ruins and mountains

This past Saturday we went to the old town of Casas Grandes and to the Paquime ruins. Nuevo Casas Grandes formed where a railway was built, making it the center of activity instead of Casas Grandes. There was a museum at the ruins that was quite interesting, displaying Paquimian pottery, jewelery, lifestyles, etc. These buildings were once the major trading center in Northern Mexico in AD 900 until 1340 when the city was invaded and abandoned. You can kind of see the T-shaped doorways still that were supposed to slow invaders. It was a hot day when we went. I was worried we would get sunstroke. There was no shade there. That's Ila in the picture above, taking a rest. We weren't actually supposed to wander off the path but she needed a little shade for a few minutes.
On Monday we went to the mountains, past Colonia Juarez. They are nothing like the Rocky mountains...more cacti than pine trees. My batteries ran out on my camera that day so I took pictures with a friend's camera so those I will have to post another day when I can get them from her. We spent all morning and afternoon there wandering the desert mountains, eating burritos cooked on a campstove and helping our friends gather firewood. We all got some pokes from cactuses. They hurt! They are not like slivers; when you take them out, they leave a little bit of poison that stings for a while.