Day Five - Santa Fe

Day Five got off to a slow start. Our alarm was supposed to go off at 8am so we could get to Bandelier fairly early, but that didn't happen and we slept in. Yay! Finally got off our butts and headed up to Santa Fe for lunch. We went to the downtown square (no idea what it's called) and got some street carnitas. So tasty! And a cup of Jamaica (Ha-MY-Ca), which is hibiscus juice. Then it was another hour or so (I was sleeping, who knows how long we really drove!) to Bandelier.

Bandelier is part of Frijoles Canyon, where Ancesteral Pueblo people settled, building cave dwellings and adobe homes. It housed about 400 homes and quite a few families. Today, the caves remain in tact, and the pueblo homes still have foundations. The cave walls have carvings on them, we're assuming to label them as to families or tribes.

Remains of Pueblo homes

Overview of the Pueblo Village -- all the homes were in a circle around a Plaza area.

Look carefully to the right of the hole with rocks in it. See the carvings? Pretty cool.

Some of the caves have ladders up to them, so visitors can climb in and see what it's all about. Pretty fascinating to see where these Pueblo people lived.

Stone Pueblo houses below the caves
More pictures of Pueblo homes below the caves.

On our way out of the park, Mr. Adventure decided he didn't want to take the main road, but he wanted to take a scenic detour. The GPS said we'd arrive home in the same amount of time, so I agreed. Never again!!! This was the rockiest, most uneven path we've ever taken. At one point, Justin had to get out and scout the next 100 feet or so, to plan his route of attack. The little Hyundai that could, let me tell you. That thing acted like the biggest, baddest pick-up truck you've ever seen.

Mr. Adventure, running to see what the road ahead looks like and whether we'd be able to continue driving.

Then when we'd gone 9 miles, of the 9.5 miles (taking about an hour or so), we came to a tiny water hole at the bottom of a creek. Panicked that we'd now have to somehow manage a u-turn and go all the way back, we got out and assessed the situation. A woman in a pickup truck was as dumb as we were, for taking this path, and she soared through the water with no problem. So the little Hyundai that Could picked up some speed and blazed through it like it was just a tiny puddle. Finally. We were at the end of that path and onto tar-paved streets! An adventure, that's for sure.

Tomorrow we're heading to the Tinkertown Museum before taking off for Carlsbad Caverns. All in all, Albuquerque was fun, though it's insanely dry here and we're ready to move on. We're both still sick, but the only thing it's kept us from doing is the Sandia Tramway which takes you to the top of a mountain, and has various trails to hike. We were really looking forward to it, but the pressure on our ears right now would just be painful... Oh well. If that's the only thing this damn cold keeps us from doing, sobeit.