Folk Art Museum and Bandelier National Monument

Native American Mask

 Sunday morning, we ventured out to the folk art museum. It is home to the worlds largest collection of folk art.

Andes weaving and costume

 They had a very large exhibition of "Folk Art of the Andes."  It was very interesting to see the change in the folk art through the ages and the huge impact the Spanish had on the various cultures.  There are lots of similarities  to the impact on the Native people of this area.

Tyuonyi Village Ruin

This morning we headed up to Bandelier National Monument. The main visitor area reopened this morning. It has been closed since the Los Conchas fire at the end of June. The monument is at the base of the Jemez (Hay-mus) mountains northwest of Santa Fe.  The Ancestral Pueblo people inhabited at least 3000 different sites in this area. No one knows exactly when they came here.  At first, they lived in small scattered settlements. As the population grew, they came together in larger groups and by the mid-1200's villages often contained as many as 40 rooms. The following 250 years saw fewer and larger villages some exceeding 600 rooms.   

Kiva ruin

Ladder into cliff dwelling

Tsankawi Village Ruin

 Some of the villages were built in front of the cliffs for added protection.  We were able to climb a ladder into some of the ancient rooms. The inhabitants of this room had a million dollar view of Frijoles Canyon.  It is really a beautiful area.  We look forward to returning someday, when the whole park has reopened. There is lots of hiking to be done. The area has three miles of road and 70 miles of trails.  We checked out the campground - no hookups and few sites will take bigger rigs, but there are a few.  Tonight we are meeting Deborah and Phil for dinner.  Tomorrow we head back to Albuquerque.  Santa Fe has be great.  See you down the road.....