In all the years we’ve driven Highway 40, we’ve never stopped at Acoma, though we’ve seen the signs.  I can honestly say I’d never want to live here, but it was very interesting to see.  Take a look and see what you think!

This is the pueblo from a distance. The city sits on top.

Another view from a distance.

See the buildings on top? That’s Acoma.

All visits to Acoma begin with the visitor’s center. It’s located a distance away from the pueblo. Once the tour begins, they heard you onto a bus for the drive to the top.

Here are some views down the streets of Acoma.

The big ladders lead to the kivas–the places of worship. Usually they are large circular rooms dug into the ground, but here, that wasn’t possible. Since traditional kiva’s are entered through the roof, here there are ladders to the roof and you enter the kivas from there.

Another kiva ladder.

The round object is an oven. There were several community ovens on the pueblo.

A view from the top. There’s no guard rails, or warning signs to stay back from the edge. If you’re stupid, you pay the consequences.

There’s no electricity or sewers on the pueblo. So it wasn’t surprising to see modern porta-potties to solve the problem. Otherwise, it’s a long way down every time you have to go. 🙂

More views from the top.

All parts of the structures were used. Here, a staircase leads to the roof. The kid’s scooter reminds me that kids actually live here.

More street views. Not all the front doors are at ground level.

Here you can see the visitor’s center in the distance.

Believe it or not, this is where the staircase down the side of the pueblo begins. Don’t see it? Neither did I. It was more than a little scary to step over the edge and trust you wouldn’t fall.

Here’s what the stairs look like from the top. Yikes is right!

They are barely carved into the side of the rock. Here, there’s nothing to hold onto.

Be careful!

They weren’t too bad here. Obviously, these stairs have been made for modern tourists. In the 1500s they were so primitive, they weren’t obvious to the eye as stairs at all.

Okay, now we get a little dicey. This section is more like a ladder. See the hand holds dug into he rock by centuries of hands grabbing on?

Is this even passable?  I had my doubts!

It was crazy!

It’s really hard to even see the way. All you’re sure about is you need to go DOWN.

Our well-deserved reward. We found Navajo Tacos for lunch at the diner in the visitor’s center. I’m a fan.

This is the little piece of pottery we bought in the gift shop. It’s only about 3 inches across. The detail in the tiny black lines, and how close together they are, is amazing. Also, I love the butterflies because the wings are three dimensional.