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| Some Cosmo residents traveled last Thanksgiving to the Navajo reservation in Monument Valley (click for larger view) |
It was a special day for the few people involved in the Native American coffee hour on Thanksgiving day in Fall 05. Of course there was no coffee hour at 307 E John (just for those who worry to have missed one) but we do not lose simply our international perspective because there is Thanksgiving Break. We just relocate. So a small group of Belgian, German, Brazilian, and Turkish people ventured to experience California, Utah, and Arizona with all its great cities, beaches, deserts, canyonlands, and lots of sun.
On Thanksgiving Day we drove through the Navajo reservation in order to visit Monument Valley, which is a piece of land central to the culture of the Navajo Indians. We knew that most of Monument Valley is not accessible for regular tourists and that there is a 10 mile circle tour where one can take amazing pictures along the roadside. We had expected that it will be very nice but we had not expected that it would become a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Thanksgiving day is a special day for the Navajo Indians where the park is exclusively reserved for their families and for celebrations. So first frustration that we have done the whole drive and could not enter the park. But things turned out well as Mike, a Navajo tour guide, decided to load us on his pick-up truck and give us a private tour through the park.
The tour was extraordinary! It was a big adventure, combined with immersion into a new culture and a breathtaking scenery. In fact, Monument Valley was the most beautiful place I have ever been. Mike showed us the caves and the slot canyons, he explained to us how the sun and shade make the rocks alive and told us for many rock formations a story about the Navajos. Navajo culture is deeply rooted into the land of America’s Southwest. The land is holy to the people and just to be in the desert is a spiritual experience which all of us deeply appreciated.
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| Mike (left) and Onchu (right) playing the flute in the desert (click for larger view) |
While we had been scrambling in the rocks, taking pictures and hanging out, Mike was playing some Navajo tunes with his flute he brought along. Oncu, our Turkish friend, joined in with some Turkish music played with a different Turkish flute and as during every coffee hour we learned about each other’s culture. The different cultures have connected us and as experienced during every coffee hour immersion into each other’s culture is a culture by itself. The Cosmo-culture which we celebrate during every coffee hour and which everyone can revive again and again at every magic place in this world unifies us and gives us the sensitivity we all need to make a difference in the world.
Mike told us that he comes out into the desert every day. “This is my work, this is my life.” I feel only admiration for this life and feel so glad that I can say the same about our Cosmo-culture.