We are so lucky! The weather is fantastic and the sun is shining more or less all the time. The temperature is perfect for sightseeing and exploring new things.
We arrived to Cortez in south-west Colorado late afternoon, and after checking in at a very good camping called Sundance RV Park we drove to Mesa Verde National Park for a short visit before they closed.
Mesa Verde (Green Table in Spanish) is a National Park with more than 4000 ruins from settlements between 600 AD to 1300 AD.
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| Cliff Palace |
Some of the ruins are cliff dwellings like this, other are on top of the mesa.
The round holes you see on the picture were rooms, called kiva. They were covered and the entrance was from the top. A kiva was used for ceremonial purpose and for social activities.
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| Guiding at Cliff Palace |
To understand more about the people who lived here, we took to guided tours. The tours were excellent and we can really recommend anyone who will visit Mesa Verde to do the same.
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| Cliff Palace |
With a guide you have the chance to get into the ruins and get a better feeling for how it was 1000 years ago.
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| Balcony House |
When we walk around these ruins we understand that the people living here belonged to an advanced culture.
This place is Called Balcony House, and the reason is the small balcony on the wall. The use of the balcony is not clear, but a good guess is that it was used for drying crops.
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| Balcony House |
Fact is that they traded with other groups as far as California in the west, and got seashells and pottery. The also trade with groups in the south (Mexico now) and as far as the east coast.
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| Balcony House |
The people that lived in Mesa Verde are ancestors to all Pueblo tribes in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. The native people in these tribes consider Mesa Verde as a sacred place.
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| Balcony House |
A funny thing with Mesa Verde is that Gustav Nordenskiöld, the son of the polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld lead the first excavations of Mesa Verde (1891). There are plenty of photos and documentation from this time.
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| Square Tower House |
It was a fantastic experience to visit Mesa Verde. It took us a couple of days just to digest the impressions.
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| Spruce Tree House |
The only cliff dwelling you have good access to without a guide is Spruce Tree House.
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| Spruce Tree House |
At Spruce Tree House there is also a reconstructed kiva, which gives a good feeling how it would be in the ceremonial room under the surface.
If you want to know more about Mesa Verde, this site is excellent: http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm
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