Taos Pow Wow!

Okay, today I went on a super cool excursion. A few of us drove up to Taos to watch the Pow Wow take place. The Taos Pueblo was closed to visitors for religious purposes. I am sad I didn't get to see the pueblo, but you gotta respect the religion. The Pow Wow was held towards the outskirts of town. We got there at 12ish and watched some dancers and listened to the drummers. The color guard brought in the flags and all the dance contestants (yes they have competitions). The leader of the colors was a really old man who was a warrior from the Taos tribe who fought in WWII. He was ancient but kicking.

While some of the tribal elders and representatives spoke, my friends and I walked around the sellers to look at their wears. I ended up with some white buffalo turquoise earrings and a piece of art. I am happy.

But by far the coolest thing I've ever seen was the dancing and the costumes. We had to pay $10 to register our cameras to let us take pictures of the events, but it was well worth it. I think I took about two hundred. I don't know if I've ever seen anything so beautiful. I'll post a few of the better pictures so you can get a sense of what went on, but I don't know how much permission I have to do that. I also have a video (without sound because of my ancient camera) that is pretty cool. I wish I could describe this, but it's one of those things you just have to see. I'll never forget it.


On the way home we passed over the Rio Grande. The gorge had a pretty cool look out so I posted some pictures of that as well. I bought a nice pendant of a stone that looks like turquoise but isn't. I asked him the name but I forgot it. It was cool, about 20 people (most of them hippie-like) were selling stuff at the pull out for really cheap. Some of the jewelers had the rocks they chip things out of in the back of their trucks. Felt like four-corners. :)
Enjoy the slide show above. I'll post a few pictures below that will stay on even when I remove the slide show.