GO WEST some more !!!
After fascinating Great Sand Dunes, we went off to visit Mesa Verde National Park.
Ever since I was a child when I had read about American Indians, or rather, Native Americans, I've been attracted to them and their culture. I remember well the explanations given in the book on Native Americans who lived in cliff dwellings. Therefore, I've been dreaming for the longest time of going to Mesa Verde. Done, and you know what??? I simply LOVED it!!!
It's very well organised like in most National Parks, and there, the visit of the ruins (there are several) are all done with a ranger, except for one where whre you can go on your own, but there are rangers there to answer your questions and to make sure no one ruins anything. There's a fee for each visit.
So what is Mesa Verde ? They are the ruins of Native American cliff dwellings. They used to live on top of the cliffs, but for unknown reasons, probably warfare or something else, moved into the cliffs to build their dwellings, they continued however to cultivate the land on top of the cliffs. They would go down the face of the cliffs to their homes by way of foot and toe holds, carved into the stone. Quite impressive from our modern viewpoint.
Then one day, they didn't live there anymore. We're not quite sure why, several hypotheses are suggested....
I found that the area deserves to be seen. The explanations of most of the rangers are quite interesting, and they gladly answer to any questions we may have.
So that you don't pine too much, and to give an idea of these ruins, I found this photo on the web to hold you over until we finish sorting out the 6903 photos we took...
