We got out of the campground at about 9:30. Headed east to New Mexico Hwy 337 and then south along and behind the mountains. Our goal was to get to Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. The visitor center in Mountainair, NM but by going down 337 we could stop at the first ruins at Quarai.
Salinas National Park sites near Mountainair, NM.
The Quari site has the largest remaining ruins of the church built in the 1600’s. The site had been home to a culture of Pueblo indians many centuries before. At this site what limited Archeology work that was done indicates on area was populated in the 1300’s. Unfortunately, like many really good intentions, the changes brought by the Spaniards and the Franciscans to “convert” the indians caused enough turmoil that stores of foods were reduced and mixed with the problems of internal fighting between the political and religious divisions on “who had control” caused further discord then with the severe droughts tore the structure apart and they all left around 1670. The Mexican immigrants moved back years later to develop farms and ranches but not in the culture of the pueblo. There are tremendous ruins here and the visit is free. It is however in a remote area (maybe 50 miles from Albuquerque) that provides little else. The History is enough for those that like to learn. Here are a few of my pictures of the few hours we spent at Quari.
This is the foundation of a much smaller church built in about 1880 that had already fallen away and the outline replaced to show it's position.
Front of the 1600's church with walls of 40 ft. and maybe 5 ft. thick.
Inside looking toward the front Alter area. In a later video they explained that this was very ornate from early descriptions.
A view from the SE showing much of the built up areas to the east of the church. supposed to be gardens, rooms, and other necessary areas for such a large system.
As I said and as they documents provide, almost no real archeology digging has been done here. The pueblos now are just mounds of dirt, mud and grass giving little indication of the size of the community that once lived here.
After this we went on into Mountainair and stopped at the Visitor center there that has a 14 minute video that explains further the growth, and demise of the pueblos of this area as well as the similarities of the religious base they had even compared to the Catholic one but as with most religions, one does not believe the other is a true believer unless they all believe as one. The New or Stronger one always tried to convert the other to “believe as I do” because they believe that is the right way to believe. Maybe we should look at our similarities and work off those points rather than focus on the differences and condemn.
We had a little lunch in Mountainair and then headed east. Man once you get a few miles east it all turns to this.
Don't blink or you will miss something.
We passed though Vaughn, NM. While doing research on this I found this article interesting and this statement struck me as funny check out the page here – Ghost towns – Vaughn, NM. The author gives the indication that Vaughn is a ghost town and just hasn’t realized it yet.
Our point of stop for the night is Ft Sumner. Tomorrow we hope to make a go through the “Billy the Kid” museum and see the “Bosque Redondo” Monument site. I might explain that tomorrow. WD0AJG