Friday, January 25, 2008

TUZIGOOT… TUZI WHAT?



Deep in the Sycamore Canyon, 50 some odd miles south of Flagstaff, sits a 12th Century Sinagua settlement called, Tuzigoot. A good reason why it is called Tuzigoot is because all the good names were taken. The Sinaguans were Native Americans that settled most of Sedona and all of highway 89A, including all the souvenir shops. They also made me crazy, or seemed to.

Sinagua in Spanish means: “without water” so they say. I think it means without walls. Everywhere we went, the Sinagua Indians had been. Today historians wonder what happened to the lost tribe. I can tell them. They are working Highway 89A, selling more souvenirs and turquoise jewelry.

It seems that TLW (The Little Woman) was hankering (Cowboy talk for wanting) to visit the site and so we went. Being trusting that I am, I followed all her instructions and finally found the place. It is a big rock. A really big rock. A rock so big, you can only walk up its trail, with again, sloping sides that lead one into the deep abyss. It has nothing to speak of that is of ooh or aah quality, but some interest exists. You see remnants of an empty set of mud and rock buildings. Then to impress one even further, one sees remnants of rooms and walls made of little rocks. They too, have a souvenir shop.

As we began the climb upward toward the top of the site, TLW became more and more unsettled. Walking along the narrow path, the higher we went, the tighter, her eyes closed shut. Soon she was walking in tiny little steps, hanging onto my arm, eyes closed, and other visitors wondering why I would bring a blind person up to such a place. As usual, it was my entire fault. And so TLW “Saw” another part of Arizona!

Like to “See” me disappear like the Sinagua Indian? Write to: joedelbroccolo@yahoo.com, tell me to get some rocks in my shorts and jump off the sides, into the deep abyss.

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