I met some friends at the training who were nice enough to take me along their trip to Sandia Peak--one of the number one tourist sites at Albuquerque. Sandia means watermelon in Spanish and the peaks turn a beautiful watermelon color at sunset. We rode a 15 minute tram up the mountain and were greeted by beautiful skies and mountain peaks.
My last day, I visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. I was really moved by the poems displayed throughout the museum, the love and respect for nature, and the resilience of these people who have really endured an unjust history by the Spaniards, Mexicans, and worst of all the Americans. And the injustice continues.
A couple of my favorite poems:
Child of beauty
Are you ready?
Return my healed heart to earth
Bring with you seeds
Of a new generation
Begin
Only when it is safe
And plant wisely
I will guard these seeds
with my life
--Veronica Riley, Laguna Pueblo
"Grandfather said,
'At school things are different. There the white man teaches you his way.
He wraps his feelings up in words and puts them with marks on paper for you to see.
Here we keep our feelings in our hearts. To know them you must live them.'"
-Sun Journey, Zuni Pueblo
Also, I learned that in Pueblo culture, people don't say good bye, they always say "Until we meet again". I thought that was really beautiful.
Some images from the museum: 
These patterns are drawn by those yucca leaves that they used as paint brushes!
