Another quiet day on the caravan. We began by visiting an Indian Trading post and learning about Pawn. Among the Indians, Pawn is nothing like the typical pawn shop where folks down on their luck borrow a few dollars on something semi-valuable that they own. For the Indians, Pawn is a combination bank and safe deposit box. Since there is little private ownership of land, and semi-communal living is common, there is no place secure for the Indians to store their valuables. So they bring them to the Pawn and Trading Post; the trading post will store the valuables and give a token “loan” to the owner. The owner then comes in every 2-3-4 months and pays a fee to keep the items in pawn. When they need their possession back, they pay back the “loan” and claim their goods.
This trading post has over 1,800 saddles in Pawn. I doubt there are even 1,800 horses in this part of the reservation… There are also guns, ceremonial head dresses and boots, lots of jewelry, and many other things the Indians deem valuable…
The saddles…
After listening to the Pawn explanation we saw an artist demonstrate his craft. He showed us how he sketches and etches his design (in this case a silver bracelet) into a piece of soft stone. This makes a mold, into which he pours the molten silver. Out comes the rough bracelet, which he then polishes and finishes into a fine piece of jewelry…
Most caravaners then proceeded to spend lots of money…
We returned to the Villa. We enjoyed a Saturday afternoon watching college football. While the internet service is terrible here in New Mexico, the satellite TV is great!
We had many Happy Hours with our Airstream neighbors, then watched football again well into the night…
And again we have a short day, so here I present Erin and George expressing their feelings about spending all day Saturday watching T-Ball…
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 
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