Acoma Sky City, NM Pueblo village

We are in Grants, NM, staying tonight for 2nd night here.  We spent today at Acoma Sky City  - Picasa
Click to see my pictures in Picasa.  You can see their site at  Acoma Sky City 

 This small city on top of a small mesa has been, and still is, occupied since the 1500's.  Only about 5 families live there full-time, but all homes are occupied at least once a month during ceremonies.
Today, about 300 two- and three-story adobe buildings reside on the mesa, with exterior ladders used to access the upper levels where residents live. Access to the mesa is by a road blasted into the rock face during the 1950s. Approximately 30 or so people live permanently on the mesa, with the population increasing on the weekends as family

members come to visit and tourists, some 55,000 annually, visit for the day.
Acoma Pueblo has no electricity, running water, or sewage disposal.^.  A reservation surrounds the mesa, totaling 600-square-miles. Tribal members live both on the reservation and outside it contemporary Acoma culture remains relatively closed, however   According to the 2000 United States census, 4,989 people identify themselves as Acoma. (Taken from Wikapedia)

 

This morning we had visited with a second cousin, Tim Miles, and three of his kids.  His wife was unable to join us.  I do not recall visiting with Tim, but he said we met him in Colorado Springs in the 1990's at a cousin's reunion.  They live in Grants and he holds down a Councillor job for the school system and also does Counseling work for a Prison.  He doesn't get much sleep.

We are planning to drive to Gallup, NM then to Shiprock and spend couple nites near Aztec, NM.  There are ruins to see there and we will also drive to Chaco Canyon for a full day exploring of Pueblo ruins.

More later, Lynn