Arizona

Careening up the freeway with the mountains on one side and a five hundred feet drop into bur patch nothingness on the other, I clutched at my seat belt for dear life. If I was going to die, I had the consolation of knowing it would be a beautiful scenic death surrounded by mountains so ancient, they pre-date time as we know it.

We were driving to Sedona, Arizona. My best friend and I. In between fits of giggles and catching up, I took deep breaths of the mountain air. The vibration up here is different, sacred almost. As if you are entering something holy. As if God himself has reached out from the earth and carved these mystical red rocks with his hands. The quiet here is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. There is a stillness of sound, of peace, of nature being left to its own devices. It makes you feel much smaller in comparison and forces you to realize that there are mystical things in the universe that are so much bigger than you. And it’s in your best interest to stop, pay attention and appreciate that it exists.

Our first stop in the lovely city of Sedona was the The Chai Spot: @thechaispot. Filled with color, Hindi music and homemade goods cultivated by Pakistani women it was like being dropped in a Bollywood movie. I had the coconut rose chai which was sweet, light and refreshing. My friend loved her pistachio chai which had a salty, sweet kick to it. Seated on a tiny veranda we had a beautiful view of the church across the street.

We also made our way over to Montezuma’s Castle: dwellings built by the Southern Sinagua culture between 1100 and 1425 CE. It is the equivalent of a 20 room high-rise apartment nestled into a towering limestone cliff. You can’t help but marvel at the fact that people lived, ate, and used the bathroom up there. Did they fight over whose turn it was to take out the trash? Did they worry that their significant other was cheating with the neighbor? Did they have a fear of heights? We’ll never know, but we can stand in awe of what was left behind…

Part 2 coming soon…