Sacred Chaco Canyon

Chaco Canyon is a National Historical Park (and World Heritage site) in northwestern New Mexico.  After leaving Taos, I was able to make a detour to visit Pueblo Bonito, which lies within this canyon and is believed to be the largest of the Anasazi great houses to have been built in the area between the mid-800s-1100s.

Below is the road into the canyon, before it turns to dirt.  From the main highway, it was about 21 miles to the cultural center – 13 of which were dirt and very rough.  I think the finger indentations in my steering wheel might be a tiny bit deeper than when I started out, but it was well-worth the trip…

Archaeologists estimate that Pueblo Bonito was part of an extensive complex of more than 150 houses that covered some 400 miles – below is an overhead view from just left of center, facing out from the back, followed by an artists rendition of how the complex may have appeared in the early 1100s.  They believe the structure was likely used only periodically, when temporary populations came in for ceremony, commerce or trade  - sort of like an ancient Indian convention center. …

The sheer magnitude of the structure and technology required to create it was awe inspiring, but I also felt an almost physical energy in this place.  The silence of it was like nothing I’d ever experienced – a very occasional jet, the intermittent sound of hawks circling overhead, and that was it.  There were other people around, but I couldn’t hear them once inside the ruins and I felt completely alone until I closed my eyes. Then, I felt the very palpable presence of the Anasazis, going about their day-to-day business, celebrating, and just watching over me as I picked through all that remains of their once-great culture.

It was a spectacular visit and I will share a few more pictures as soon as I can go through all 110 of them.  For now, I’ll close with another poem that I started on the road after leaving Chaco…

New Mexico Lullaby

I listened carefully
as the earth sang her past to me

and her song created a bridge
between my before
and my after.

The New Mexico heat
added a bass-line
that pulled the final chords
of my isolation to the surface,
like sweat,

and I carefully wrapped words
around each useless pearl
and layed them gently
at the feet of the San Dias

Click here to view other Sacred Sunday entries.

Namaste,
Kelley