This morning we sat outside at the foot of a volcanic escarpment and wrote about the journey we have taken together over the last week. Here are some excerpts:
The following day was probably my favorite. This day we hiked down 800 feet to the bottom of the Rio Grande Gorge. That was one of the best feelings ever. We got to pet a live wolf and see many wild dogs. We also learned about eagles at the eagle aviary.
Elijah
The first day was really cool and I couldn’t believe it was only the first one on that evening. I liked the museums, getting into the heart of what the Native Americans used to be able to completely live like. The museum asked the visitors to go in in with awareness, respect and an open mind. And the way how the Native Americans do everything through nature is beautiful and like an idol to me. Hard to remember everything, but the second day hike was exactly what I like to do anyway. It was really impressive because New Mexico is new to me and our guide for the hike was good. After all the interesting observing of things that we could see it was cool to talk to Zuni people like Neil our bus driver or the Zuni kids. Also getting materials from outside and then using them to make pots through pottery and baskets was good to actually learn what I could only see or read in museums before. The Manhattan Project was cool to get to know with our tour guide that was actually born there. The two nights stay at the Halona Inn showed us how a living room of Native Americans nowadays would look like including the ceremonial figures with the masks. Being back in this big town of Albuquerque is almost sad because the landscapes were very beautiful.
Leon
For the whole trip I didn’t actually find anything that really interests me beside the first day when we climbed down and up a gorge where we didn’t have too much presentation but enjoyed ourselves with nature. I enjoyed the way that we feel the nature by ourselves and have our own comprehension about it. And personally, I don’t like the way of visiting too many museums, which we actually just “take a look.” What’s more, I enjoyed talking with our bus driver Neil, who shared a lot of his and his cultural stories to us. His experience of wandering around the country inspired me in some ways and I want to walk around this big land as well. I respect his sense of chasing his “freedom.”
Jingwei
We went to the Puye Cliff dwellings as well, where we braved all the elements. It was snowing, then turned into a beautiful sunny day. The dwellings were absolutely amazing. The petroglyphs and just their way of life was stunning to see. It’s not every day you can look 1000 years back in history. The kiva was truly amazing, how it was built into the ground and surprisingly had a lot of room. The other highlight of the trip for me was the wolf preserve. The wolves and wolf-dogs were beautiful. We also had the opportunity to meet a wolf named Forest. People were getting kisses from Forest and got to pet him and he just laid there so patiently and so gentle. We then got to work on our service project, which was taking apart the roof that had fallen due to the high winds. We started by unscrewing the metal roofing, then taking apart the wood frame around it. We used crowbars to get the nails out, which many people seemed to thoroughly enjoy. After we finished all of that, we were surprised with the opportunity to go on a tour to see the other wolves. At the end of the tour we met our mascot, Romeo, a little red fox who was very swift.
Evelyn
We saw a lot of cool features in Zuni and the students we met were very interesting. We made clay pots and “tried” to weave baskets, but it was very difficult. We went to Sky City, and saw cool houses. There was a big church and many small houses. We ate at the Cowgirl Restaurant and met our travel agent. The food was very good. In Zuni, we saw many dogs living and staying in the houses. We also had a great and fascinating bus driver, Neil. Neil is the coolest bus driver ever, and he has a lot of cool stories about his life. He met Will Smith. We went to the Wolf Sanctuary and got to meet a cute wolf, Forest. We worked as a team to fix a piece of metal/wood at the Wolf Sanctuary. I helped out with getting the nails out of the wood. We stayed at a Halona cool bed and breakfast place. The Inn breakfast was very good there. And we had fun hanging out with the Zuni kids there too. We also saw a lot of eagles at the Eagle Sanctuary place and learned a lot of information about the hurt eagles.
Chris
So from Santa Fe, we were off to visiting the Acoma Pueblo, known as Sky City. Sky City had some breath-taking views of the mountains as well as ancient architecture and buildings. The Acoma Pueblo is at the top of a mesa, a large-like cliff with a flat surface. Acoma Pueblo still has people inhabiting the ancient buildings, as well as welcoming tourists year around to learn more about their people and culture. We as a group were able to purchase some pottery and other items the Acoma people were selling at the time. I was able to even try homemade pie one Acoma woman baked and sold. Did I say before the view above was just beautiful? Well, anyway, it was more of an adventure on the way down. The group decided to be ambitious and climb down the steep cliffside.
Spencer
We had traveled from Santa Fe to Zuni to Albuquerque. The food here is way different than what we eat at home. I really enjoyed eating the chicken tacos and fajitas. The two things that had amazed me about this trip in particular was learning about the petroglyphs and the different Pueblo tribes. The day we met the Zuni kids was so much fun. Their life is totally different from ours. They don’t have any malls to go to, they have to start school in May and start in July. Every six weeks they get a break. I had talked to some of the Zuni kids about family. They had told me that they have between four and eight kids.
The schools in Zuni don’t have many sports teams and only teach basic subjects like math, science, history, English and health. I really liked making the pots with the Zuni kids because it showed how much labor both women and men have to do.
Sarina
At first, I was amazed by the beautiful landscape, but I soon found out that New Mexico had much more to offer. Some of these unforgettable experiences include meeting eight kids in the Zuni pueblo, the wonderful stories that our bus driver, Neil, shared with us, hiking down the Rio Grande Gorge, the view from the top of the Puye Cliffs and meeting a wolf. These are all opportunities that I am happy to have had, and I know that I don’t want to leave. What struck me most is how different this state is from New Jersey. The mountainous landscape, the perfectly blue skies and the long stretches of empty land are all so different from the area around Moorestown. We have also met many interesting people that have taught us many things about themselves and their cultures, like Neil, the kids from Zuni, our tour guide at Acoma and many more. There are many things that can be better learned firsthand rather than from a textbook. Before this trip, I had never even heard of Zuni and would not have known anything about their history and religion. Before this trip, I’d barely even heard of a pueblo and couldn’t tell you the name of a single group that lived in one. This among other things is something I never would’ve learned about had I not come on this trip. Besides the many things I have learned, I have also made new friends with the other students on the trip and with the kids in Zuni, who I would never have met had I not come here.
Leah
New Mexico is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Everywhere you turn you see mountains and hills and just plain land. You cannot see that in New Jersey. The weather is so nice and the sun is almost always out. We have done a lot with this trip and we have learned a lot. I mean how many people in the world, especially from New Jersey, can say they have hiked an 800 foot gorge? How many people can say they have pet a wolf? We have had such amazing experiences and are very fortunate to have had this experience. We all worked hard to take apart the stage at the wolf reservation. It was fun work, then we got to see all the different animals like the wolves, fox, dingoes, etc. I feel very fortunate to go on this trip. Neil, our bus driver, is one of the most funny, interesting people I have ever met. As a group, yes, we have had our ups and downs, but things happen. We cannot always expect everyone to get along with everyone else. That’s just a fact. Some people click with certain people and some just don’t. That’s how the world works, but I believe we have done a pretty solid job of being a cohesive group. We have had so much fun and this experience has been truly amazing.
Molly
In the beginning of the trip we visited the Rio Grande Gorge. It was absolutely breath-taking. It was 800 feet deep, I believe. We met up with a man named Jim who was our guide. He let us have our space and let us walk ahead of him. He basically showed us the trail, stayed behind the group in case anyone got hurt, and gave us information about the landscape. Going down the gorge was very steep, but a lot of fun. Molly, Brandon, Spencer and I were the first group down. Once we got to the bottom there were huge rocks everywhere. There was a cool river/stream that ran through the middle. We all ate lunch at the bottom and then climbed on the rocks. We took lots of pictures.
Pilar
On Friday we started our long journey together. We started by taking a look at the Native American museum at the Santa Fe museum. There we dove into the world of the Native Americans or at least the history of it. From there we went to Museum hill. There we met Joyce, a Navajo Indian who guards her heritage with strength and pride. She showed us pottery from the different tribes; each design represented a symbol related to life. For instance, flowers mean beauty, orange represents the sun, and the arrow tracing the heart of an animal represents strong heart and long life. Afterwards some of us went hiking, while others explored the folk art museum. The folk art museum had things from clay religious sculptures to Japanese kites. It was truly amazing.
Kenan
Our trip to New Mexico has been quite the experience. Our trip down the Rio Grande Gorge was amazing. The scenery was beautiful and we really came together at the bottom. No cell service, just a group of us down by the river climbing rocks and taking pictures. The hike back up was a bit of a struggle, but nothing can beat the feeling of accomplishment I felt from being one of the first three. Having the freedom to explore Santa Fe was great. It was so much fun to walk around an unfamiliar town with just a group of friends. Just being able to relax and hang out with some friends I don’t usually get to spend time with as well as some new ones was truly amazing.
Another of our days was spent at the Puye Cliffs. Being able to actually get an up-close-and-personal look at ancient civilizations was really cool. The cliffs contained some of the first cave drawings we really got to see. Getting to see snow in somewhere other than New Jersey was unexpected and honestly a little unwelcome! But luckily it cleared up pretty quickly. Still, watching the snowfall swirl around the mountains and desert and forest was an amazing sight. It wasn’t like home where wet flakes fell straight to the ground and either stick or melt. The New Mexico snow spent more time in the air. It covered mountains like a white veil so that we could see nothing but their shadows. When the snow reached us, it was more like dry pellets that would even sit on our skin for a few seconds before melting.
Brandon