Salinas Pueblo Missions

About an hour south of Albuquerque are the Salinas Pueblo Missions
http://www.nps.gov/sapu
The Tiwa and Tompiro Puebloan Indians had lived in the area for
hundreds of years, until the 16th century, when Spanish missionaries
came to the area and changed it forever. Building large mission churches
in the area, they coexisted with the Puebloans and "converted" many.


By the 1670's, both the Puebloans and the Spanish had left, leaving
nature to take over and the missions fell into ruins.


Nature took over until the mid-twentieth century, when the State of
New Mexico, and then the National Park Service, took over the three
sites of Abo, Quarai and Gran Quivira and made them a National
Monument.


Signs are present to let us know that we're not the only ones checking
out the ruins!