Beyond words....

So this is hard, incredibly hard. It is hard to put into words not only all that we have seen on the past 3 days, but also to try and sum up all of the feelings and all of the emotions I have felt. What I have seen is too big for my eyes, too vast for a camera to capture and is too intense to be merely written about. Our journey from Santa Fe was the start of this epic experience, every hill brought a new view, every turn in the road a total change in terrain - slowly, ever slowly becoming more desolate, empty and at times like driving across the moon. There were no people, no signs, mostly no other cars, just us and road. The only words we could find to express our feelings were either WOW, or to be honest, swear words, as the view changed endlessly, challenging our perception of what we had thought this country looked like. And it was getting hotter, way hotter...... we stopped for lunch in a place beyond no where, a place where they thought our accents were cute and unplaceable and the pavements were sticky with heat. And finally arrived in Bluff - a town that seemed at first glance one simple street framed by the most astounding rock formations, but on further investigation seemed a town on the edge of change. At the moment, it’s a sweet ramshackle collection of motels and lodges that have been eking out a life for the few people that know about this spot in the middle of no where, but they are building a new hotel with plans for more...like everything we learnt on this trip there is good and bad in that...good for the people that live there, for jobs, for people’s futures, but maybe potentially spoiling the area with increased tourism and the issues that brings. We were booked in a lodge that seemed straight from an 80’s teen film (but hopefully with less angst and scary murders) incredibly sweet, with a pool to cool off in and a track that lead straight to the edge of a mountain. We were greeted with the exciting news that they now had colour TV’s in the rooms... Dinner in the shade of twin rocks, precariously balanced was astounding and a real promise of what was to come, so early to bed, to be early up the next day...

The river. One of the things we had been planning, dreaming of, really since we had started this whole journey was this. A river trip in Monument Valley...and now it was HERE. I was stealing myself to spend the day with perhaps 4 or 5 other mildly irritating people on the boat, after all, that’s how these things usually work - we had booked a whole day trip on the river, with a guide and lunch...so they usually pile ‘em high right? WRONG... we were the only ones booked....so we had not only the boat to ourselves, but our simply amazing guide, Kevin, to ourselves. And what a total luxury this was. Kevin had decided rather than a motor, he wanted to row is down the river, through the canyon as it would be more....just more....and oh, I am so so glad. You know there are moments in life where you just connect? With a stranger that comes into your life at the right point - you may never see again, but you just connect...this was that moment.

Our trip started easily, down the beautiful fast flowing river, we took an easy walk to the just amazing ancient carvings on the cliff faces, depictions of tribes dancing, celebrating, rituals and SOUND...they had found a way to draw sound, how it feels to hear...this was the first simply astounding treat of the day. And it progressed from there, we drifted down stream, saw the ruins of a clan house, or more a collection of houses, built deep into the cliff - so like abandoned villages and houses we have seen across Europe and yet so so different... And on, sat on the boat, as we entered the canyon, not drifting, now with more purpose, the rapids only small, but the sounds of the river adding to the sensation of being so totally THERE...in that moment...nothing else. And we chatted, easily, openly...our lives, Kevin’s life, music, foods, our families, our plans...connection. I am not naive enough to think we were special and yet...and yet.... Kevin was so relaxed, open, natural, honest and it was easy just to be us...

We learnt about the geology, we learnt about the area and the history and that it is all multi layered and complicated. There is little that is black and white, good or bad..but just multiple layers, which overtime lead to an incredible story and landscape. We stopped for lunch after having seen no one else so far on the river. NO ONE...just the 3 of us for HOURS. Kevin made a prepared lunch for us whilst we swam and laughed and chased tiny lizards and again we just chatted, with increasing ease and just shared...thoughts on work, on having kids and them growing up, on the river...

And it was HOT, like sitting in a hairdryer at points. And achingly beautiful. Every turn more beautiful than the last, beauty in front and when you turn back view shifted to more beauty. We see long horned sheep posing for photos, geese flying straight at us, turkey vultures, Russian olives, tamarisk trees - but no fishes....sadly. We feel like explorers, like we are in endless movies and I start to believe I might see Indiana Jones around the next bend. It seemed as if we were out of time, that we would never finish, never come to the end - and I did not want to. The rapids were too much fun, the water too bubbly, the views all too vast for my eyes and then sadly, all too soon for me (although I think both Kevin’s hands from rowing and sams skin from the relentless sun were glad for us to reach the end)

We ate and slept well that night.... A breakfast watching the hummingbirds out of the window after a brief but still important run (still on schedule to run in every state) was simply sublime and then off.... And then I run out of words. We drive towards Monument Valley, giddy with excitement at first as we can see it looming in the distance and then increasingly falling silent as we are just in awe of what we are seeing. The rock formations defy description, they are beautiful, stunning, unworldly, awe inspiring, breathtaking - and yet these are all just words, pointless, meaningless words. The experience of being there is not just visual, you feel the hot wind, the sand on your feet, the 360 degree view, you just can not capture it, it is overwhelming. They stir something in me beyond words and I wish for a way, like the ancients trying to depict sounds, to share what I saw. But I can’t. All I know is that I leave a piece of my heart up on the hot windy ridge looking up to these epic monoliths. I am lost.