Not Quite As Grand As We Hoped

We arrived at the Grand Canyon yesterday and, I'm sorry to say, are a bit disappointed. Sure, it's one of the great sights of the world, but it is crowded (I can't imagine what it's like during school vacations). We are staying at the moderately priced hotel inside the park. The room is worn and the food is mediocre. No wifi in the rooms and very weak in the hotel lobby. You aren't getting away to commune with nature in this place anyway so why not? 

In particular, the air is very hazy. We don't know if it is from pollution, dust or wildfires. The top photo was the only usable one I could get at sunset last night and it is heavily Photoshopped. Hoping for better conditions today.         

Rishon's old synagogue then and now

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As we saw in the previous post, Rishon LeZion was founded in 1882 by Jews who came from the Russian Empire to farm the land of Israel. 
Here is another mural on a wall in present-day Rishon, now a city.

Here is that same old synagogue, presently undergoing restoration.
It's going to be really nice. 

The airbrushed paintings were made by Hillel Lazarov who has a school for teaching mural making. 

(Linking to Monday Mural meme.)
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Hopi Lands

We leave the lands of the Hopi Nation this morning after having spent a long day going through the Hopi mesas and villages, followed by hours in the far back country with Micah Loma'omvaya. He is a brilliant, gentle and generous man, a tribal official, historian and a member of the dwindling traditional Hopi priesthood. It was a magical day, viewing beauties outsiders rarely see.

In the second picture Micah explains some of the many petroglyphs. (I have so many photos of petroglyphs from around Moab, Monument Valley and here that I could do a few posts on that alone.) The details are too complex to explain here but he helped us understand why the Hopis consider their land to be the center of the earth.

If you are ever in this area you must seek him out. His web site is http://bit.ly/2xeQ6Tp.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and note the little sign that says "Hopi Tours, Est. 1540." That's when the Spanish showed up.

      

Canyon de Chelly

There are many more photos to edit from Monument Valley but I am trying to keep up with a bit from each day's sightseeing as we go along. We took a detour on our way from Monument Valley to the Hopi Reservation, visiting Canyon de Chelly National Monument. 

It's a remarkable place but few people were there. In a sense, the canyon is hidden, falling down from a flat plateau, invisible until you get to the edge. A number of Navajo families raise crops and animals on the valley floor during part of the year. The geology is as surprising as the Grand Ganyon, which we will visit shortly, but on a much smaller scale.

There are ruins of many rock face dwellings of native people who lived here about 800 - 1200 CE. Got lots of good pix but that will have to wait for the next editing session.

Why People Come Here

There is nowhere in the world like this and it is hard to experience it completely on your own. One highway runs through and there are a couple of streets that run to hotels, restaurants and shops. To really see it, you need to go into the dirt and sand roads of the back country, something you dare not do alone. It takes a local guide and a heavy four wheel drive vehicle.

We booked a full day trip with Phillips Photography Tours. I cannot say enough good about them and our driver-guide, Lully. Mrs. C and I saw things the bus tours could not imagine. A few Navajo live in isolated homes that had no electricity until the coming of solar panels. There are still some hogons, traditional dwellings in the shape of a dome, made of intricately interlaced juniper logs and covered with dried mud. That is where we met Cecelia, spinning local sheep's wool and making exquisite wall hangings and blankets.

I took about 1,500 shots so there is a lot of editing to do We have no early morning tour today so we will rest a little longer and eventually head towards Second Mesa, Arizona, and the Hopi Reservation.       

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