I visited Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, based on a strong recommendation from my friend Suzanne. The Monument is adjacent to the Mexican border.
The campground was very nice, and there were nice hikes and good bike rides.
Lots of quail in the campground.
I did the Arch Canyon hike.
The cacti were terrific.
There was also a Fiesta. They had ranger talks, activities for kids, and free food from a Taco Truck.
The Fiesta was organized by the International Sonoran Desert Alliance (ISDA), which represents three groups, the Anglo-American, Mexican, and indigenous O’odham communities living in the Sonoran Desert.
Each of the communities created a 15-18 foot-tall puppet that represented their community. Each puppet was carried by a person using a backpack/harness, aided by two people who manipulated the puppet’s arms.
One of the children’s activities was to take sheets of paper depicting a butterfly, color it, and then glue it to a stick. These butterflies were an important part of the ceremony,
The march was led by this native woman carrying a symbolic staff.
The theme of the event was unity between the three communities, as shown by the three puppets coming together and then celebrating with all of the children.
It was quite moving when two puppets came together and hugged.
Then the three puppets began to dance in a circle to the music.
Then the native woman with the staff led the children with the butterflies out to greet the puppets.
They had music playing during all of this, and you can see and hear in these three videos.
This shows the puppets dancing.
This shows the children and their butterflies going to the puppets.
This shows the children and the puppets dancing.
It was quite inspiring!
Beautiful. I feel I was there after reading.