We started off the trip by going to Four Corners. I've always wanted to go there but it turned out to be pretty anticlimactic! Just a plaque in the ground in the middle of the desert, kind of! As usual, my favorite part of the trip was watching the other tourists instead of the actual site, so here are two of my favorite tourist shots! Some Europeans with their monster cats on leashes, and, to my surprise, a big group of Chinese tourists! My question is WHAT in the world motivated them to choose THIS place, of all places to visit in America?? It's at least 6 hours away from anything else noteworthy. Maybe it's just me. Moving on.
Canyon de Chelley was right in the backyard of our hotel so we spent the first few days hiking before we started in on our nursing duties. Here are some shots of the canyon. The first picture is of what they call Owl Rock because the two rocks next to each other look like Owls.
We went a little off one of the trails to hike up into this cave - it was pretty sweet in there. Lots of wall paintings. Here's the far view vs the close up.
This one is called Spider Rock and the picture can NOT do it justice! It was this ENORMOUSLY tall, narrow rock in the middle of NOTHING. It was amazing.
This was probably not safe... and I am terrified of heights... but worth a good picture!
Our instructor was about to pee her pants. Don't worry, no one fell off the cliff!
Some of the wall paintings and ruins we saw.
We got to see a junior rodeo one weekend (huge part of the culture there) and this was my favorite event BY FAR! It was for the 5 years and under age group. Sheep riding! (Instead of bulls!) It was SO cute and funny to watch these tiny tiny kids running around on sheep, holding on for dear life. Sheep actually run a lot faster than you would think. The kids never actually stayed on for long enough for me to get a real picture, but here are the older guys herding the runaway sheep back in. SO cute.
Here a few pictures from the actual nursing part of the trip, but I didn't take very many. The first one is what my shoes looked like every day coming home after working out in the community. Most of the roads are dirt roads and if it rains you're in trouble! The second one is me and another student/friend Jocilyn with the only elderly Navajo we met who spoke English! He was hilarious. The rest of the time we had to use our very limited Navajo skills and translators. :) The Navajo language is VERY, VERY complicated.
We taught a Stake Young Women's Girls' Camp activity and taught them all CPR, First Aid, and other good things for their girls' camp pass offs. That was one of my favorite parts - the girls were so adorable. We also did an awesome Stake Relief Society Health Fair and taught mostly about diabetes, but of course I didn't take any pictures.
One of the days I was at the hospital was National Nurses' Day, so I participated in the Nursing Olympics in the parking lot! I brought home 2 solid second place ribbons in the bed pan relay and the wheelchair race! Woot woot. Makin' the family proud.
Here are a couple random shots: I found a Navajo specific AIDS pamphlet in the hospital that just made me laugh really hard for some reason. You can't really appreciate the details from this picture, I guess, but the looks on their faces are so hilarious. Also, the pregnant woman is about 80 years old, and the drug needle is glowing fire. ??? Awesome. Anyway. Jocilyn and I also ran a 5K through the desert! Up and down sandy hills the whooooole time!
We went to the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, which was about half an hour away from us. I saw my first prairie dog there! I also bought some REALLY good salsa.
We went from there to Window Rock, AZ to see the Code Talkers' monument and hike up to Window Rock.
We also met a woman through one of the community health nurses who invited us over to her house and taught us to make some traditional Navajo foods. This is Elsie making blue corn mush, one of their most traditional meals. She's stirring it with a group of sticks that I know have some sort of meaning... but I'm a bad person and can't remember exactly what anymore. The woman, Mary, made sure that none of us were on our periods before she let us help with the meal because in their culture, if a menstruating woman cooks, the meal will turn to water! After you stir, you are supposed to face east and hold the sticks upright and pray for your family's health and for the food and for whatever else you need.
Here we are eating the blue corn mush, looking happy, although to be honest I was pretty nauseous after that. Probably because one of the main ingredients is tree bark burnt into ashes. The second picture is of Mary and the nurse who introduced us to her, Ernie, showing us how to choose the best corn.
Our last fun adventure was going over to the school nurse's hogan to make Navajo tacos! This is their hogan (traditional Navajo housing). I learned how to make my very own fry bread.
GREAT trip! I was happy to get home, though!
Hey that's my aunt Vicki! Haha!.. I can imagine quite a fun trip with her :) I don't know how you spent a whole month there, but it looks like fun! You guys are amazing!
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