I arrived ready to be as outdoorsy as possible and unfortunately (or fortunately?) could not locate my couchsurfing host. This is the first time I've couchsurfed in the US AND the first time I've done it by myself so not finding her was a little nerve-wracking, of course. Luckily, I was greeted by this:
After a quick stop at an information center where I realized that people in Sedona were incredibly gracious and pleasant, I grabbed a great margarita at Javelina's near this:
Probably the most interesting thing I did in (actually "near") Sedona was go to Montezuma Castle. It's a national monument that are, in short, the ruins of a home/community of native americans. There are a few interesting facts about them, though. First of all, this community built their "infrastructure" right into the rock wall. It's pretty high up and there are some miniature examples of how they built ladders and such to get all the way up. Secondly, carbon dating and research of leftover artifacts put these people in this area from around 900 or 1000 AD to about 1450 AD. No one knows why they left and there is a lot of speculation about where they went: drought, they joined with another tribe, a fire burned down most of their community (there are remnants of other "houses"), etc. Thirdly, it's actually incorrectly called "Montezuma"because that Aztec ruler clearly never made it this far north...unfortunately the settlers didn't realize that at the time. Lastly, the other "mistake" that seems to have been made by non-Spanish speaking settlers is that they don't know the actual name of the tribe so they gave them the name "Sinagua." Not only did they make up a name for them but they now pronounce it in a funny way and most people can't seem to explain why they're called that. It comes from Spanish: "sin" means "without" and "agua" obviously means "water." Most brochures will even put the incorrect pronunciation claiming it's pronounced "seen-ah-wah." It's actually pronounced "seen-ahg-wah" but I think the mistake came from the fact that when most native Spanish speakers say "agua" they take out the "g" for a smoother sound. It's not "correct" but that's how it often sounds.
Anyway, I originally heard about this place when reading a National Geographic magazine (yes, I read the articles) so it certainly influenced my decision to come to Sedona and not Tucson as I'd originally planned. The ruins were similar to how I'd imagined them...they weren't as big but it's possible that I got the Montezuma ruins confused with similar ones in New Mexico. I'd love to see the ones in New Mexico but I'm not sure if I have enough time. Here's the main dwelling at Montezuma, the most famous one:
This same day I went to see the Church of the Holy Cross which is built into the red rock. It's very small and the lady who envisioned it wanted a modern place for all worshippers to come and feel comfortable.
While the outside of the church was probably the neatest part about it, the views were spectacular:
Well...that was pretty much what I did. I tried to go for a hike but the cheapest place to hike was $9 just to park my car and it was already 3pm so I said forget it.
I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, yesterday to a particularly grand welcoming by my host and her friends who live in their self-proclaimed "student ghetto." They're great people, very helpful, and jump on the fact that there are very interesting, fun things to do in Albuquerque despite what others say. Today is my day for exploring so I'll update again tonight or tomorrow morning with what I've been doing!
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