Mesa Verde is HOT! My shade monstering and non stop applications of spf are still not enough to handle this climate. We checked out the balcony palace which was build into snastone alcoves. The enterance required climbing a 35 foot ladder. We had a group of 30 where half the population was under the age of 8. People were bringing their two year olds on this tour. Crazy considering I though the ladder climb was super sketchy. Our tour guide was very good. An Anthropology major who really knows her stuff. Very refreshing from for now always compareable wind cave tour.

This dwelling hung over a cliff edge and your only safety in the first compartment was a waist high retaining wall. There were about 6 rooms and two kivas which were community gathering places build into the ground. The Ancient Pueblo's (Anstasis) believe there were six directions; north, south, east, west, athena (up), and zenith (down). By going into the kiva they were able to become closer to zenith which is where the ancient pueblo's believed thier roots origionated.

As we left the balcony palace we had to shimmy through a tunnel and then scale steps that had been chisled out of the rock and for good reason. The previous entry was a 35 foot chiminey climb to get in and out. Jason and I decided that my Indian name would have been 'chip-a-lot-a-steps' because I absolutly HATE chiminey climbing. Four indian remains were found under the chinminey which is why the tunnel and steps were probably build.