TravelStream™ news feed for member djpick on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/djpick en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:55:31 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183201200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183201200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183201200/tpod.html Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:55:31 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Tohatchi, New Mexico, United States

Breakfast at 7:00 a.m.
Clean up and pack up everything.

Following lengthy good-byes, we eventually hit the road around 9:15 a.m.

First we stopped at Window Rock, the seat of government of the Navajo Nation. The name comes from the hole in the 200 foot high sandstone hill that dominates the scenery. The site also hosts a monument to the World War II Navajo Code Talkers.

From Window Rock, we drove to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de-shay) in Arizona. The canyon is an amazing sight that is run by the National Park Service in partnership with the Navajo Nation. Scenic overlooks are located on the north and south rims. We packed sandwiches before we left, so we ate lunch at the visitor center. The highlight is Spider Rock, an 800 foot formation. The Navajo believe that this is the spot where Spider Woman created the Navajo people.

We then headed back to Albuquerque for our flight home. We arrived at the aiport at 8:00 p.m. The ticketing machines at the Continental counter were not open yet, so we waited until a rep showed up at 8:30 to turn on the machines. We then went in search of food only to find out that the two restaurants in the airport close at 8:00 p.m. Luckily, we found a sandwich place open in the food court so we got food just before they closed.

Our 11:30 p.m. red-eye flight was packed. We also had a celebrity on board. Mario Lopez of "Dancing with the Stars" and "Saved by the Bell" fame sat in first class. I thought it was him when he loaded his carry-on in the overhead bin. Then, the flight attendants took some pictures with their cel phone cameras so I knew it was him. Unfortunately, he was first off of the plane, so I did not get an autograph.

The flight was smooth, but brutal. As usual, I did not sleep. We eventually landed in Newark at 5:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. New Mexico time).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183113000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183113000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183113000/tpod.html Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:11:14 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Tohatchi, New Mexico, United States

Breakfast at 6:30 a.m.
Morning Prayer/Mass at 8:00 a.m.

As was typical throughout our stay, we experienced some confusion as to what jobs needed to be done that day. Eventually, we settled on the women going to Coyote Canyon to help with the Vacation Bible School there. Mike was assigned to do caulking on the Coyote Canyon church roof.

Dave and I took the old Silverado truck up to Naschitti to replace the air filters on the swamp cooler on the church and the swamp cooler on the bingo hall/community center. The air filters were easy to change. Dave and I ate lunch with Sr. Donna in the community center. She put out some chili and some ham for sandwiches. I did not want to eat too much because we had the Indian Sweat scheduled for that afternoon (look up "sweat lodge" on Wikipedia).

We were supposed to start the sweat around 1:30 p.m., but we waited for the women to return from the VBS at Coyote Canyon. We eventually started around 2:15. Four of us entered the sweat lodge with Howard, a Handyman/Medicine Man. The Sweat was quite an intense experience. Picture sitting in tight quarters with no windows for four hours with sweat pouring off of you. The sweat lodge has a pit in the middle where you put heated rocks. You enter the lodge with some sort of problem you want healed. During the sweat, the medicine man says prayers and chants in English and Navajo. He also prays over you as a group and individually. Some times he just uses his hands and some times he uses tools such as a rattle and a feather. You place more rocks into the pit at the beginning of each round. We did four rounds with each round lasting about an hour. We took a five minute break between round two and three to feast on some juicy peaches. Inside the sweat lodge, you drink plenty of water and constantly wipe the sweat with a towel. Overall, the sweat was an incredible experience. I cannot reveal much more than that because what is said in the sweat stays in the sweat.

I took a shower after the sweat and headed up to the hogan for dinner. Patty Jo prepared some pasta with sausages. Also, the women invited all of the nuns to come to dinner. We were later joined by Don and MaryAnn, so we had a large, unscheduled, party for our last night at the mission.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183026600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183026600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183026600/tpod.html Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:54:18 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Tohatchi, New Mexico, United States

Breakfast at 6:30 a.m.
Morning Prayer/Mass at 8:00 a.m.

Today was the big Vacation Bible School day. I started off with a very important job - filling water balloons. We had thirteen children ranging from about five to twelve. My first real job was handing out snacks during the snack break. Next, the children put on a play about Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. We then headed down the road on a school bus for a brown bag lunch in a quite run down park. Most of the kids did not eat the tuna sandwich - they do not like mayonnaise. They did consume the milk, orange, and goldfish crackers. Then we stopped at the senior citizens center next door where the children handed out crackers. On our return we watched a cartoon version of the Lazarus story. We then headed outside for the water balloon festivities. The kids did not have much room to operate in because they were set up in between the friary and the church where there is not much room. To spark things up, I tossed some balloons at their feet and started a melee. Meanwhile, Sr. Pat pulled out a sprinkler and turned it on thrilling the kids who loved getting soaked. The VBS ran from about 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

After the VBS, I helped unload food donations into the food pantry. I then helped Don download pictures from my camera to his computer. He might use some pictures in their Sunday bulletin.

We ate an early dinner of gazpacho (prepared by Pat), and grilled shrimp.

After dinner, we headed back down to the bingo hall for a display by local Navajo artists. I quickly passed over the jewelry displays, but spent time with an artist, Tommy Badonie, who paints scenes on canvas and rocks.

We then headed back to the hogan for an ice cream nightcap.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182940200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182940200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182940200/tpod.html Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:13:56 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Tohatchi, New Mexico, United States

Breakfast at 6:30 a.m.
Morning Prayer/Mass at 8:00 a.m.

Dave and I headed on the road with Sr. Marlene to deliver food. Our first stop was at the home of a woman who lost five family members in a horrific car crash four years ago. The bodies are buried near the house. Next we stopped at the house of a man who lives by himself and does not have a car or bicycle. Sr. Marlene feels he uses that as an excuse not to work. We also passed by some boarded up houses. In the Navajo tradition, if someone dies in a house, then the house is boarded up and not lived in again. They feel that an evil spirit is in the house. They might use it for storage.

The houses are on dirt roads about half a mile or so off of the main highway. As we pulled away from one house, we noticed two children looking out a window of another house. We stopped anyway even though we did not know who lives there. A very scary dog with a broken chain came running up to the car. Sr. Marlene asked the father to please take the dog away. We saw many dogs on our trip, but they were all nice except for this one.

We also passed a site where they are building a squaw dance shelter. For four days in July, sick people will come to the shelters for healing ceremonies. The walls are wood and leafy roofing will be installed just before the dance. Family members and friends are invited so they also have places to eat.

Next we stopped to look at a sheep pen that also contained goats. A sheep dog barked at us then ran into the pen and gave us quite the stare. She was guarding a puppy. The puppy was surrounded by sheep who provided shade. Next, we tried to stop at the local health clinic for Dave to take a look, but it was closed. Dave is a physician assistant.

For lunch we dined on leftovers.

After lunch, Dave and I spread very smelly fish fertilizer on many trees around the mission. We then did some miscellaneous tasks like moving a desk.

Next we headed to the Casa St. Martin soup kitchen and overnight shelter in Gallup run by Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity. We prepared some food and then helped serve the dinners. We also received a tour and saw the overnight shelter where they have thirty beds.

On the way back to Tohatchi, we stopped at a Big Cheese and picked up some pizzas for dinner.

After dinner, Brother Maynard and Grandma Ethel came up to the hogan and presented a talk about Navajo culture. They are worried that the Navajo language is dying out. The young people are not interested in learning the language.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182767640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182767640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182767640/tpod.html Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:27:41 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Tahotchi, New Mexico, United States

Breakfast at 6:30 a.m.
Morning Prayer/Mass at 8:00 a.m.

For our first task of the day, Dave and I drove with Don down to a nearby horse farm and loaded up a truck load of dried horse manure. We needed the manure for fertilizer for a cherry tree that needed planting. Luckily, the hole was dug for the tree. We filled in the hole with a "layer cake" mixture of manure, potting soil, regular dirt, and dried brush.

We lunched on sandwiches.

After lunch, Dave and I worked on mixing concrete to fill in cinder blocks. The blocks are to be used in the foundation of a swamp cooler at Naschitti.

We then attempted to hang a security screen door on Don and MaryAnn's hogan, but ran into problems. The wood facing on the hogan was quite rotted. We opted to pass on that. Next up we tried to hook up the new dryer in Sr. Carol Ann's trailer, but ran into more problems. The dryer did not have any electric wires to hook up.

For dinner, we ate a pork chop dinner that Patricia prepared. Don and MaryAnn joined us as we then feasted on ice cream sundaes for dessert.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182767400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182767400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182767400/tpod.html Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:13:16 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Tohatchi, New Mexico, United States

And so our "typical day" schedule began.
Breakfast at 6:30 a.m.
Morning Prayer & Mass at 8:00 a.m.

We then met in the friary for coffee and to find out our tasks for the day/week. A retired couple, MaryAnn and Don, live in a hogan on the mission. We received some assignments from them and some from Fr. Joe, another priest in residence in the mission.

We split up into groups. The women began working on Vacation Bible School projects. Deacon Mike started roof repairs. The mission suffered much damage from an intense wind storm earlier in the year. The other Dave and I began unloading a box truck that contained donated furniture and clothing.

Also, one of the nuns was moving from a house on the property into a trailer due to her cat allergy so Dave and I removed the old washer and dryer from the trailer and moved in the new washer and dryer. Meanwhile, the former resident of the trailer was moving into one of the other hogans, so we moved some of his furnitures. We also unloaded some large folding tables from the truck into the bingo hall, located underneath my room in the friary.

For lunch we ate sandwiches with the deli meat we bought at Wal-Mart. For dinner we dined on a marinated salsa chicken dish that Dave prepared. After dinner, I made the scary walk in complete darkness from the hogan to the friary.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182688380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182688380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182688380/tpod.html Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:57:22 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Tohatchi, New Mexico, United States

After an early breakfast, Deacon Mike and I met with Fr. John, the head of St. Mary's Mission. Fr. John planned on leaving on vacation immediately after the 9:00 a.m. mass at St. Joseph's in Coyote Canyon. Deacon Mike and I went to that mass.

From there, we picked up Deacon Mike's wife Pat on our way up to St. Anthony's Church in Naschitti for an 11:30 communion service and baptism. I assisted Deacon Mike with the baptism. The baby's name is Keeshawn Charles. Following the baptism, we went to a lunch reception in the church hall where we dined on baked tacos, lamb soup, and genuine Navajo fry bread. Fry bread is flat dough deep fried in lard (look it up in Wikipedia).

After the luncheon, we headed back to St. Mary's to pick up the rest of our group to head back to Gallup. We made a few stops including Earl's, a diner with Native American vendors outside, and El Rancho, a historic hotel where many movie stars stayed while filming Westerns. We also stopped in a souvenir store before heading off in search of Gallup's Sacred Heart Cathedral.

We then ate dinner in the Applebee's in Gallup. The restaurants are dry on Sunday, so we could not get a drink. Plus, the restaurant was out of spinach which we did not find out until way into our wait so thumbs down on the Gallup Applebee's. After dinner we went to view the Indian dancing at the county office complex. A group of dancers from the Zuni tribe performed the eagle dance, the turkey dance, the pottery dance, and the buffalo dance. We were also entertained by a flute player. We then returned to Tohatchi.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182616200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182616200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182616200/tpod.html Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:40:52 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Gallup, New Mexico, United States

We arrived in Gallup at 12:30 and dined in the Cracker Barrel. From there it was up north to St. Mary's Mission in Tahotchi (approximately a half hour drive). We arrived in the compound and assessed our needs. After greeting our hosts, we headed back into Gallup to stock up on supplies in the Wal-Mart and the Safeway. Upon returning to Tahotchi, we dined on grilled hamburgers.

St. Mary's Mission is run by the Franciscans. I stayed in a guest room in the friary where two priests and a brother live. Nuns also live in the mission in separate housing. The other members of our party stayed in the guest hogan (pronounced hoe-gone). Basically a big central room with four bedrooms and one bathroom.

After our barbecue, I retired to my room in the friary (located right over the bingo hall).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182608520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182608520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1182608520/tpod.html Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:05:52 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

We feasted on a fine breakfast in the Amerisuites Hotel: scrambled eggs, make your own waffle, etc. We departed approximately 10:00 a.m. to head back to Enterprise for a mini-van. We picked out an almost brand new Dodge Grand Caravan with only 2,000 miles on it. We then headed down I-25 to I-40 for the two-hour ride west to Gallup, NM.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183282500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183282500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/djpick/tohatchi_2007/1183282500/tpod.html Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:39:07 -0400 Our Lady of the Valley trip to the St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

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Newark, New Jersey, United States

After the plane landed, we got our baggage and went our separate ways. Deacon Mike and Pat stayed behind in New Mexico to enjoy some vacation time. Dave and I got my car from the Vista long-term lot and headed back to Wayne.

We arrived in Wayne around 7:00 a.m. and headed to the bagel shop next to the Shop Rite. After dropping Dave off at his apartment, I finally arrived back at the rectory around 7:30 a.m. I passed out and somehow woke up for noon mass.

Overall, the trip was amazing. I hope to return some day.
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