Acoma Pueblo’s Sky City is on a 370 foot high mesa with 300 structures owned by the Acoma women. This is a matroachial society so ownership is passed down through the females of this Pueblo village. There is no electricity or running water on this mesa. There are 8 ways to reach the top of the mesa. In the last 20 years two movies have been made using the mesa and they paid for a paved road, before that there were only hidden stairs to the top. We rode a shuttle to the top, took the tour, and walked down the stairs to the bottom. The stairs were winding and very steep with hand hold spots carved in the rocks. We had a hard time navigating the steep stairs, while the Acoma women carried large containers of water up the stairs on their head! After the road was installed men took over the transportation of water using their pick up trucks. The village does not want electric because they feel the computer, TV, and cell phone distract their youth.

 Our amazing tour guide lives on this mesa at certain times of the year. The white ladder is a religious symbol of climbing to heaven. The walls are made of a clay- straw mixture. When the Spaniards saw this village from below they thought it was a village of gold because the straw sparkled in the sun.

 A window made of mica. The mica must be laid on the roof and dried for two years before it is used as a window. The window lets in light but is not transparent.

 Typical home.

 Carole and Jerry on the tour! The dome behind them is an oven used to cook bread.

 Debbie might have found an apartment!

 Ladder to heaven.

 The bell in the tower came from the Spaniards. The Spaniards forced the Acoma people to become Christians and hang the bell in the tower. After the bell was hung the Spaniards took two female children as payment. The bell is still there as a sign of respect for the children that were never returned.

 Street names in the village below the mesa.

 The long, winding, steep stairs.

 Almost to the bottom!

 The view from the top! It is believed this village began on the mesa in the distance. Legend has it a lightening strike ruined the only way to the top so they moved to the new mesa.

 This is the village from the bottom of the mesa.

We made it! Carole made it too, she took the picture!