First Day's Post

I'll try to be a little different and tell you some details about our day that other's may have overlooked, or consciously left out due to insignificance. My post today will be about the food we've eaten today. This morning we enjoyed a Continental style breakfast at our hotel, where it was clear everyone was feeling the effects of the time-change and the much higher altitudes. After an enlightening tour of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, we had lunch at the cafe attached to the building. The cafe offered typical American style food, but also indigenous cuisine. It was a great chance for us to taste this different style of food before we spend a few nights on the reservation. It was interesting to look at the menu because it showed the extent to which the Pueblo and Mexican cultures are connected and borrowed from. The Pueblo Indians are very open to incorporating other cultures into their own, and don't have words for many of the things that Mexicans introduced to them, and therefore have incorporated Spanish words into their native language. Identity and tradition are very important aspects of Pueblo life, and while the origins of the Pueblo people are varied, their culture has retained its originality for thousands of years, passed down from elders to children. The menu offered traditional Pueblo stews and Mexican style quesadillas, a delicious juxtaposition. Before I move on to dinner, another interesting thing i learned from our tour was how proud our tour guide was of being a Pueblo Indian. Whenever we mentioned the Navajo she was quick to tell us how much longer the Pueblo Indians have been on this land, and how much more ancient their culture is. It was interesting to see some of the competition (if you can call it that) between the different tribes.

We traveled to Santa Fe for dinner at the Flying Star Cafe where the theme was Southwestern/Cosmos (Space Cowboy anyone?). The food was delicious and the desserts decadent; I'm sure everyone left a few pound heavier than they came in.

I hope everyone is happy to hear that we're being well fed (a little too well fed if you ask me, I might need to upgrade to a seat with extra room on the flight back!)

I'll check in a bit later!

-sophie