Instead of heading north toward Mesa Verde this morning, Elise and I decided on one more diversion and headed 30 miles south towards a Zuni Pueblo. We had read a short brochure which made this seem like a good opportunity to see the daily life of an American Indian community. When we arrived, we followed the instructions on the brochure and went directly to the Visitors Center. It was closed. A friendly young man who was selling his craft articles from a small stand at the entrance to the museum explained that the person in charge of the museum was out leading a guided tour, but that she would be back fairly soon and might be doing another tour in a little while. He also told us where she had gone and we decided to try to catch up with her and the tour. We couldn't find her but we did find a combination art supply store and gift shop with local crafts. The art supplies consisted largely of containers of rocks of various sizes from all over the world, which local artists used to make their jewelry and other items.
Shortly after we returned to the Visitors Center, the lady in charge returned from her tour, which had only included a visit to a local cathedral currently under reconstruction, so we hadn't really missed much. I spent some time just talking with her about life in the community. In addition to the usual brands of Christians, many of the residents are also adherents of the Zuni religion and have dance celebrations related to this religion from time to time. She said that their religious practices and beliefs were secret and she couldn't tell me anything else about them. I was also curious about whether high school graduates in the town ever went on to college. She said that a fairly large percentage did go to college, but that few of them returned to Zuni City.
We had read about a bakery in town where one could watch them make Zuni bread and after some direction found it on our own. What we actually saw was somewhat disappointing in that it was simply a house with a table in the front room on which were several loaves of fairly standard bread (sourdough, raisin bread, plain white bread) and apple turnovers. The bread was from yesterday; today's bread was still in the large kilns in back of the house. The lady we spoke to told us that the bakery had been in her family since her grandmother had either purchased or started it in 1975. We bought a loaf of the sourdough bread and a very tasty apple turnover. The bread was very dense; a little went a long way. Elise liked it, but to me it just tasted like day-old bread.
We then went to see the local museum. The sign on the door said that it was open from 8:00 to 5:00. Under that was a handwritten sign which said, "Back at 3:00" - so much for the museum.
Our next stop was the town's Senior Center. We were warmly welcomed by the receptionist who explained that most of the seniors connected with the center either worked in the schools as volunteer classroom aides or as volunteers visiting homebound elderly. After doing their volunteer work in the morning, they came to the Center for lunch in a bright, attractive dining room. We arrived a little before lunchtime and chatted a while with a couple of the women who had arrived a little early from their volunteer jobs. I was interested in whether there was still a Zuni language that anyone spoke. They told me that there were still some people who spoke Zuni and that the language was also taught in the schools. Everyone we met, however, seemed perfectly comfortable speaking English, and our overall impression was not how unique this community was, but rather how similar it seemed to any small town in America.
From there it was back north towards Cortez, just over the New Mexico border into Colorado and the closest town to the Mesa Verde National Park. We stopped for a little while along the way at Shiprock to see the fair in progress as we were driving by. Under a big tent people were sitting on bales of hay to watch about twenty people who were on a dance floor at the front of the tent learning country and western dances. There were various booths selling Indian crafts and food. We bought some steamed corn. We were surprised that it wasn't hot, but the man in the booth said that they had not been allowed to heat it. It didn't matter; the corn was delicious and I bought another ear before we left.
We arrived at a KOA just east of Cortez and rented a cabin for the night, since we knew that at this altitude the night would be quite cold. After settling in, we took a very pleasant walk on a trail from the campground that led around a small lake. We saw a small flock of geese honking their way south in a perfect V after a brief stopover at the lake, and we watched the sun set behind the hills. I made a spaghetti,cheese, and spinach dinner, which has become my culinary specialty.
Elise had a very good day healthwise but started coughing again here at the campground. We think it might be her fall allergies, in which case our camping days may be over. We'll see.
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