USA – The Southwest – Sifting through life and the world

I used to travel to the States once or twice a year while my parents were still living and sometimes combined this with some travel through the country and visit old friends. This time we fly to Albuquerque and then went with our friend Scott up to a secluded lake in northern New Mexico.

After a few days of relaxing, we headed out on our own in a rental car. I hate cars and I hate driving, but the roads were mostly empty, which made driving easy, and the landscapes fantastic.

Our first stop was a site where traditional Native American dances were put on for tourists (and using camera flashes was forbidden). Seems like a good way to preserve some of their culture, since they can practice such dances and make money at the same time. Reminded me of Ibud, Bali: when I first visited, there were three dance performances every week. On a trip there years later, there were three different performances by different groups every evening, a money-making venture which did its part to preserve Bali’s culture.

Mesa Verde and the cliff dwellings of the Pueblo nation. They inhabited these sites for more than 700 years from approx. the years 600 to 1300.

The Grand Canyon: impressive! At the campground, a ranger was talking to us and made two grammatical mistakes in one sentence, which I immediately corrected without thinking, since I had previous taught English to speakers of other languages for a few years and was in the habit of correcting people’s mistake. This time my correction caused quite an embarrassing moment of silence.