coming to Monument Valley.
Now I have to describe Monument Valley to you. You probably have seen it in a hundred Westerns; the question is which ones. This is some of the most spectacular scenery in the country. Above the prairie are shelves of red rock. And every once in a while you see spectacular upliftings--I'd guess three hundred feet and that could be low--of layered rock eroded into amazing weird shapes. One book calls them 'majestic sandstone skyscrapers.' Every Western you have seen where the stagecoach or buckboard is riding to town and just sort of oblivious to going by a huge tower of stone sticking out of the ground was filmed in Monument Valley.
In 1923 Mike and Harry Goulding set up a trading post just outside the valley. Their agenda of making money by trading in Navajo goods soon became a secondary agenda to that of trying to make the Navajo prosperous also and trying to make their culture work in the 20th Century. Harry decided that if the movie industry could come out and throw some money around, the Indians might profit. At this point, most Westerns were shot at places near Hollywood. The topography lacked drama. Harry thought that Western movies needed Monument Valley. Harry got some pictures of Monument Valley and headed to Hollywood to see premier Western-maker John Ford.
'No, Mr. Ford isn't in. No, I don't know when he'll be in.' 'No problem,' says Harry, leaving. 'I'm back,' says Harry a few minutes later. 'Just wanted to be here when Mr. Ford returns,' says Harry, unrolling his bedroll. Mr. Ford is irritated. Mr. Ford agrees to look at the photos. Mr. Ford goes to Monument Valley to scout locations. Mr. Ford shoots STAGECOACH in Monument Valley. Now I myself don't know why that film was so popular. It isn't a very good story. It introduced John Wayne, but he wasn't that good. Maybe it was Monument Valley that nobody had seen before. Anyway, the valley is a real jaw-dropper. You can get a guided tour for $15 a person, but there is very low pressure. In fact, one of the Navajos who wanted to take us for a tour later saw us driving the road and waved to us. Later he saw our car and invited us to try what he called 'Navajo beer.' Actually it was an outlet of spring water.
That brings me to an observation. When I first started traveling a lot, I put the Netherlands low on my list of where I'd like to go. Then flying home from Africa I had a few hours' layover in Amsterdam airport. I dealt with very few Dutch there, but they all seemed to have bright dispositions and joked a lot. They seemed uniformly friendly and likable. All of a sudden I wanted more dealings with the Dutch. I have dealt with few Navajos, but they have seemed instantly friendly and out-going. They have good sense of humor. I would like to get to know more Navajos. Ironically, I probably have (or had) a better chance for contact with the Dutch. (When I actually went to the Netherlands, I found my first impressions were pretty close to being on the money.)
The roads that have to be driven around Monument Valley are pretty bad. They are dry and dusty, often with very high grades. But the landscape is genuinely breath-taking. |
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