Hopi and Navajo Country

Leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove east into Hopi and Navajo country. The first thing we encountered was a sandstorm, so strong at times that we could hardly see the car in front of us. Through the middle of the storm, however, comes a Porsche with the top down driven by an older guy with a young blonde by his side. They vanished literally in a cloud of dust. Wish we could have heard that conversation.

We spent the night in Tuba City. No brass band was on hand to announce our arrival. As it turns out, the town was named after a Hopi leader named Tuva. The next morning we drove through the heart of Hopi country. Our first stop: Old Oraibi on First Mesa. Said to be the oldest continuously settled town in North America, Old Oraibi dates from around 1000 AD. The dwellings there, even the newest, are still built from the same ivory sandstone (a few cinderblock interlopers) that the Hopi have always used. We arrived in the middle of a rain dance that was being performed in the central plaza. We were practically the only non-Hopi observers. We were allowed to watch, but asked not to take photos. In fact, the Hopi ask that no photos be taken anywhere on the reservation. Hence the lack of pictures in this section.

The ceremony involved perhaps a hundred masked Eagle dancers in full paint and regalia. Much drumming and stamping and chanting. The wonderful thing is that this is not a re-creation for the tourist trade. It is an organic expression of the deeply-held religious beliefs of the partiipants and spectators. It was a privilege to watch.

After Oraibi, we visited the villiages on Second Mesa, then went on to Walpi, which is dramatically perched on the long, narrow tip of Third Mesa. Walpi was closed to non-Inians that day, so we had to turn around and continue on to our next destination: Canyon de Chelly. (It's on the Navajo reservation, so there will be pictures.)