The 4 corners region of CO, AZ, UT, and NM is the heart of the Navajo Nation, and it is where we have been travelling the last few weeks. It is a land of rugged beauty, amazing rock formations, kind people and depressing views of a proud people who are in many ways still recovering from past injustices. We were the minority in this region, welcomed visitors to another culture and way of life.
Today, our route took us to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de shay) just inside the Arizona border with New Mexico. The canyon was spectacularly beautiful with remains of cliff dwellings, and green fields of farming on the canyon floor, including a John Deere tractor plowing a miniature field way below us.
We stopped at a couple of overlooks to view the canyon and cliff dwellings. Both overlooks were empty except for a single vehicle at each. At the first we met Douglas Yazzie; painter, grandfather, boxing champ, and historian. We spent almost an hour listening to stories, and the history of the canyon. Douglas was an amazing impromptu tour guide and his paintings were beautiful so we couldn’t resist breaking our rules about ‘acquiring stuff’ and bought two.
At the next overlook we met Lathan, and he was just the opposite of Douglas. A quiet gifted young man who came to the overlook to sell his wares in an effort to help his mother make ends meet. He was so sincere about trying to give us our money back because he couldn’t make change, that we told him to keep the extra. In exchange, he made us take a dreamcatcher to bring the Wee Rover and us good luck in our travels.
Beautiful country, really nice people and some nice mementos of an area we enjoyed traveling through. We will definitely make our way back here some day.
