santa fe, nm

Got over jet lag eventually (or over lazyness), and I'm wrapping up the tour of Southwest with a post about Santa Fe, New Mexico. However SF is rather a small town, it was quite a relief to be back in the city! Obviously, I just wandered off to find a street full of galleries and one of the best pizzas I've ever had. Some of the other highlights here include: x Japanese Internment Camp Marker - a place in a dog park (!) that tells one of the untold and forgotten stories from US history: what America did to its Japanese citizens after Pearl Harbor. I wonder, if our grandchildren will find things like that in the future, things that we tried to wipe off the history books. x Georgia O'Keeffe Museum - the only art museum dedicated to a female American artist. My first museum visit in a while, it was cool to remind myself how much of a museum buff I am! I loved the way how O'Keeffe could sort of combine abstract visions of wilderness with relevant projections of landscapes. x Loretto Chapel x Pictures from downtown SF, and the gallery row. Couldn't believe how consistent this city was architecturally! PS. First post with no pictures of Juri - sorry man! :)

navajoland

Navajo Nation spreads across Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. It can't be distinguished on an average map of the US (obviously), but It's a complex, well organized and developing "nation within a nation" (the Navajo claim they're American patriots too, they're not separatist, just well self-governed.) After the busy morning of studying this fascinating nation in lectures and meetings (including the meet with the Vice President of the Government, and a visit to the Navajo Council) we took out to the desert and the beautiful wilderness of this land. One of the highlights was the Monument Valley which I can't believe I visited again!

chaco canyon, nm

Chaco Canyon cuts through the New Mexico desert in the north-west of the state. It has quite a big concentration of pueblos (including Pueblo Bonito in the two first pictures), dating back to pre-Columbian times. Also, it's a very remote place with little people and a few beautiful trails.

acoma pueblo, nm

Pueblo of Acoma is situated one hour West from Albuquerque, NM. Situated on top of a rock, It's one of the oldest settlements in the US. It was great to tour this spiritual village and see how the traditional native culture is blending with American culture of today. An evening in the Sky City casino, owned by the community was also an interesting experience. Go to Acoma Pueblo Wikipedia page to learn more about the history of this place.