Day 14: Mesa Verde and Anasazi people

Great breakfast, very good selection ( had my first waffle). Scheduled to get underway at 10 am. Regan asks for the keys to the car...can't be found. Big searches in both rooms, no key. Did Regan drop them at the bar he and Kerry visited last night? The suddenly "she who can not be named" finds them. She had put them in some obscure place in our room. Crises averted. Off we go. Yours truly then makes a major mistake, turning left at a stop sign I start driving down the wrong side of the street "She who can not be named" aged a little in those few seconds. AS for me, I wasn't concentrating.

Mesa Verde is about 36 miles West of Durango, a quick drive away (at 65 mph). Get to the visitor centre to learn that the only pueblo usually open for self guided tours is closed to to rock falls. The other pueblos are closed for winter. We  drove up to the museum for 1 pm ranger talk. We walked to an overlook and she spent an hour explaining their life, reasons they abandoned the site to migrate south west and south east of Mesa Verde (which in Spanish for Green Table). These early pueblo people were dry land farmers, relying on summer rain and spring snow melt. They grew corn, squash etc plus hunted deer, rabbit, squirrel and later on turkey. One of the current theories as to why they moved was because it wasn't where they were meant to be (shaman influence), other reason could have been, over population, competition for resources which may have lead to conflict. Because they did not have written language there is no definitive evidence. The current Pueblo people have their legends, but they apparently offer little explanation. Analysis of pottery  indicates they drank cacao (chocolate), indicating they were trading with either the Maya or with other Mexican tribes).

After the talk we drove around two loops which had many stops to look at either surface sites (Kivas or religious buildings where they held ceremonies (especially during winter)  or buildings set in alcoves.

By 4 pm we were Pueblo-ed out and hit the road back to Durango. Saw a few mule deer on the way down from Mesa Verde.

"She who can not be named" and I went to a local cafe come bar for a late dinner. The place, OTC (Old thyme cafe) is an institution in Durango. The locals eat and watch sports ( had 4 screens all showing different football-American). An interesting night.

Tomorrow we are off the Santa Fe. Rain and snow is forecast. Hopefully will get access to Regan's laptop and finally get some photo's on.

The Best Western in Durango has WIFI, but the set up will not allow our apple i phones or i pad to connect. Very, very frustrating!! Leaves me to wonder how did we get on 35 years ago? Are we too technologically depended?