Today's trek will be to the Bandolier National Monument, about an hour's drive from Santa Fe. But first, our previously enjoyed cowboy boots - Kevin's are brown, mine are aqua/black.
We set out on our expedition with a stop for gas and a coffee. Another first - some kind of chocolate/coffee /hot pepper combo. I liked it, Kevin didn't. Here's the coffee shop.
Now north to Bandolier. They had a terrible forest fire at the end of June, followed by flash floods. As a result, the park has been closed for three months and only recently re-opened. There is only one trail available to walk but it's a good one. The day is hot, clear, sunny, gorgeous. Here are some shots from the monument. This was occupied for about 400 years and abandoned in the mid 1500's when the people ran out of resources.
At the entrance to the visitor centre Harvey, a flint napper, was creating arrowheads out of obsidian. He also uses chert. He uses traditional antler tools and newer copper tools. He was friendly and incredibly generous with his time and information. He allowed us to photograph him and also extended an invitation to his pueblo next August 4th for the Feast of St. Dominic. We felt very honoured by this as these events are not open to the public and are by invitation only. No cameras allowed, however. He said if we are familiar with powwows - this won't be like that. His wife made beautiful pottery and jewellery which she sold in the visitor centre. She told us a lot about the fire and flood. This is Harvey, the flint maker (he gave Kevin a small arrowhead embedded with 2 crystals, symbolizing stars, to hang on his camera bag.
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