Placitas, Pueblo, Petroglyph

I had a full and fun day today. I dropped my brother off at work and attempted to go to another gym. Two days and five gyms later I still haven't "worked out." The YMCA's here are very different from the ones at home. I finally went to one with a wellness center and they were closed for the week for remodeling.

My brother told me I should go see the Coronado National Monument. It's hidden off the road so I missed my turn the first time. I ended up in Placitas. I decided to pull over and take a few pictures of the Sandia Mountains. 

Next, I went to the monument in Coronado, The Ancient Ruins of Kuaua Pueblo. 

The house is about 5 ft. from floor to ceiling

These are the houses.

There are 6 Kiva's in this village.

 The houses were rectangle and very small. They were originally built about three stories high. The homes didn't have doors or windows. Indians would have entered through the roof. They could easily pull the ladder in, if being attacked. Women built each home from mud. Adobe bricks weren't introduced until the Spanish traveled to these pueblos.

    

The Kiva is a spiritual room that is underground. The Indians
believe that we came from the ground.
 This monument has some of the original murals that were painted
on the walls. 

Just a lizard that I saw on the grounds. 

I got to climb inside the Kiva.

This oven was introduced to the Indians
from the Spanish. The Spanish learned how
to make and use these
ovens from the Moors from Africa.

The pueblo was built beside the Rio Grande. They needed the water for their crops. They mainly planted corn, squash, and beans. They hunted rabbit.


After lunch I went to hike the Rinconada Canyon Trail. This is a 2.5 mile trail around extinct volcanos. There are hundreds of petroglyphs along the trail.

The inside of the house

The "bricks" are on top of the original walls which are still buried underground.