Last week in
Arizona
This is
likely the last blog we’ll send from Arizona this trip as we’re getting ready
to head north. It’s been a wonderful
winter and we’ve made some really good friends and we’re anxious to do this
trip again next year. This area south of
Tucson is amazing in its culture, weather, history and vegetation! There’s just so much to see and do.
One of the things we did recently was
go to the Wa:k Pow Wow. It was held at
the San Xavier (San Ha-vee-air) Mission grounds. It started a little bit slow but once the
introduction to the event was done and the dancers came out into the arena it
was amazing. The children are so
beautiful and the costumes are out of this world. Some are very colourful and made of modern
materials where others are more traditional.
There were tribes from all over the US and Canada and it was interesting
to see how the costumes varied depending on the location the dancers came
from. For instance there was a couple
from the Canadian plains and there costumes were quite subdued but still
beautiful, whereas the costumes of the tribes with a Mexican influence are hugely beaded, feathered and very
colourful. I’m going to post pictures
for the most part as they are so interesting. 
A National Historic Landmark, San Xavier Mission was founded as a
Catholic mission by Father Eusebio Kino in 1692. Construction of the current
church began in 1783 and was completed in 1797. 
The oldest intact European structure in Arizona, the church's interior
is filled with marvelous original statuary and mural paintings. It is a place
where visitors can truly step back in time and enter an authentic 18th Century
space
I loved watching the dancers…each
dance has a meaning to it…one of the first dances was the Gourd dance where
they had rattles made of gourds and shook them as they moved about the
arena. It was a very sacred dance and we
were not allowed to take pictures during it.
I was able to take the pictures of the other dances if they were for my
own use and not for sale. I’m happy to
share them with you all though…it was a fabulous event.
We’ve been
to a couple of swap meets and other events.
Of course there was a pot luck and get-together for St. Patrick’s
day. The park supplied the corned beef
and we all brought side dishes or desserts…it was fun. One more pot luck on Wednesday this week is
the year end get together. The park has
cleared out a lot already…starting to feel like a ghost town here. There are some people who camp here year
round…I don’t want to stay once the weather gets above 90 degrees which it is
supposed to this weekend!
On Saturday nights the park supplies margaritas and we all get together around four o-clock. We were sitting at a table with a bunch of others and Tom touches my hand and tells me to turn around. There sitting in some sort of flowering tree were two cardinals…a male and a female. Wow…I was so thrilled to see them but didn’t have my camera. I watched them for a while and wondered all the time if they’d still be there by the time I went and got it and came back….and yes they were! I was so happy to get some pictures of them. I’ve never seen a cardinal in the wild and really didn’t know they lived down here. Guess I should pay more attention to football and would have realized they named their team the Arizona Cardinals! Here’s a few pictures of them and other birds I saw that night.
