Taos

Today we drove and hour and a half to Taos. It was a beautiful drive, along canyons and rivers. Our first stop was Taos Pueblo. The Pueblo is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the US. Native legend and history trace this indian community life back to the beginning of evolution. The native language is Tiwa and is unwritten (and unrecorded) and will remain so. The details of traditional values, life and language are passed down from generation to generation. Traditional houses are made of adobe brick and adobe ovens are still used to bake bread, cakes, pies and cookies. We tried the bread and it was delicious. If you wanted to take pictues of the native people, you must first ask for permission as the belief is taking pictures takes away from that person's soul.

The church was built in 1850 and is a registered historical landmark. Catholism was introduced to this community by the early Spanish missionaries. Today about 3/4 of the population share in some of the Catholic rituals, while the natives still practice 100% in tradtional tribal rituals. Between 50-100 people currently live in the Pueblo.

After walking the Pueblo, we drove into Taos and had lunch. The town was small, but the surrounding mountains and plains were beautiful. We arrived back into Sante Fe in time for a hot tub, homework and left-over turkey dinner.