Sky City

23 April - Acoma Pueblo

If you've visited our house you may have noticed a large Indian pot in the china cabinet.  My mother got it at an estate auction years ago back east.  It's know as a polychrome water jar (or olla) and probably dates from later 1800's to early 1900's. 

Similar to this.

It's distinctive "parrot" pattern and shape mark it as Acoma Indian origin.  Well today we're visiting Acoma Pueblo, the place where it would have been made.  It's located on the 400,000 acre Acoma Reservation west of Albuquerque about 1/2 hour south of I-40 and is supposedly the oldest continuously occupied "city" in North America (since about 1150).

The Pueblo is currently inhabited by about 200 permanent (and additional seasonal) residents and has no electricity, running water or permanent sanitary systems. There are some "modern" conveniences, (small propane tanks, personal generators, solar panels, and port-a-potties) but for the most part it appears to be a pretty traditional environment.

We've been to a couple of other SW pueblos so my expectations were not particularly high.  That said, and in spite of my decidedly Anglo-centric upbringing, I wasn't disappointed with the visit. The setting, on top of an isolated mesa, was impressive and all of the people we met, (residents and guides), were friendly and informative.

Visiting the pueblo is by guided tour only, with transport by bus up to the top of the mesa.  The tour is highly regulated regards where you could go and what you could not photograph and you are chaperoned by two pleasant (but watchful) guides.  And to be sure, there were numerous resident artisans selling their creations for extravagant prices, but which they would voluntarily cut in half as the opening bargaining position. 

The following pics give you a sense of the place.

The original Spanish Mission
(no inside pics allowed)

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View of the surrounding neighborhood.

Typical street scene.

Some of the original architecture.

How to keep the rampaging Spaniards out of your house.

Now its just to keep rampaging tourists out.

I must be getting soft in my old(er) age.  In years past, I would never have passed up such an easy target for a politically incorrect remark or wise crack.  But the fact is that it is THEIR home and as the original Americans, they should be able to do as they darn well please with it.  If it means fleecing us latter day Americans, then I guess we don't HAVE to visit.

All-in-all, it was not overly, in-your-face commercialized and I'm glad we went.  I'll just swallow my many available smart-arse remarks.

A short side story.  Valerie, (being the most generous person I know) ended up buying a small pot from a kindly elderly lady who was the grandmother of the "straggler catcher" guide for our group.  The outrageously high price was cut in half right away.  Unfortunately Valerie was not carrying enough cash (remember no electricity for credit card transaction) to pay even the still outrageously high 1/2 price.  Long-story-short, the lady said no problem and to take the pot and just give the money (which was in the Funmobile) to the grandson after the bus-ride down to the bottom of the mesa.  So off we went with the pot and of course grandson missed the bus down.  We ended up giving the still outrageously high 1/2 price sum (which was still WAY TOO outrageously high) to the bus driver to take back up the mesa to the grandson who would give it to Grand-ma.

Well now, I can't speak for anyone else, but when I was 6-10 years old, every western I ever watched drove home the fact that you could NEVER trust an Indian.  But the real fact is that the bus driver did give the money to the grandson (who confirmed receipt when we saw him a little later).  Now whether he gave it to his grandmother, or bought whiskey and rifles with it, we will never know.  But I'll bet Grand-ma would beat the be-jibbies out of him if it turned up missing.

The most surprising thing is that Grand-ma trusted a couple of pale-faces to not just jump on their ponies and ride off into the sunset with her property without paying.  It's a funny world sometimes.  Guess she didn't have a TV when she was 6-10.

Good night from Abiquiu Lake NM

Brad and Val