Ruth Roessel, The Canyon De Chelly, and the Cortese residence

Over the past two days, we were graciously invited to stay in the home of influential Navajo Elder, Ruth Roessel, in the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. In these two days we slept in a Hogan, a circular log cabin like structure with a dirt floor. Ruth also lectured us on the importance of story telling in Navajo culture. The day we left Ruth's house, we went to the Canyon de Chelly (pronounced shay) where we were guided on a six mile hike through the wilderness by Andrew Bia, a teacher at the Rough Rock Navajo school. Pictures of this hike can not do it justice, not even the pictures of wild horses you might see posted by my fellow students. The experience was indescribably enlightening. Today we were invited to stay at the home of the Corteses for dinner, currently a fourth generation family of cattle ranchers. There we cooked food using ingredients that the Navajo indians were given upon being imprisoned at the Bosque Redondo. We also got to meet students from the local Fort Sumner School. I was astonished when I found out that they have a total of about 300 students from Kindergarten to 12th grade, with only about 100 students in the high school. And I thought the GSB student body was small. Fortunately, all the students we met were very friendly. I look forward to visiting the Bosque Redondo tomorrow.