Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 10/9/13

Adventure Caravans Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Rally Day 6

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Today started with another early morning mass ascension of the hot air balloons.  Like I said before, we were perfectly located for all of the action.  We opened our door this morning to see a gigantic wizard coming toward us over our neighbor RV’s roof.  Now I have shown many different balloons in the last few days, so today, I want to show a couple that illustrate the three dimensional aspect that makes us have to get pictures from many angles in order to see everything about a particular balloon.  For instance, the wizard has a back pack with a cat in it.

Wizard front view seen out our door

Wizard back view (our trailer on the left)

Another example is this one.  I thought it was just a little girl until I looked her up in our Fiesta program guide and saw that she is called Little Angel.  Sure enough, when you look at her back, there are two tiny little wings.  There is always something that you didn’t notice before.  Notice how big the balloons are compared to the tiny gondola that carries the pilot, propane tanks & burners to heat the air and passengers.

Little Angel front view

Little Angel back view (note the
gondola between her legs)

Our tour for today started with a wonderful Mexican buffet lunch at El Pinto restaurant in Albuquerque.  The setting was beautiful and typical Southwest decor.  All around New Mexico at this time of year, you will see ristras.  They are red chili peppers that have been tied into large swags of various lengths that decorate homes and businesses.  El Pinto is no exception. Ristras originally were made to dry the chilis for later use in cooking and real ones are only seen at harvest time and around the fall/winter holidays.

Entrance to El Pinto - beautiful garden

Adventure caravans group dining area

Red chili ristras decorate the entrance of El Pinto

After lunch, our bus took us to the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak’u Museum.  Among other things, the museum had displays of pottery made by the Acoma people and a sculpture depicting the agricultural heritage of the Acoma Pueblo.  I do not know the name of the sculpture

Pottery display

Sculpture back view

Sculpture side view

A tour of the Pueblo of Acoma left from the Cultural Center and drove a short distance up to the Pueblo located on a bluff 370 feet above the valley floor.  There is no running water, no electricity and no plumbing, thus the port-a-potties that you see in one of the other pictures.  Everything has to be brought up from the valley villages.  Some people live here year round and others live in other villages and come back for special ceremonies and holidays.


Blend of the old and new construction





View from top of pueblo (cultural center
 can be seen in upper right)

The Indians practice both their native religion and Catholicism.

Sacred stairs to second story entrance to
Kiva, a religious chamber. Cross piece
resembles clouds pierced by upright poles
causing rain for their crops.



San Esteban del Rey Mission and cemetery in background

We returned to camp after the tour.