After a long, tiring day of travel, the 2014 Hopi Volunteers in Mission team spent the next day and a half in and around Flagstaff getting acclimated to the drier climate and altitude. When you live close to sea level, the effects from change in altitude are often not readily apparent at first so we are sensitive to team members' health and energy levels and take the extra time to allow everyone to adjust. The time is well spent however and we took advantage of the various opportunities in "Flag" to introduce everyone to Hopi culture and the geological and anthropological history of the area. On Friday, we visited Wupatki, Sunset Crater and Walnut Canyon National Parks/Monuments.
Wupatki contains several well preserved ruins that date back to about 1100 years ago where ancient pueblo peoples, the Anasazi and Sinagua lived and dry farmed over the course of several centuries before leaving the area. The centerpiece of the park is the Wupaki Pueblo which was likely a gathering site and contains a ball court and ceremonial kiva-like structure.
While the Sinagua and Anasazi inhabited the area, they were witness to the eruption of Sunset volcano nearby and numerous other cinder cones in the area that were active between 900 and 1100 years ago. For a time the fallen volcanic cinders and ash aided the ancient peoples in their farming by helping to retain precious moisture in the soils. Sunset Crater is a particularly large, well formed cinder cone crowned by a rusty reddish mantle of cinders which look particularly striking when lit by the setting sun and which also led to its naming.
The geological centerpiece of the area however is the San Francisco Peaks which dominate the view from almost anywhere in the vicinity. On a clear day they can even be seen from Hopi. The Peaks are actually one ancient strato-volcano (similar to Mt Fuji in Japan) which suffered a catastrophic explosive event similar to Mt. St. Helens. Because they are the highest landforms around, they often create their own weather and it is not uncommon to see clouds or rain hovering around the summits while the rest of the area enjoys the bright sunshine. The Peaks are also especially sacred to the Hopis because the katsinas (kachinas) reside here for half of the year between the end of July and late January or early February.
Walnut Canyon is a beautiful earth crack type canyon with several hiking trails. We stuck to the Rim Trail but for the hale and hearty and more adventurous folks there is also a trail that descends 185 feet into the canyon itself and is best challenged by those younger and in better shape than I am!
On Saturday morning, the team visited the Museum of Northern Arizona. This lovely, rustic museum, nestled in a forested setting near the base of the San Francisco Peaks, is the home to a beautiful collection of Native American artifacts and craft items from the various tribes in the area and has an especially nice collection of Hopi items. Since we deliberately spend time in Flag to acclimatize ourselves, the MoNA is a very nice way to introduce new team members to Hopi culture.
Every year over the 1st weekend in July, the museum hosts the Hopi Festival which features Hopi crafts of pottery, basket weaving, Hopi inlay silver jewelry, painting and kachina carving. Hopi public radio KUYI broadcasts from the festival and Hopi dancers, musicians and singers perform. This is also a great opportunity to sample traditional Hopi foods such as Hopi tacos, piki bread and Noq'uivi (a stew made with beef, pork or lamb and hominy in a broth) served with Hopi fry bread. For those of us who have been to Hopi before, this is also the chance to see and visit many of the friends we've made over the years. It is always a heart-warming reunion and we will visit with many of them again over the course of the week.
After a quick lunch at the museum, the team split up to go shopping for groceries and project supplies. Because Hopi is so remote, we must bring in most of what we'll need while we're there although we'll visit the small grocery and gas station in Kykotsmovi for odd and ends during the week.
Once the team reunited after shopping, we caravanned the 2 hours to Hopi which is surrounded entirely by the Navajo Nation. Climbing onto the Colorado Plateau, we quickly left behind the lovely Ponderosa pine forests surrounding Flag but the vistas were no less striking as we drove through Leupp and past more cinder cones, low table-top mesas and the red rock Kachina Buttes. Leupp is little more than a crossroads in the middle of nowhere but we ran into a bit of a traffic jam when everyone stopped to avoid hitting a stray alpaca standing in the middle of the road! Once he moseyed to the shoulder, we stopped dead again when 2 stray sheep appeared suddenly, following the alpaca! It wasn't until later that evening that we learned that some of the Navajo have recently been training alpaca to herd their sheep.
As an interesting side note, most of Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time. The only exception is the Navajo Nation. So we leapt ahead an hour and fell back again during the 2 hour drive. Our cell phones have become a bit confused and depending on whether they pick up a distant cell tower in Navajo country or one closer in Hopi, the time can change back and forth in the space of a few minutes.
When we finally arrived at the Hopi Mission School it was a relief and a blessing to be greeted by HMS principal, Thane Epefanio. Hospitalized in Flagstaff the week before for a severe and dangerous infection, he was only released a few days before. Once we unloaded and got settled, Thane, his wife Michelle, son Giovani and Kristen, one of the school's teachers, joined us for dinner at the Hopi Cultural Center on Second Mesa where we got to sample more traditional Hopi foods, served by Tiffany wearing traditional Hopi dress, with her hair arranged in the unique squash blossom style of a young woman.
During dinner we were blessed with a brief but heavy rain. The Hopis are expert arid/dry farmers and plant several different varieties of corn, squash, and melons but sadly the peach, apricot orchards common several generations ago have mostly disappeared. The rainy season has come early this year which is a tremendous blessing but Hopiland can always use more. The area is still suffering from climate change and a prolonged drought and the tribal government has prohibited open fires until further notice.
After another long productive but tiring day, everyone turned in early but we're looking forward to Sunday worship at one of the local churches in Hopi and hosting our first of two dinners for the community while we're here.
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