Bandelier National Monument

There was a lot to see in Chimayo (click here if you are interested in - El Santuario de Chimayó) but in the end we left this beautiful town and continued on to Santa Fe. But... we couldn't go straight there (surprise-surprise) and made another turn... We turned towards the Bandelier National Monument to see the place where no one has lived for the last 500 years :-)

 

Human presence in the area dates back over 10,000 years. But the permanent settlements of the ancestors of the Puebloan peoples date back to 1150. They used to live in caves and built houses and villages where they lived for several centuries. These settlers had moved closer to the Rio Grande by 1550 (and don't ask me why because I don't know, actually no one knows).

 

The very first ruin we met on our way was Big Kiva - a ceremonial structure. It played a huge role in the life of the Puebloans. But today no one knows how they really used it.

And just ahead of this kiva, we found a big village - Tyuonyi (Que-weh-nee) pueblo. It was a large round house, at least two stories high, and had about 400 rooms.

A little bit later we had an opportunity to look at this pueblo from the cliffs, but first we had to climb some ladders and explore some caves.

Here is the view at the village from some height.

People there lived in villages or in caves. They used ladders to get into the caves, so let's follow the lead, climb one and look inside...

Some of these caves are quite small, like a studio apartment, but some are really large, like a three-room apartment, which can even fit a large family :-)

Ladders were very important to the people who lived here. To enter any house, the Puebloan People people had to use ladders, and this was the only way to come into the caves. They had to climb up in the Tyuonyi pueblo if they wanted to get into their rooms. There was only one entrance to each unit - from the roof. 

We visited a couple of caves and saw Tyuonyi pueblo from the caves. Unfortunately, the pictures cannot convey how big the pueblo is, it looks quite small, but in real life you will be surprised because it is a really big village.

By the way, here you can see reconstruction of pueblo walls - Tyuonyi pueblo reconstruction

 

You can walk along the canyon wall and soon you find the Long House. This 3-4 stories house is a combination of caves and added walls. It had over 100 rooms and stone carvings and wall paintings can be seen there.

We walked along the Long House and turned left to a creek running through the bottom of the canyon. About a mile long trail led us to the Alcove House. 

This is a well known big cave located 140 feet above the canyon floor. The Alcove House can only be reached by climbing four steep ladders and rock stairs built into the canyon wall. 

Underground Kiva is open for exploration. A ladder is provided for entry into the Kiva and you can feel like the Puebloan People 500-800 years ago. 25 people lived in this house for about 300 years and had left it in about 1500. You also can enjoy spectacular views above all the trees, but don't stay there long, remember, you will have to climb down and return back to the visitor center.

We caught the last bus back to the parking lot where we left our car and about an hour later we arrived in Santa Fe. It was about 6:00 PM and we just walked around for a bit... We enjoyed the dark and empty streets...

We visited the La Fonda hotel. The old and beautiful... This hall is amazing, isn't it?

Even the restroom there looks incredible cool and exotic ;)

It was a nice end to the long day... Actually, it wasn't quite the end of it... We left Taos in the morning and still had to get back to our hotel in Taos... So we passed the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and drove through the night to Taos...

Pictures were taken on October 06, 2012.