For those of you up-to-date on my living situation, I've moved in with a nice middle-aged woman named Exidra who owns a tienda near where I was formerly living. My landlady wanted her house back, after 2 years, and was also fighting with most everyone in my community, so I decided to move after the new year began. A little change-up. Or change-back. I've come to appreciate having meals cooked for me again, and a flush toilet. Only downside with host family living 2.0 has to be that I don't feel comfortable enough to lay out the yoga mat and do poses for an hour or so, and my “nook” we'll call it, is just too small. So my neck hurts. Anyway, I've been mostly camping out under the roof of where my new house will be located, as soon as the materials arrive.
So, we get up at 4:00 and I sleepily wander to my nook and pack a couple of things: camera, smashed bread, a can of tuna, a half gallon jug of water and 6 oranges, to be exact. And we're off.
Exidra's casual mention about a year ago of a rock with some drawings on it, up in the mountains where she used to live had me curious. She finally had a free day and her grandchildren in town and we went up to check it out. She continuously referred to these drawings on the rock as an escudo or “shield” which left me a little suspicious of hoping that it could be petroglyphs. She swore it must mean there's gold in them there hills.
We went up on the well beaten path to the cross, which I've traveled many a time, and then to the furthest house in Ojo de Agua, which I've also been to a couple of times, but then we depart into unknown territory. It's like a whole new world opening up in my backyard.
Pine trees and views of all the neighboring communities. It's still dark, so I can't see how steep the ascent is. We get to the highest point about 15 minutes before sunrise, so Henry and I stop and wait for it. And it's amazing, of course. And cold. And windy. Down below, on the other side, we spot where they are headed and instantly I feel the excitement of discovery. It's the largest rock around, visible from great distances, and fits with the characteristics of the rocks in Angie's site. I hold my breath hoping.
As we get closer I'm elated to see that they are not only petroglyphs, but they are the exact same style as the ones we found in Angie's site, miles away. Like maps or marker stones. Unfortunately, the rock chose sometime in the last 20 years to break away half of the “shield”; the piece is still there, only face down. I eagerly began examining it to find 5 drawings in total, all in various phases of wear. One interesting one was too high up to get to safely to examine. Several were similar to the ones I had seen before. It was like reigniting my love for archeaology. I can't believe it's been over 2 years since I've gone on a dig.
So, I'm newly inspired to go explore El Caño, the famous archeaology park that I still haven't been to that was featured in the January 2012 National Geographic. With any luck, I hope to be able to sweet talk my way into excavating for a day after I get my solar panel project done.
Afterward we went to the abandoned adobe house and headed back down. All before lunch time.
1 comment:
Love it Nikki!
Post a Comment