Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM

We took our first field trip as a group this past Friday to Bandelier National Monument in Los Alamos, NM.  It is a beautiful little park with wonderful films, exhibits, and trails that take you to the cliff dwellings and long houses of the Puebloan peoples.

Bandelier has a long human history and links to the modern Pueblos. Traditions which began in the distant past are still practiced today. At Bandelier, evidence of the Ancestral Pueblo people can be found in the dwellings, artifacts, and continuing culture of the modern pueblos. Early Spanish settlers, the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC), and  the National Park Service also left their mark on the local landscape.

People have lived in this area for over 10,000 years.  Ancestral Pueblo people built homes in the park's canyons and on the mesas.

Hunting

Groups of Paleoindians followed the movement of large, now-extinct species of ancient bison and mammoths. For the hunt, they crafted stone spear points and cutting tools, such as the Clovis point seen here. To improve their hunting success, they propelled their sharp spears with an altatl. This tool improved the power and distance a spear could be thrown. Warming temperatures and the extinction of many species of large animals brought an end to the Paleoindian lifestyle.

By 1550, the Ancestral Pueblo people had moved from this area to pueblos along the Rio Grande.  After over 400 years the land here could no longer support the people and a severe drought added to what were already becoming difficult times. Oral traditions tell us where the people went and who their descendents are. The people of Cochiti Pueblo, located just south and east along the Rio Grande, are the most direct descendents of the Ancestral Pueblo people who built homes in Frijoles Canyon.  Likewise, San Ildefonso is most closely linked to Tsankawi.

Sangre – Wk 1

After leaving the peace and quiet of Christ in the Desert, I headed to my destination here in New Mexico – the Sangre de Cristo Center near Santa Fe.  It, too, lies snuggled up in a canyon in the Sangre de Cristo mountains.  We are 34 religious men and women from every continent on the earth.   Some people come from places I have yet to find on the map!  It is a wonderful mix of priests, brothers and sisters.  Most of them have had extensive missionary experience.  It is nice to be able to talk about mission issues with people who can understand the complexities we deal with.  Some of them have even been to Brazil.

It took us all a while to get used to the altitude.  Sangre stands at over 7,000 ft.  We all experienced headaches, shortness of breath, and had trouble sleeping the first week.  After a while we were able to take short walks and do regular house work.  But no one is considering running a marathon yet!

The first week was like “Hell Week” at a Fraternity, since we had lots of planning meetings and demonstrations to help us get to know the house and how things work.  We all help with the upkeep, cleaning and cooking.  I do some music work, am a driver who brings folks into Santa Fe on our days free, and most importantly, I am the “Massage Czar”!  I help coordinate the massage appointments of the members of the group each week.  It is quite popular and we all get a free one hour massage to start off.

Usually we have Wednesday and Saturday afternoons free to explore Santa Fe.  The first weekend here coincided with Santa Fe Fiesta Days, so there were lots of things to see in the central Plaza.  We saw mariachis and dance groups, as well as sampled many of the local delicacies from the street vendors.  My friend Vitolia, from Somoa, was intrigued by the different costumes and music.

It is a city of artists and their work is everywhere.  It is very beautiful.  Since I like flutes, I decided to purchase a beautiful Native American Flute, which has wonderful deep tones.  I play at prayer services and Masses here at the Center.

Every street has some kind of art displayed either in galleries or in storefronts, or in gardens and parks.

Santa Fe has a wonderful cathedral, and also has many other interested churches.  The Loretto Chapel has the famous staircase built by an anonymous stranger which no one can figure out how it is still standing after all of these years since there are no nails in the structure.  Also, the oldest church in America is here, San Miguel’s.

The group is mature and serious, but also fun and creative.  Already we have had some very moving liturgies and prayer services.  As we all reflect on our religious lives thus far, it is a rich and grace-filled spirit which surrounds us.  The Staff is excellent, competent, and very helpful.  It is good to be here.

Christ in the Desert Monastery, Abiquiu, NM.

I left Durango and drove the lovely route 550 through the mountains of Colorado. As I descended I began to encounter the red rock and earth that I had seen on earlier parts of my trip. Then I came upon the beautiful Chama Valley, near Abiquiu, NM. I planned on staying at the Abiquiu Inn  (http://www.abiquiuinn.com/), near the monastery. In 1997 I stayed here for the first time.

Before arriving at the Inn I passed the Echo Amphitheater (http://www.digitalabiquiu.com/pages/tours/echo_t.html),  near Ghost Ranch  (http://www.ghostranch.org/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=cpc-adwords-event-calendar-2010), the famous residence of the artist Georgia O’Keefe (http://www.georgia-okeeffe.com/ghost-ranch.html). This whole are is filled with different kinds of artists and they are having a special showing of different ateliers in the area the first week of September. The Inn is typical of the adobe construction here. It is truly amazing that the temperatures inside can be almost twenty degrees cooler than outside. The evenings can be cold and each apartment at the Inn has a gas adobe fireplace.

Christ in the Desert Monastery (http://www.christdesert.org/) is off of the main road some 13 miles in the middle of a National Forest area, along the Chama River. In bad weather, the road is nearly impassable, but it has been recently repaired after several washouts, and is now nice and dry and hard. It is dirt and gravel, so it is very much open to the elements.

The guest house of the Monastery has no electricity. In fact, there is no trunk line of electricity into this part of the canyon. The monks have a series of solar panels which provide for electrical needs in the Monastery proper. We had Coleman battery lanterns at the guest house which charge during the day from a solar panel on the roof. The small refrigerator in the guest common room is run on propane, which also provides fuel for the small heaters in each room which are used in the winter. The inner garden of the guest house has a statue of St. Francis made from local wood. You get a sense of the dry desert but also of the lush green produced by its proximity to the Chama River. The guest house is a five minute walk to the Monastery.

The Monastery was designed by the a Japanese architect to fit in with the area. It is very simple and beautiful, providing spectacular views of the canyon walls behind it. At the top of the mesa you can see three crosses, where the monks hike during Holy Week.

One of my work assignments while here was to help harvest the hops for Monks Ale! I’m glad I visited the Budweiser brewery while I was in St. Louis so I had some knowledge of what they are used for. It was a wonderfully relaxing morning spent under the shade of a huge cottonwood tree down by the river with several other monks and friends from nearby.

On September 6th I left the Monastery early and made the trip to the Sangre de Cristo Center (http://www.sangredecristo.org/) in Santa Fe., NM. Since I had just finished reading Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather, it was a particular delight to see the old cathedral (http://www.cbsfa.org/home0.aspx)  in the center of town which I came upon while looking for someplace to wash my car. As soon as I get situated at Sangre, I will send more news.  The day I arrived here was Labor Day and most things were closed.