NAVAJO NATION / 2023

THIS TRIP IS FILLED TO CAPACITY.

NUEVO MEXICO PROFUNDO is delighted to announce a new self-drive tour to sites in the Navajo Nation. The tour date follows the July 7 Crownpoint Rug Auction, in the event that some participants would like to attend the evening auction prior to our tour the next day. There are several lodging options in Gallup. The tour is led by Frank Graziano and limited to twenty-five participants. 

We meet at 10:00 at the Speedway (gas, convenience store, restrooms) on Route 491 near Newcomb, NM and drive in caravan to the home of Navajo sheep herder and weaver Irene Bennalley. Access to the house and adjacent corrals is sometimes difficult once we leave the paved road, so we may ask those with four-wheel-drive vehicles to help transport others for the last .75 mile. Irene talks with us and answers questions regarding her life as a herder and weaver. This is an outdoor visit without seating. A New York Times article on Irene by Michael Benanav is here. The PROFUNDO HERITAGE ARCHIVE interview with Irene is here.

After our visit with Irene we drive fifteen minutes to the Toadlena Trading Post, where we have lunch (please bring your own meal; drinks are available for purchase) on the patio. We are hosted by owners Mark and Linda Winter. Mark—an expert on Navajo weaving and author of The Master Weavers—gives a short presentation; Navajo weavers demonstrate. We also have time to view rugs for sale and to visit the small but impressive weaving museum at the site.

After Toadlena we drive fifty minutes south to Tohatchi, where we meet with Father Dale Jamison, a Franciscan priest and Director of Native American Ministry for the Diocese of Gallup. We visit St. Mary Church, built in 1920, and its modern altar painting of a Navajo Good Shepherd. Afterward, in the nearby St. Mary Hogan Chapel, Father Dale talks with us and answer questions regarding his four decades of ministry among Pueblos and Navajos. The tour concludes after this visit, around 4:30. Gallup is a half hour south.

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In the area: St. Michaels Mission and museum, just over the state line in Arizona; HubbellTrading Post (about a half hour from St. Michaels); and Canyon de Chelly National Monument (about an hour from St. Michaels). For those attending the Crownpoint Rug Auction, a visit beforehand to the ruins of Pueblo Pintado—about an hour away—is very rewarding. (Final access is by an indistinct dirt road; contact Chaco for directions and conditions.) If you like informal New Mexican restaurants, Jerry’s in Gallup is terrific. More information on the Navajo Nation is here: https://discovernavajo.com/.