May 21, 2012
After breakfast, Betsy and I returned to Ahote and Tuwa’s home in their village. When we arrived, Ahote had already left for work, so I took the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Tuwa for everything they had done for us. When he got home, I asked her to share my appreciation gifts with Ahote. I told her that I would always remember her, Ahote, and the last two days at Hopi. She then gifted me some Piki, a special bread used in Hopi ceremonies, and a handmade leather medicine bag made by Ahote.
I then said my farewell and set out for my next destination, having a tough time absorbing what had happened over the last two days. After a brief stop in Tuba City, I continued south to the Wupatki National Monument. During this two-hour drive, I kept experiencing flashbacks of the last two days at Hopi. One of my fondest memories was how Ahote talked to the land as he planted his seeds. He would yell out across the field in his native tongue, “Grow! Grow! Grow! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” and then he would tell me that everything in life is just like that; the more love you give something, the better the response, even its nothing more than seeds in the ground. Then he followed that up with the fact that if you want something, you must express it to the Creator.
He said, “Everything is listening!“
Before I knew it, I had arrived at the Wupatki National Monument at 35°31′ longitude and 111° 22 latitude.
Google Maps 2012
I paid my $5.00 entry fee, exited the back door of the visitor’s center, and then asked for permission to visit the land. Once I felt I had permission, I headed down to the ruins.
As I continued my walk around the ruins, I searched for shade. I finally found a bench on the eastern side of the ruins, where I prepared for my meditation.
I invoked the “Memories” Angel between 3:00 and 3:20 PM.
While facing east and looking back towards Hopi, I sent Ahote, Tuwa, and Betsy more prayers of gratitude. I thought about Ahote’s invitation to return to Hopi in the autumn for the harvest and to see the results of the seeds that I had helped plant. I prayed that my journey would lead me back to Hopi so I could experience that.
Once my meditation was complete, I inserted the olive leaf into the monument’s wall as a peace offering.
And then looked directly overhead and took the following photograph.
Afterward, I left Wupatki National Monument and drove to Flagstaff, Arizona. I stopped in at Starbucks for a non-fat chocolate smoothie and used their Wi-Fi service to publish the previous day’s journal. Once I departed Flagstaff, I drove to Sedona for the evening, searching for a place to park my van, but came up empty-handed. I then drove an additional 15 miles to Cottonwood and returned to the Walmart parking lot where I had stayed on Day 23. After realizing it was too hot to sleep in my van without air conditioning, I continued another 5 miles to the Dead Horse Ranch State Park.
I pulled into the state park, found an RV campsite, plugged in my rooftop air conditioning unit, and went straight to bed.