24 September – Ojo Caliente to Los Alamos to Ojo Caliente

We had a late start to Los Alamos to visit the Bandelier National Monument. Los Alamos was the site of the top secret Manhattan Project – the design and build of the first atom bomb. 

The Bandelier National Monument is the site of ancient dwellings, and the ancestral Pueblo people have migrated in and out of the area for 10,000 years, settling into more permanent dwellings over time. 

 We followed a self-guided walk past the village at the bottom of the valley, and up the cliffs to the cliff dwellings. The whole area is volcanic with extremely soft rock (ironically called TUFF) that is easy to hollow out. The cliffs look at bit like Swiss cheese, with a mix of natural and man-made hollows. The people lived in a mix of huts on the valley floor, buildings built against the cliffs for support, and hollowed out caves. It isn’t certain how they decided who did what.

On the way back to the visitors centre we encountered a rattlesnake. It was curled under a bush on the side of the track and if it hadn’t rattled, we would have missed it.

Arriving back at Ojo Caliente, we indulged in the hot mineral springs, a long massage each and finally a private mineral pool with a fireplace to watch the moon rise and the stars come out. Heavenly!

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