Meet Some Indians

Mesa Verde is a world heritage site, and no wonder! The local Indians started to farm here and gradually built more intricate buildings, on the Mesa, and later built homes in cave shelters some distance down the cliffs. The cliffs were alive with the sound of building, as they are quite close to one another (for instance, from one viewing point you can see three separate sets of cave shelters with building), and are up to five stories under the ledge of the cliff.

I was lucky to be able to join a tour of the balcony house. This involved going up and down several ladders up to ten metres and crawling through a tunnel on your hands and knees. It was all worth it.

The site includes dwellings from each period, and it was really good to see how their architecture changed over time.

I'm really glad I took Charlotte to LA, because if I hadn't, I probably would never have seen Mesa Verde. Besides which, it was fun to see her pleasure.