Days 5 and 6: Mountains Majesty and a Reckoning with Colonialism

 They're not purple, but the mountains of Colorado are definitely majestic. 

We can add Durango, CO to the list of places I'd like to come back to. We had a little time before dinner on Sunday to wander around and that was about it. Monday morning we packed up right after breakfast (it's amazing how much stuff we can strew around a place when we're there for less that 12 hours and spend more than half of that asleep) and headed out to catch the train. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is justifiably famous as one of the most scenic railroads in the world. None of the photos do it justice. I'll show you a couple anyway.

Photo credit David Smith

No, this is not Switzerland.

Clear the tracks....no, wait.

We got off the train about 6:30 and headed north to Mancos to visit with friends. We got there just in time for sunset.

Tuesday (which I think was yesterday? Yes. Yes it was) our hosts took us to Mesa Verde National Park. The entrance is about five miles from their house. The Ancestral Pueblo people lived in Mesa Verde from about 500 CE to the late 1200s. They built permanent dwellings which became increasing complex over time. We weren't able to get tickets to tour any of the cliff dwellings, which I didn't mind. What we saw from the overlooks was amazing enough and I didn't have to climb up or down a 30-foot ladder over a sheer cliff. 

The first European to excavate this structure assumed it was a temple in part because of this carving. What does it mean? We have no idea.

Cliff Palace. See below.

I had the same experience here that I had in Rome and that I expect I will have in Israel when we get there in November. I can't wrap my mind around how long ago these buildings were built. I used to say I studied American history in college because there's so much less of it - only about 500 years to deal with rather than millennia. Of course what we saw yesterday is American history. What I studied as "American history" is really the history of European colonization. The anthropology and archaeology studies at Mesa Verde started with the same biases and assumptions that infected my education. Fish can't see water. Of course the Ancestral Pueblos had a hierarchical society. Of course the most important/wealthiest/most powerful people lived in the Cliff Palace (which of course was a palace) because it looked the most imposing. Of course they lived difficult and hardscrabble lives. Of course all the pottery and weaving had to be functional. Of course  they were"surprisingly sophisticated." The word sophisticated itself carries a load of unquestioned implications. The National Park Service is starting to replace some of the dated and racist commentary with documentation that shows a more sophisticated understanding of ethnography (see what I did there?). They are beginning to privilege and amplify Native voices. The museum in the park is being renovated to reflect these changes, and they've already removed all human remains. Now if they could only use BCE/CE instead of BC/AD.

In the evening we drove into Mancos, wandered around some galleries, had some excellent cider from Fenceline, and ate dinner in town. After walking around all day at 9,000 feet we were ready for bed.

Today: Canyon of the Ancients! Oh, and more mountains. And probably Navajo tacos.