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New Mexico
U.S.A.
White Sands and Bandalier
     National Monuments
White Sands National Monument, with such a brilliant white that it was difficult to photograph.  The sands can be hiked in search of shade, which allowed for some striking shots in my video.  You do not wish to be here on a hot summer day.  
The Anasazi, early Native American residents of a vast area, left behind such sites as the ceremonial Kiva pictured above.  Bandalier National Monument offered greater access to Anasazi structures than I expected or had found before.  White Sands and Bandalier are in southern New Mexico. 

Archaeologists ponder over why the Anasazi vanished, yet my visit to the Taos Pueblo later on this trip suggested that the Anasaizi's descendents are still here.      
Typical Anasazi housing, built high up for defense, while also taking advantage of natural caves at Bandalier.
Ladder to an Anasazi cave house.  Climbing ladders
is a necessity at Bandalier, clearly the Anasazi way.
Similar ladders serve the same purpose at the Taos Pueblo, which also has its own ceremonial Kiva.
New Mexico Table of Contents
TO CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK
TO THE TAOS PUEBLO
TO THE TOWN OF TAOS
TO THE ATOMIC BOMB MUSEUM
TO USA TABLE OF CONTENTS
TO HOME PAGE
If you have a high speed internet connection, watch the Intrepid Berkeley Explorer's free streaming video of this trip to New Mexico, as the first part of "Polar Bear Pueblo", by clicking on: AdventurePics.com
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

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