Monument Valley

I’ve wanted to see Monument Valley  for a long time and we drive there and got there. It was great.

The road there wound through the Navajo Nation, the rez where the poverty reminded us of Mexico. Not so great. 

Like Mexico we saw quite a few walkers turfing along the roads. In Mexico they travel looking for work; here god knows what they are looking for. 

We couldn’t believe our eyes: an actual Mexican style roadside tire repair shop outside Kayenta: 

It’s all about the valley here, the source of tourism. The place has been used as a backdrop for countless westerns and advertising. Hollywood made this valley world famous. 

You pay eight dollars a head to drive in and if your navigator had the foresight to download a ten dollar audio tour to her phone you are set. They also give you a barely decipherable map. 

The Navajo are cool with dogs too. Just keep them leashed but they can get out with you at the various stops. Rusty wore himself out. 

Be prepared for some tough messy dirt roads and RVs aren’t allowed, which is just as well as it is a bit rocky and rough in places. 

The Navajo believe the rocks are alive and consider them sacred spaces which once would hardly have been surprising as they are astonishing. 

Worshipping a rock is a tough concept for me to swallow but my hat is off to the hundred or so Navajo who live far off the grid in the inner canyons out of tourist sight. 

Our audio tour explained that up to a hundred Navajo live in traditional hogans without electricity and water, grow their own food and make their own clothes. Not an easy life. A connection to the past. 

The road was no match for GANNET2 and we covered the fifteen mile drive steadily and  slowly. Some cars rushed around like blue arsed flies but we took our time and enjoyed the views and preserved our van.  The patience of retirement. 

Layne wanted to  check out the tribal jewelry on sale and she bought some earrings and small firehouse decorations for GANNET2. She spoke to the salesman who mentioned he was disabled out of his state job working in the highways and he comes out with his brother to pass the day meeting tourists.  He lives off grid but even though he hauls water he does have solar panels. A big improvement he says. 

Not a life for my impatient nomadic self but for many people a sense of place and belonging is no bad thing. Poverty always sucks and the Navajo among others got a raw deal in history. 

The tour takes a couple of hours they say it we did not keep accurate track of time. We bought a Navajo taco and shared it for lunch. 

I’ve read enough Tony Hillerman after Bruce introduced me to him to know there’s no alcohol on the rez and coffee is the drink of choice. So I ordered a coffee with my lunch in honor of Tribal Policeman Chee. 

And we drove and enjoyed the views. 

John Ford point dedicated to the movie director who made this place famous. Him and John Wayne. 

It’s an odd tour in a strange place but so worthwhile. We drove, we walked, we stared. What a day.