We took a trip to Montezuma’s Castle. Although it is called a castle, in reality in is an amazing 20 room pueblo “apartment” built into a limestone cliff by the Sinagua. The Sinagua occupied Verde Valley since about 1050. These dwellings had multiple levels, were made of natural materials, and accessed by ladders. How amazing is that? You stare in wonderment of how these dwellings were created and ponder who came up with this brilliant idea. Was it survival, hope for a safe dwelling, maybe an effort to make a community? The cliff dwellings stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Eventually the Sinagua abandoned these dwellings and went elsewhere. What might cause you to abandon your home? What parts of their homes did they take with them? What would you take?

Visiting areas such as these allow you to begin to think outside yourself. You begin to better see how previous inhabitants of Earth from an earlier time lived in communion with the Earth, embracing it, and using natural resources within reason. Along this trail are signs that identify plants used by these people as food, resources, and medicine. Montezuma’s Castle provides perspective about our place in this vast world. There are unfortunately some indications of the impact of ignorant individuals who feel that nature is at their disposal. See the photos of sycamore trees–so vandalized by visitors, that they needed to be wrapped in burlap to protect them and labelled with signs. How sad is that? Who goes to a sacred site and thinks, ” I’m going to carve in this tree?” We also observed an older woman who felt free to climb on the site in off limits locations. Gotta get that photo…If you cannot respect sites such as these, please stay home.