WALK SOFTLY TOURS

THE HOPI AND NAVAJO WORLDS   (3 days)
This fascinating trip allows you to experience the cultures of two great Indian nations, the Hopi and the Navajo.

INTO THE NAVAJO WORLD
From Phoenix, Arizona you’ll travel northeast to the sacred canyon of the Navajo, Canyon de Chelly.  De Chelly (de shay) is a Spanish corruption of a Navajo word meaning rock canyon.  The first night is spent at the Thunderbird Lodge, the site of one of the original trading posts for the nineteenth century.   For dinner, try one of their Navajo Tacos for an epicurean delight, then nose around the gift shop, or enjoy the seating around the huge cottonwoods planted here over a century ago. 

You’ll hear about Navajo culture, religion, and thier proud contributions, including the famed Navajo Code Talkers of World War II who saved many lives by passing messages using a secret Navajo language code the Japanese were never able to crack. 

Spider Rock

White House Ruin

EXPLORING THE NAVAJO WORLD
After breakfast, you’ll take a full day Navajo guided jeep tour of Canyon de Chelly, stopping at numerous Anasazi ruins built high into the cliffs of the canyon.  It is thought these ruins were fortresses against attack, since that period was one of drought and hostility.  You end up at the base of Spider Rock, the legendary ancestral home of Spider Woman, who figures so prominently in Navajo legend.

The Anasazi were master builders whose multifamily dwellings were so complex they were not equaled in size in the U.S. until the 1870s!  These sophisticated people suddenly abandoned all that they had built.  To this day no one knows why.

Once you enter Canyon de Chelly, you suddenly realize it is like nothing you’ve ever seen.  Over millions of years the wind and water sculpted an abstract artwork miles long out of solid rock.  The play of light and shadow in the Canyon gives it a reddish, mysterious, other-worldly look.  It has been seen in dozens of Hollywood films.  Overnight at the Thunderbird Lodge.

WALPI ON FIRST MESA
The next day is on to Hopi.  The Hopi world is located on three adjoining mesas, high above the surrounding plains.  Your guide will first take you to Walpi, where the Hopi have lived continuously for over a thousand years!  Visitors all say it is a spiritual and inspiring place.   You’ll learn about Walpi from those Hopi who still call it home.

In Walpi, you will meet special Hopi artisans at work carving the sacred Katsina (Kachina) dolls, symbolic representatives of the powerful spirits which govern all phases of Hopi life.  You'll also go into the homes and shops of potters making the famous polychrome pots found in museums worldwide, and perhaps you’ll get to sample the fresh piki bread, made by Hopi women from fresh ground corn.

Through your Village Guide (who lives in Walpi), you’ll be able to talk with the villagers, and perhaps even try your hand at painting a pot.  However, you are forbidden from touching the unfinished Katsina dolls.  It is illegal for any non-Hopi to make a Hopi Katsina doll.

Before leaving the First Mesa, you’ll also see the historic villages of  Sitsomovi and Tewa Village / Hano, which are well over 300 years old.

ORAIBI ON THIRD MESA
Following lunch at the Hopi Cultural Center, you will continue on to Oraibi.  The Hopi lived in the village of Oraibi when William the Conqueror first landed in Britain in 1066.  It is the oldest continuously inhabited village in North America.  The people of Oraibi go about their lives much as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.

You’ll visit the site of the Spanish mission built in the middle 1600’s and hear the sordid history of that era of Hopi life, plus the burned out shell of the first Mennonite church which was struck by lightning and burned down, not once, but twice before finally being abandoned.

In Oraibi you’ll visit Hopi artisans, including the silversmiths who make world-renowned Silver Overlay jewelry.  Each silver piece incorporates the prehistoric images of spirits and sacred symbols which have kept the Hopi safe while so many other tribes have perished.

The artists and your Hopi historian will explain the stories behind these symbols.  Depending on the artisan’s wishes, you may even have an opportunity to help create a part of a silver bracelet or necklace.           

TAAWA  PARK
Over ten thousand years ago, early Americans carved enormous designs into the rock wall amphitheater at Taawa Park.   There are over 10,000 petroglyphs on 40 gigantic panels stretching over one half mile around this natural amphitheater.  These glyphs represent the spiritual beliefs, the news of the day and the travels of these unknown people.  Today all petroglyphs are protected by law.

At Taawa Park you will see the finest collection of prehistoric petroglyphs anywhere in North America.  Your Hopi oral historian will explain the meanings of  these mysterious pictures, reveal their secret symbols to you, and show you how the ancient Hopi culture was influenced by these prehistoric people of the Colorado Plateau.           

THE TRIP BACK TO THE PRESENT
After your morning adventure, you will begin the trip back through time and space to Phoenix via Tuba City and Flagstaff, stopping in the town of Cameron to eat dinner, and perhaps even taste the biggest and arguable the best Navajo taco in the world. 

You’ll arrive back in Phoenix in mid evening, tired, well-fed, and overflowing with the sights, sounds, tastes and scents of  two incredible cultures most people don’t even know exist.  But you will know.  Your Hopi and Navajo Experience will remain with you forever.
 

To book this tour, click here