Mesa Verde Monday

I visited Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde N.P. with Matt & Darcy on Monday. I hadn't been back in since our original visit in 2000. The place was overrun, which is great. Our local backyard world heritage site is really something everyone should see.

It was blazing hot, but we got in a nice hike in the canyon, and the tour of Cliff Palace. I think they were blown away. I know I was.

Having visited a number of sites in the Southwest and central America, I was totally surprised to hear a new twist on the nature of Chacoan religion in the southwest circa 1300. For the first time, the ranger mentioned that violence, ritual sacrifice, massacres, and possible ritual cannibalism were occuring down here. Bad juju like that would go a long way towards explaining the cautious respect that the natives around here have for the place. They don't visit all that often, and don't talk a whole lot about the place. Oral tradition runs deep, and tribal memories are longer than we may imagine.

Here's Matt posing for "Euroboy" magazine. OK - so he put the scarf on to help with the UV index of 5000 on Monday. Wow!