Sometimes we just get overwhelmed, so I apologise now for our inability to select just a few pics for this bit. The International Museum of Folk Art is just outside Santa Fe and it blew us away from the moment we stepped inside. So many diverse cultures are represented, it is the largest collection of International Folk Art in the world. Over 100 countries are represented in a 160k piece collection. Founded by Florence Bartlett with a collection of 2500 pieces it needed a new building when Alexander and Susan Girard donated their 106k piece collection of treasures from their travels (we might open a museum one day with all our collected bits?!!) The diversity was incredible from shadow puppets to dioramas to ceramics to amulets & votive offerings to weavings to pottery to Japanese woodblock to…. anyway, here’s a few pictures! Sorry!
Within the same buildings was an exhibit about Alaska Native Parka’s. How they are made, what from, what they can symbolise and the significance of family designs. There is so much legacy in the design and style of Parka’s that we’d never realised, they are much more than a warm dry coat. The ‘sunshine ruff’s’ of women’s special occasion parkas, have numerous furs, the softest being against the face. They can identify a wearers family and ancestry, their village and region. It was fascinating to learn that the Parka is part of the social identity and the craftsmanship was way beyond my basic sewing skills.
Another section was dedicated to La Cartonería, the making of three-dimensional sculptures with papier-mâché, which is part of Mexico’s tradition of paper based handcrafts. A way of expressing imagination, emotion and traditions in Mexico, from masks to toys, the creativity was superb and so colourful as you’d imagine. Many of the creations, from small to really big, are used in religious and cultural festivals. Like Mardis Gras in New Orleans, the Mexicans also celebrate the days before Lent with processions and ceremonial burnings. It reminded us of Malaga’s ‘Burning of the Anchovy’ at the end of their Carnival.
The Mexicans too, burn effigies, originally of Judas during The Fire of Holy Week, but these days the Cartonero’s build figures that society considers evil (three guesses who’s now a regular for his attitude towards Mexico) We didn’t realise that Piñata’s (where kids bash a paper mache effigy with a stick) was a Christmas tradition and was The Star of Bethlehem with 7 points for the 7 deadly sins. The treats being for overcoming sin. Completely lost these days as a party piece for children who like sugar!
Anyhow, you can no doubt see why we were there all day and why we needed to find a micro brewery to chill out in afterwards, an absolute gem of a place to visit. The following day was a calmer affair, save for driving around Alburquerque seeking out engine oil for our oil change. Four different places to find 7 litres in total! Close to where we camped was Boca Negra Canyon and Petroglyphs National Park. Dating back to when Pueblo peoples settled along the Rio Grande, 3000 years ago it’s a dense array of Petroglyphs and fascinating. It’s s shame some are graffitied and have bullet holes, American history deserves better.
Picking up part of the New Mexico Route 66 stretch we passed through a fair few non descript and pretty much lifeless towns other than Grants, with it’s drive though arch photo op and fabulous street art ‘baskets’. Dating back to pueblo families, they made baskets for ceremonial functions, wedding and healing ceremonies in particular. Some were obviously made for trade too but it was great way to show off history in their giant form. One below has Ravens, a keeper of sacred laws and the other is a Navajo Wedding Basket. It was our last full day in New Mexico and the landscape didn’t disappoint, Mesas (flat topped mountains) looking like mountain steps for giants, moody skies, hoodoos and the vast barren and dry, tumbleweeded flatlands, far into the distance. We arrived in Gallup for our last rodeo…
Being St Patricks Day we treated ourselves to breakfast at the nearby Hotel el Rancho, opened in 1937 and both it, and the menu, hasn’t changed much it seems. Having to do the vegetarian hustle and swap out sausage for cheese, ham for more cheese and yes please on onions, we had a pretty basic omelette and coffee. They were offering green ketchup stuff given the day! Another hotel surviving on its film HQ hey days, it was packed with signed photos and other memorabilia. I did wonder, when reading their slogan, what happens ‘today’ if convenience is tomorrow? Frankly, the local Americana signage was more interesting!
Heading into Arizona we were in a snow storm which made life interesting, thankfully we were able to tuck in behind a snow plough. At 7720ft hail storms were settling and the white contrasting with the red rocks was a sight to behold. All around we had moody skies, lightening and winds, not what you’d expect in the high desert of Arizona. We arrived at Chelly National Monument relieved.
Canyon de Chelly was spectacular. Not a single tourist, it’s a bit like a mini Grand Canyon without the overwhelming size. Personally, I find it more comprehensible when I can understand what I’m looking at and the gaping crevice in the earth as we approached the edge of the rim was a sight to be sure. The standout feature was Spider Rock, a solitary tower rising up from the valley floor, 800ft of sandstone. Other lookouts gave us views of the valley floor and the cultivated farmland, others, through binoculars, we could see ancient ruins of Pueblo peoples houses and communities, precarious within the rocks.
Red cliffs soar, cathedral like and there’s a kind of quilt of colours, natures art, in the eroded canyon walls, gorgeous patterns, sheer rock faces, crags and towers. The valley floor with pale green cottonwoods following the meandering water like a labyrinth. A super, unspoilt by tourism part of Arizona, looked after by Navajo as it’s their land. A certain feline surveyed it as though it was hers though!
The Curious Adventures of the Cat in the Camper Van 