Quarai Ruins

We do not just sit in the parks when we visit the various state parks. The lady who was working at Manzano State Park was gracious enough to ask if we had seen the Quarai Ruins.  We got directions and went to visit it.  On our first visit we got rained out.  The second visit was more successful.

This is a good overview of the ruins.  To get to the ruins from I-25 traveling North from Las Cruces, one would travel East on highway 60 to Mountainair, then North on highway 55.  When you reach Punta de Aqua there are signs that direct you to the ruins.

I asked our friendly helper at the park about the name.  The name of the town is Spanish for "point of water."  She told us that before the Spanish settlers came in and over grazed the area there was in fact a lot of water.  Over grazing destroyed the water shed and the area became quite arid.

Here is a close up view of the remaining structures that made up the headquarters for the settlement of the Spanish settlers and priests.

Here is a view of some sort of ceremonial place or work place.  The structure was built with an entry way.

Here is a view of the inside of the remains.  They are quite massive.

I captured this view of a tourist walking through the ruins (my beautiful wife).

These are the remains of the baptismal font.  The natives were forced to accept the religion of the Spanish settlers, and forced into what amounted to slave labor.

The historic site provides a beautiful picnic grounds with ample shade, a precious commodity in New Mexico.

There are well kept hiking trails.  Not shown here are the warning signs about the presence of rattle snakes, but there is the reminder to stay on the trail.

Buffalo gourd is found throughout the arid southwest.  We found these plants abundantly here, and had also saw them at Percha Dam State Park.  It's scientific name is Cucurbita foetidissama.

The plant has a fetid odor and bitter gourds.  According to the literature, Native Americans used the gourds for 9000 years.  It's uses included food, medicine, cosmetics, detergent, insecticide, and as ceremonial rattles.

When I inquired of fellow campers and campground hosts, I was given a variety of answers as to what it was called and whether or not it was edible.  One person emphatically told us it was poisonous.

Here is a large infestation of tent caterpillars we spotted along the hiking trails.  When I was in graduate school, we had a visiting Canadian research scientist who was studying these.  He discovered there was a very strong correlation of population density to weather cycles.

The Quarai Ruins Historic Site is also a good place for bird watching, although I did not get any good photographs of birds on my visits there.