Place of the Red Willows
We had one of our best days of the trip today. As we mentioned we were staying right in the heart of the town of Taos. We did a little shopping while walking around the plaza this morning; we bought a few things.
We then headed about one mile north to the Taos Pueblo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the U.S., home of the Taos Pueblo People — more properly, in the Tiwa language, Place of the Red Willows. The village is a UNESCO world heritage site. The buildings are made of adobe — no plumbing and no electricity. While many inhabitants keep a traditional home, they also live in more modern homes outside of the community. About 25% of the homes are inhabited full time in a traditional way of life.
The building behind us is an “apartment” style structure, with about five separate homes. It’s also one of the oldest buildings in the community — at least 900 years old.
Chenoa, our tour guide.
Here are a few more photos:
The church — about half of the community is still Catholic, a religion brought by the Spanish in the early 1600s.
We had a great visit, then we headed over to the Catholic church in the town of Taos.
Then it was off to Santa Fe, about an hour away. We’ve never been to Taos or Santa Fe. We made it into Santa Fe and found the historical center. It was very nice. We visited a couple different churches… One is the oldest known church in North America. And then across the street was the oldest house in North America. American schools seem to tend to forget to teach that the Spanish got to the Americas well before the pilgrims. And it seems like they hunkered down in the Santa Fe area before anywhere else.
Santa Fe seems to be a very touristy place. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that there’s a lot of window shopping to be done. We walked around the plaza for a little bit. Looking at the shops. Really most of it was quite expensive.
We then headed about one mile north to the Taos Pueblo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the U.S., home of the Taos Pueblo People — more properly, in the Tiwa language, Place of the Red Willows. The village is a UNESCO world heritage site. The buildings are made of adobe — no plumbing and no electricity. While many inhabitants keep a traditional home, they also live in more modern homes outside of the community. About 25% of the homes are inhabited full time in a traditional way of life.
The building behind us is an “apartment” style structure, with about five separate homes. It’s also one of the oldest buildings in the community — at least 900 years old.
We participated in a guided tour. Our guide was Chenoa — a women who grew up in the village, has two boys, and is a student pursuing a masters degree in education at the University of New Mexico. She was highly knowledgeable, extremely articulate, and passionate about her heritage. We learned so much about the history of her culture and the impacts of colonization in the community, as well as the recent and modern struggles they face. We loved the tour!
Chenoa, our tour guide.
Here are a few more photos:
The church — about half of the community is still Catholic, a religion brought by the Spanish in the early 1600s.
We had a great visit, then we headed over to the Catholic church in the town of Taos.
Then it was off to Santa Fe, about an hour away. We’ve never been to Taos or Santa Fe. We made it into Santa Fe and found the historical center. It was very nice. We visited a couple different churches… One is the oldest known church in North America. And then across the street was the oldest house in North America. American schools seem to tend to forget to teach that the Spanish got to the Americas well before the pilgrims. And it seems like they hunkered down in the Santa Fe area before anywhere else.
Santa Fe seems to be a very touristy place. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that there’s a lot of window shopping to be done. We walked around the plaza for a little bit. Looking at the shops. Really most of it was quite expensive.
We then made another hour drive south to Albuquerque where we are spending the night. It was nice to get into our hotel room fairly early tonight. We are beat.
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