Got back from my 3 day excursion into Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. I needed a break from this Reality and some fresh thoughts in my mind. I’d planned on only visiting Monument Valley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDMQaXZ87WA and Mesa Verde ruins in Colorado http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhlobyL6dGU Monument Valley was about a 6 hour drive with a lunch stop in Kayenta. Kayenta is a small community near Four Corners on the Navajo rez. You would think this would be a unique little town steeped in Navajo traditions. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. The only places I could find to eat were the national chains like Burger King. Not one local restaurant was to be found, I might as well have been pulling into any town USA. The fast food poisons stops were lined up together like any other small town in America. You would've thought I’d find at least a Fry Bread shop for lunch. Maybe a center where I could record some Navajo women in traditional dress. No it was just another barren ass truck stop on the Navajo rez. Fish sandwich was all I could find for lunch in a BK. A quick lunch and onto the Monument Valley. You think of Monument Valley being in Arizona but it’s actually in Utah.
I paid my $5 bucks and drove into the park. First thing I did was visit the visitor center and gift shop. I was surrounded by folks talking different languages, mainly German. I was surprised you could drive into the canyon with it’s giant rock spires. The problem with this, there were several other cars along with me. So it made for a hop-scotch type of drive with other cars. You would drive along looking for what you’d like to record. When you saw something you wanted to record, you’d stop the car, jump out with motor running and shoot the scene you wanted, then jump back in the car before you were surrounded in a dust cloud. What happened was, many of my short videos never turn out well enough to use, plus you could hear my car and others running. My Canon VIXIA HF S20 is of such good quality it picks up all sounds nearby. One day I’ll return and make better plans for recording the beauty of Monument Valley. When you drive into the canyon, you drive a 17 mile loop around the valley floor. Monument Valley was first known to the general public for the many scenes filmed their for the western movies in the fifties. Now you have a lodge you can stay at overlooking the canyon floor. What you are looking for when recording the rock spires is shadows across the valley floor which highlight the rock spires. Unfortunately I figure that out after viewing my own photographs. Another good idea when recording in the valley is what is called the ‘sweet light’. This only occurs in the early morning and evening just before sunset. The glare or the midday Sun drowns out the colors of the rock formations. When leaving the park just before sunset, you could see the folks who knew what they were doing. Setting up there tripods of that certain pic that could only be recorded in that ½ hour of ‘sweet light’. Lesson learned for future photographs I’d like to record. After all, isn’t that what life’s all about. Make your mistakes learn and move on with the knowledge you’ve attained.
After a day of hard travel and sightseeing, I headed to Bluff Utah for the night. Bluff is a town of about 300 folks, of which there are many retirees. Bluff is located in the southeast corner of Utah and surrounded with beautiful reddish bluffs, thus the name. Had supper at the only restaurant open on a Sunday evening. While waiting for my food to be delivered, I scanned my Atlas looking for other ruins to visit. What I found was Hovenweep ruins located northeast of Bluff. This was on my way to Mesa Verde ruins sort of. Next morning stopped at the same restaurant for breakfast. There I meet a outback guide with two guys from Taiwan. That area of Utah is known for it’s river rafting trips on the San Juan River that flows from the mountains in southern Colorado. One of the Taiwanese guys with the guide was an adventure journalist there recording his trip. I introduced myself to the journalist, explaining about my videos and blog. Turns out he wants to do a piece on my stuff. He has made contact twice with me, so we’ll see where this leads.
After breakfast it was off to my new adventure at Mesa Verde with a quick stop at Hovenweep ruins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9ow0U2fHOg. On the way to the ruins I discovered there was oil under the ground in the particular area of Utah. It was like I was in west Texas, with all the oil pumpers dotting the landscape. Knowing I was still on the Navajo rez, I wondered just how much of this oil money got into the hands of the Navajo peoples? My bet would be very little, for the Navajos were living just as they were on other parts of the Navajo rez, badly.
As you can see from my video of Hovenweep ruins, I could have been on the Hopi rez instead, same type of vegetation, only greener from a greater rainfall. This set of ruins was small compared to Mesa Verde ruins and cliff dwellings. While recording I meet a retired Navy Corpsman with his grandkids. Now there were no chem-trails in the skies at the “Time”. You could still recognize the residuals from the aerial spray, probably that was laid down over California. I asked the Navy retiree if he knew about the recent chem-trail sprayings, he did and the grandkids had no clue what was being done to the skies of Mother Earth. This shows the ‘dumbing down’ of the youth today, via the public education system. It was easy for me and the retired Navy to show how you could see the spread out chem-tails. By pointing out the color of the sky between the two. I told the grandkids they have never seen a true blue sky, while grandfather was nodding his head in approval. I Left the grandfather enjoying his “Time” with his grandkids and headed for Cortez Colorado, about an hour drive away to the east. Haven’t been to Cortez in many years,. but the community looked pretty much the same, only with urban sprawl.
Mesa Verde ruins are just on the outskirts of Cortez, heading towards Durango Colorado. The “Gods” greeted me with a short and beautiful cloudburst just as I arrived in the parking lot of the visitors center. It was like letting me know that the “Gods” were with me on this journey back in “Time” on the Mesa Verde ruins. The brief storm added to the natural beauty of the area surrounding the ruins and freshened the air. I had no idea how large the Mesa Verde reserve was. 80 square miles of protected forest lands and ruins. Without a doubt, Mesa Verde ruins are the Granddaddy of all the cliff dwellings in the southwest, occupied by the Pueblos Peoples. As you can see from my video the guest center was very well done, at a great expense, your expense I might add. If you really want to enjoy Mesa Verde ruins, I suggest to plan on spending at least 2 days wandering the park.
When I visit these Native Americans site located throughout the southwest. The first thing that come to mind is, ‘who taught the Native Peoples structural engineering’. These cliff dwelling are no easy feat to complete. And being in construction most of my life, the precision is amazing. How someone lays-out these dwelling with an overall idea how it will be completed, amazes me. Today that would take an college educated architect and structural engineer. And if someone was educated enough then to come up with the idea alone. How would they know precise details of how the rooms are laid out, not to collapse on each other. These dwelling are so well built that today after almost a 1,000 years withstanding very harsh winters in the Rocky Mountains, here they stand the test of “Time”. Two indigenous men sitting around a campfire one evening, never came up with where and how to build such structures. Just what was the outside influence? For me to figure out, it’s easy, the indigenous people “Creators”. This is the only logical answer, ‘guildense from outside’. And not only did this guidance from outside show the indigenous people how to build there structures. This outside influence made sure the inhabitants of these villages followed a strict Ritual activities. For these structure are not only a place for safety and warmth. They were wrapped in ceremony. There were ceremonies for the four seasons, good harvest, health of the group, death and birth, on and on. For these folks knew there survival depended on unseen outside forces. and the group. Something you rarely see in todays modern societies. For mankind todays lives for self pleasure alone. And the group survival never is included in modern man’s mind. Yet over a thousand years of a very short “Time” all has been lost. From all in for the group, to a splintered society today. That is the prime reason a very small group of individuals can control billions of people. For the controllers are in it together. While the masses are divided.
Did you think modern mankind would be smart enough to organize themselves for the betterment of the group? Never going to happen, for individual Spirituality has been systematically removed from the masses. Now you have what you have, a bunch of dead souls worrying only about themselves. I think that one of the main reason folks now day are so interested in the ancient ones or Native Americans. Is because mankind seeks there past roots they see in the Native Americans. Past roots that are still lingering in the individual, but suppressed by modern society. Everyone wants to be part of a much larger group for protection within the group. Now mankind is told not to be a free thinking individual. And that all there cares will be taken care by the ruling elite. In yesterday's, mankind was strong and independent and at the same “Time” part of a solid group who cared for each other. Now mankind is divided, weak, looking for a handout.
When you look at the videos of ruins I recorded. You will see these round rooms, these rooms were for ceremonies. And they make up an integral part of the structure or community. Here the Natural Laws of Nature were passed along to the young generation. For teaching the youngsters the importance of ritual ceremonies in the lives from birth to death. These rituals keep the group bonded together in a ‘all for one’ mentality. The same thing you see in the ruling families of today. Look at the circumstance and pomp in Freemasonry, look how powerful the Masons are. You would've had the same thing in ancient Native American societies. The more “Time” spent learning of the Native American’s spiritual belief system will greatly enhance one’s own spiritual growth. Just visiting these ancient site will open one’s mind.
I spent about 4 hours in Mesa Verde then headed too Durango to find lodging. The next day I would be heading home with a stop at Aztec Ruins in Aztec New Mexico. Durango is a tourist and college town in the southwest corner of Colorado. I used to spend quite a bit of “Time” in this area in the early 70s along with my kids. And this would be the first “Time” I stayed in a quality hotel. I’ve been a Motel 6 kind of traveler. With Durango crowded with tourist for such things as the ‘Durango to Silverton’ train ride. I was forced to stay in a $150 a night hotel room next to the antique train station. I’ll never stay in a cheap hotel room again. Durango is so cool I walked around at night puffing on a joint. After a good nights rest, the next morning I started for home with one final ruin to visit.
Aztec Ruins are located just south of Durango in New Mexico. One of the first thing I noticed a few years ago about new Mexico was how broken down the whole state seems. It’s like the good folks of New Mexico tax dollars are taken from them and never reinvested in the communities and road systems. From a night in Durango to driving through western New Mexico. You would have thought I’d driven into a ‘Third World’ country. Farmington and Aztec New Mexico are a couple of the worst ugly cities I’ve ever driven through. Uncontrolled sprawl with no sense of central community. The only town in Arizona like Farmington and Aztec is Tucson.
The whole idea to visit the ruins in Aztec was the Ranger I was talking to in the video, I made of Mesa Verde. The ruins of Aztec are located in the city limits of Aztec N.M..Aztec Ruins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz696Q1irxg were also occupied by the Pueblo Peoples of the southwest. It will only take a couple of hours to explore the ruins here. And as you can see by the video the Park Rangers are great. They are all willing to answer your questions and even give you a personal tour of the site. Aztec Ruins are located between Mesa Verde ruins and the ruins at Chaco Canyon. Not sure if the ruins in this corner of the southwest were occupied at the same “Time”, or at different “Times”. Maybe the groups relocated to various site as food became short in supply and the tribes had to rotate to a new location. Just as you do with farming of today, (crop Rotation).
I want to thank all the Park Rangers I meet on this fast 3 day trip. Once the Rangers realize I have knowledge of the Hopi and Native American cultures. They all warm up to me, with there own question. Instead of acting like ‘know it alls’ they were all kind and courteous, willing to share what they have learned. And the most important part, they are only conjecturing on the real history of the Pueblo Peoples of the Southwest (which they admit). For no one knows for sure what happened to the wandering people or Anasazi Peoples. I believe in the beginning of the inhabitation of the Americas, all the indigenous peoples were Hopi. The groups were given different names by those who came along later. But the original people would have been primarily Hopi, which simple means ‘First Peoples’. So call the original inhabitants what you want. In the beginning there was only ‘Adam and Eve’. And the first migrating tribe were ‘First Peoples’.
PS:
Want to thanks the “Gods” for the ability and health to travel and record my travels. For without the “Gods” blessing, I’d be like most Americans. Waiting for the mass media to tell me what to think and just who am I.
Anasazi Peoples:
“God” bless
bye
“Aliens”
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