The Food of the Navajo

Occasionally you experience something so massive, so large and so impressive that it's awe-inspiring and bewildering at the same time.  It's like walking into the Sistine Chapel,  the first time you heard the Beatles and your first lift station inspection.  Well folks, this happened to me the other day - but no it was not the gorgeous vistas that pervade the area - but rather the Navajo Taco!

The Navajo taco is similar to a normal taco however instead of using a flour or corn totilla it uses a little thing called fry bread.  Fry bread is a delicious invention that reminds me of some of delicacies of the Indiana State Fair - such as chocolate covered bacon or deep fried pepsi (doesn't make sense to me either but still delicious).  Anyways, fry bread is composed of Bluebell flour, baking soda and salt and fried in lard.  It is gigantic probably the size of a small pizza.  The first time I had fry bread I put butter on it which was both succulent and savory but nowhere near the orgasmic feelings aroused by the Navajo Taco.

The Navajo taco was one of the most scrumplescent, awe-inspiring foods I'd ever had.  It was also probably the most unhealthy food I ever had.  So on the foody scale of one to ten - I'd give the Navajo Taco an 8.5, the 1.5 deducted merely because it lowered my heart attack age from 61 to 58.

The Flora and Fauna of the Navajo Nation, Exhibit #1

The Beefalo, Americanus beefalolus

This fertile hybrid of cattle and bison, the American Beefalo, can be found roaming the red sand roads and high hills of the Navajo Nation, here in St. Michael's, Arizona. In the morning, the Beefalo typically feeds on the wet grass that lines the road to St. Michael's Mission. At night, the Beefalo feeds on the flesh of children who bike this road.

Be careful, this animal is extremely dangerous! He is prone to spontaneous running! He is likely to want blood!

Identifying features include a large black body, pronounced head and horns, distinct guttural moo, and Lincoln-esque beard. The Beefalo also tends to pose for black and white pictures. (See above.)

As noted the Beefalo is particularly dangerous at night. Against the darkness, the Beefalo moves surreptitiously through the woods and around the trailer court, impossible for any resident to determine whether or not that sound is a violent, dangerous bison-cattle hybrid, or a pack of violent, dangerous wolves.

Nevertheless people can often place him by the sound of his pan-flute, playing high in the vertiginous hills of this quiet land, playing for his company any song or spiritual that comes to his mind.

False- definitely false. Although I'm pretty sure John marked true for all three true/false questions, including the buttless Levi question, don't believe what anyone tells you. People around here wear normal Levis just like everyone else.

So welcome to our blog! Besides our many "new teacher" orientation/training sessions that doubtlessly will enable us to become fabulous teachers, we have been out and about exploring the lovely Arizona/New Mexico area. We visited gorgeous Canyon De Chelly (pronounced "shay"... i know, very not-phonetic) on Saturday and if not for some light rain (can't go a day without some form of rain out here), some yellow water, and for the knowledge of G-string wearing ancients, it was all-in-all a lovely day. A nice mile and a half trek down the side of the canyon brought us right to the ruins, which unfortunately we could only see from afar. The mile and a half up got us nice and sweaty and ready for the car ride home and as you can see, it tired out the boys quite nicely. I was just glad that Mitch wasn't driving so that I wouldn't be carsick from all of his sudden brake-slams.



We have also been able to explore more locally and have visited ruins rather closer to home. A 45 minute walk down a dirt road and some muddy, rocky valleys brings us to a single and fragile looking rope that we are supposed to climb. Once you make it up the 10 foot cliff side, hoping the rope doesn't give and plunge you onto the rocks below, there is a nice little cliff overhang that seems to have been inhabited at one point or another. Pretty neat. After we begin to head back, it has a tendency to start raining which also means that we won't see John for awhile, as he has taken off running. He claims he isn't afraid of rain, only lightning, but when he has a crazy imagination that comes up with names like "Mr. Hand" when really the man's name was "Mr. Per" (Pear?), who knows what is really going on in his mind.

So we are mostly enjoying our time out here, attending our first ever Navajo mass in which much of the singing is in Navajo. Trying to follow along by reading the apostrophied letters that are projected behind the altar was a struggle, but I have faith we'll be pros by the end of the year. Well... maybe I'll be... listening to John and Mitch trying to say in Navajo that the horses were grazing randomly in a circle makes me cringe a bit, but maybe they'll get it one day.

So thanks for reading! I suppose I'll end with a question as well. What kind of person do you think of when they've been named "The Joker"?

More to come soon!! Miss everyone at home.

Welcome!

Alrighty Friends,


This is my first time blogging and Mitch, Natalie and I are going to be chronicling our adventures on the Navajo Indian Reservation (Navajo Nation) for this upcoming year.  In case you haven't heard we're all teaching at St. Michael Indian School this upcoming year.  There should many laughs, some tears, and maybe some other emotions but I can't really think of anything else.


So where were we?  Since this is an introduction to our life here I don't really have that much to say.  I could describe our trailer in many words but I'll only use one word  - glamourous.  Okay maybe its not that glamorous but its not terrible.  The walls are laminate wood and there still is a certain funk associated with it - but that's probably just Mitch and I (actually that's just me - hygiene isn't that important here and I haven't showered since I got here) Okay, okay I'm just lying I showered this morning... (maybe)

Quick quiz:
True or False: When traditional Navajo men buy new levis jeans, they cut the seat out of pants.
Answer will appear in our next post - I need a cliffhanger of sorts to keep you reading (sort of like 24).

Anyways, there will be hopefully many more posts and other good stuff so hopefully you all will stumble upon this in your ennui.